JPG magazine was beautiful but unsustainable. A photography magazine whose contributors were also its readers, it was part publication, part online community and part art project. You didn’t have to be an established professional photographer to get published in JPG; all you had to do was submit a really good shot (and everyone’s got one really good shot in them). Photography magazines aren’t really my thing, but I actually bought a couple of issues of JPG because the photos and articles they featured caught my eye.
With the public’s flagging interest in print media, the current economic situation and the costs of running a print publication on photo magazine-quality paper, JPG magazine was running out of money. They tried for months to find buyers or investors without success. Yesterday, they announced that they will be shutting down completely – not just the print magazine, but their website as well – on Monday, January 5th.
If you’re a JPG reader or are just interested in what the magazine was all about, you should follow their suggestions, which include:
- Downloading PDF versions of all their back issues. Do it soon, because their site will go offline sometime on Monday!
- Catching up with JPG contributors. The magazine started as an outgrowth of this Flickr group.
- Staying in touch. If you want to reach the staff at JPG, they’ll be taking email at jpgletters@gmail.com.
Remember, if you want to download PDF back issues, do it before Monday!