Cover photo copyright © Andrew Esiebo
Editor's Note:
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the third issue of Photoblogs Magazine. As you can see, I've made major changes in the format (more on that in a moment); but what hasn't changed is the wonderful experience I continue to have working with an international collection of fantastic photobloggers. My thanks goes out not only to those whose work has been published in this issue, but also to all those who submitted work. With each issue the number of submissions continues to grow, and the choices become harder, as well.
After the previous two issues, I've received numerous emails offering constructive criticism and ideas regarding the format of the magazine. My original intention was to create a web-based magazine that looked and felt like a print publication. I feel I have achieved this with the first two publications, but some subscribers have pointed out that the jpeg/pdf format had some definite drawbacks; e.g., slow download times, too much scrolling for those with smaller monitors, the inability to search content on the web, etc. However, I also received many emails praising the jpeg/pdf format as something new and different, the ease of navigation, and the pleasure of being able to download the contents and read off-line.
I really gave all of this feedback a great deal of thought, and came up with the only logical solution: make both an html and a pdf version. While this has proven to be a considerable amount of work, I am pleased with the results (the pdf version is now available...see update below). So, again, I ask for your feedback and ideas so that this magazine can continue to evolve and become more of a pleasure to read. (Please note that you can click on the small images in the articles to see the full-sized photographs.)
For those of you who are new to the magazine, I'd just like to reiterate the purpose of this publication. What I am presenting here is the opportunity for photobloggers to look through their body of work, choose a theme or a particular story that has evolved over time on their photoblogs, but perhaps is not apparent when browsing their day-to-day postings. I invite them to consolidate that photographic theme, compose accompanying text, and present it as an article for publication. But the important ingredient here is that the inspiration for all of this work began with photoblogging. Through the process of regular posting, these photographers have developed a story that has been distilled into the presentation you see here; but their photoblogs are all much greater in scope. Therefore, I hope that you will proceed from this site to the actual photoblogs themselves of all the authors, and explore their work in the broader presentation. It's sort of like seeing the work of Alfred Eisenstaedt in Life Magazine, and then getting to go browse his entire archive of photographs.
I invite you to participate in all of the other features we offer which can be found on the left navigation bar and, of course, to submit work for the next issue in September. Calls for submission will begin later this month. I welcome you all to subscribe (for free) and to add our link button to your sites, which will make you eligible to submit work to the Critique Page, the Photo Challenges, and future issues of Photoblogs Magazine.
Our hope is to entertain you with this publication, and to encourage you to put images and words together and become a part of this exciting, new community.
Best Regards,
Matt
http://www.eggplantwmayo.com
PDF Update (7/2/05):
You can now download the PDF version of the July issue (see link on the left navigation bar under the cover thumbnail or click here). With DSL the estimated download time is 5 minutes and, of course, with dial-up that time will increase significantly (have a cup of coffee or your favorite adult beverage...I think it's worth the wait). The web links in the pdf document work as well, so you can visit the authors' sites after reading their articles.
Special thanks to Jenny, who designed and constructed the pdf version. She's the newest and most dedicated Photoblogs Magazine employee. She works for practically nothing, and even cooks her eggplant in 19 different ways (sometimes I just have it raw with mayonnaise)...she's my wife. You can send her an email if you like her work (send the email to me if you don't like her work...I want to keep the eggplant flowing).
Special note to Mac OSX.4 and Safari users: If you click the pdf link on the left it will open the file directly in Safari; which is fine, except it does not actually download the file to your hard drive. Therefore, every time you want to look at it you will have to wait for five minutes or more. I suggest you control click on the link and select "download linked file." That way you can have it for future reading and/or printing (personally, I like Dutch PhotoDay's idea detailed in the comments below).
Thanks again for your support, and enjoy the pdf,
Matt
http://www.eggplantwmayo.com
