Magnum Launches Group Blog

Magnum Photos is the newest photo agency to join the blog party. The 60-year-old collective launched a group blog earlier this month under the management of Ann Tornkvist, a political science graduate of the University of Glasgow.

We're looking forward to getting to know the Magnum photographers better, some of whom in person can seem to have egos to match their outsized photojournalist scarves.

So far contributors include Magnum photographers Paolo Pellegrin, Jonas Bendiksen, and Constantine Manos; AIPAD vice president Stephen Bulger; and Magnum New York's dark room printer, Pablo Inirio. (A more complete list, which I couldn't locate on Magnum's site, was previously listed at StockPhotoTalk.)

The blog is yet another step in the continuing evolution of the agency that has seemed invigorated since Mark Lubell took over as director of the New York office several years ago. Magnum is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a host of events in London, Paris and New York.

If the Magnum blog is to be a success they'd do well to copy the formula perfected by one of their own, Magnum nominee member Alec Soth. The Minneapolis-based photographer launched his own personal blog last September shortly after the birth of his second child, and his witty posts on art and life have won him legions of fans.

Soth excels at keeping the dialogue going by posing questions and more importantly answering questions posed by his readers.

As we can attest, keeping a vibrant blog going is not an easy task. Its success relies as much as anything on the back-and-forth with readers in the comments section.

New York Times media critic David Carr put it best:

For those of you who don't have a blog yet, think of one as a large yellow Labrador: friendly, fun, not all that bright, but constantly demanding your attention.

While we're on the subject of photo agency blogs, has anybody been paying attention to those launched recently by Getty Images? Chris Hondros tells us he may start contributing soon, which is encouraging. Chris is one of the few photographers whose writing is as lucid and insightful as his photos.

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.

This is something Getty should think about when it launches its new website, which CEO Jonathan Klein said was imminent in the company's recent 4th Quarter conference call with analysts. (More on that later if we ever stop blogging and listen to the hour-long recording.)

--Jay DeFoore

Photo Credit: Jonas Bendiksen / Magnum Photos