Magnum Photos have finally launched their long awaited blog. In the words of Magnum Photographer Jonas Bendiksen
“The blog will illuminate the stories behind the images, explore the motivations behind the projects, discuss the systematic issues that affect all photographers, and explore the industrial and societal changes that inform our expectations of photography. The blog will feature commentary both by Magnum photographers, Magnum staff and others connected to our industry. And last but not least, it is intended as a forum for debate, criticism, and ideas.”
The launch of the blog represents an interesting move for the world’s oldest and largest photographic co-operative. Getty Images, perhaps the worlds largest stock photo agency, already have their own blog. However, owing to their ‘corporate’ culture and commercial mandate, are perhaps a little too ‘stiff’ in their conversational approach to generate interest from the hardcore photographic community. As Jay DeFoore correctly pointed out on the State of the Art blog:
“But so far I’m a bit underwhelmed by Getty’s attempt at Web 2.0 journalism. Apart from some of the Entertainment posts, most of the blog entries break two cardinal rules of blogging: they don’t accept comments, and they don’t say who wrote them. Can publicly traded companies like Getty really allow the public in on the sausage-making process in this day and age? We’re not sure, but we’d love to see them try.”