NEWS.
How many of us remember the '30s? Not many – especially photographers, but it was in May of 1937 that Popular Photography Magazine was widely available at newsstands to buy across the States.
No longer will the company be publishing content – a sad sign of the times.
Here's what the first issue looked like, in case you were wondering – a real sense of innocence you might think?
The very first issue of the magazine – May, 1937
Around 6 months ago, the photography publisher announced a bi-weekly publication of the magazine, so perhaps they had an idea that it was coming to a final close soon. Friday, March 10th will see the final and last publication of the magazine in print which also means no new content to be published on popphoto.com either.
American Photo Magazine is the sister publication of the famous pop photo brand (only available on the web) and will also cease to publish any new content as of this Friday.
A company-wide email went out this week from Eric Zinczenko, the CEO of Bonnier (the parent company of these two titles) announcing the news. It's a big shame as Popular Photography had built a huge long-standing reputation on quality content really geared towards the readers.
8 Comments
Sad day for photography
And I had just subscribed and had only received my 1st issue.
What a ripoff.
Rip off? I don’t think there was any intent of malice here. I don’t know what happened, but it sounds llike whatever happened was sudden. I find this to be very sad. My father had a subscription for decades while us kids were growing up. Now my sister is an amazing photographer with my brother running closely behind het. Ver sad day for photography. ????
Sad day, maybe. I just decided to drop my subscription after more than 40 years primarily because Pop Photo realy became an advertising tool. Fewer and fewer pages of “how-to’s with more and more equipment reviews. It used to take me several days to go through the magazine, recently I’ve been doing the job in less than an hour.
My latest issue contained a cover wrap encouraging me to “Renew now to avoid any interruption in your subscription”.
The renewal process still works on their website. Perhaps this lack of coordination between departments led to their demise.
Thank you for years of dedication and info to our passion of image taking.
It was Pop Photo back in the film days as far as the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s that taught me what little I now know about photography and made me a lifelong devotee of the genre. It literally taught me to see and led to photo clubs, outings with friends and a much greater appreciation for the never ending complexities of life and our planet. I used to wait for each publication like a kid before Christmas. It was a huge part of my life and though sorry to see it go although it had become a rather mundane publication compared to its heyday. That was when you really had to work to get just a properly exposed image never mind a really good one, no matter how simple it may see with today’s automation.. So many manual tricks the mag taught and you didn’t have to become a computer program nerd to keep up with the gang. RIP POP PHOTO.
As an owner of Vol. 1, No. 1 of Pop Photog, and reader since my pre-teen years, I am sorry to see this chapter of my life closing..