[LargeFormat] MAGNAchrom launches!

[Michael Sullivan]

The premier issue of MAGNAchrom is now available for free to  
registered users at www.magnachrom.com.

I started MAGNAchrom to offer the medium and large format community a  
publication that
would provide up-to-date, accurate information, was handsomely  
designed, international
in scope, and most of all, featured the photography of dedicated  
users of medium and
large format equipment who had few other international avenues to see  
their work
published. As such, we won't focus on the work of the already famous.  
Instead, I firmly
believe that the best photography being done today is produced by  
largely unknown
people (the vast majority of whom are amateurs) who have been quietly  
working "under
the radar" out of view of already existing publications.

Oh, and MAGNAchrom is advertising-sponsored, so it will always be  
free to registered
users. Yes, yes, we need some information about you — nothing  
personal mind you (for
example, we never want your mailing address or phone numbers or God  
help me your
credit card information). Rather, our advertisers will need to know  
what countries people
are from, what kinds of camera equipment you use, etc. So to the  
extent that you wish to
help MAGNAchrom succeed, then tell us as much as you can so that  
advertisers can
continue to foot the bill.

Why is MAGNAchrom considered a hybrid magazine you ask? Well, first  
of all, the free
version can be downloaded and viewed on your monitor and/or printed  
to your inkjet
printer for reading later. Secondly, at the end of each Volume  
(currently scheduled for six
issues per year) we will print a limited-edition, high-resolution,  
beautifully bound book of
all six issues which will be offered for sale. Thirdly, each issue of  
MAGNAchrom will
undergo constant builds over its lifetime. In this way, MAGNAchrom is  
a bit like a software
application and will constantly evolve. And lastly, there is nothing  
that would prevent us
from (eventually) printing the issues for distribution to newstands —  
however, we can only
reach this last stage with your support.

So how can you best support MAGNAchrom? First by being truthful about  
the information
about yourself. (I'll be suspicious from the get go if I start seeing  
lots of large-format
"photographers" from Mongolia!) The cummulative data will help  
convince those
advertisers who are "on the fence" to advertise with us. The kind of  
aggregated
information they will be interested in will be like: "Total number of  
UK Medium Format
users who downloaded issue #2" — that kind of thing. Eventually, they  
can tailor their
advertising to our audience, whose composition only time will tell.  
Secondly, you can
support MAGNAchrom by telling your friends and colleagues about us —  
needless to say,
especially those friends and collegues who are interested in medium  
and large format
photography! And thirdly, you can assist us by contributing articles,  
offering to review
equipment (both new and collectible), and/or presenting your  
portfolio for review using
the Contribute! page.

Finally, what separates MAGNAchrom is that we will use your feedback  
to change and
improve each issue. Instead of excuses, you will see spelling and/or  
grammatical errors
fixed asap. Further as each issue will undergo many "builds" during  
its lifetime, we can
add additional information to the old articles — for example,  
mentioning that such-and-
such product has been updated to a newer model, or so-and-so recently  
won a
prestigious award or wrote a book (or posthumously, so-and-so is no  
longer with us). This
way, even old issues of MAGNAchrom will be up-to-date. All we need is  
your feedback.

So you see, in a very real way, this can be your magazine. We want to  
feature you and your
work and your ideas. Keep in touch. You can email me anytime.

J Michael Sullivan
Editor/Publisher, MAGNAchrom
www.magnachrom.com