JPG Magazine Press Release

Photobloggers Derek Powazek, founder of www.fray.com, and Heather Champ, founder of www.mirrorproject.com, have launched JPG Magazine (www.jpgmag.com) using the full color print on demand technology of Lulu (www.lulu.com). JPG Magazine is for people who love imagemaking without attitude. It’s about the kind of photography you get when you love the moment more than the camera. It’s for photographers who share their work online, but would like to see that work in print.

Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) January 31, 2005—In a sea of blogs, photobloggers offer some of the most beautiful and provocative content on the Internet. Photoblogging —- the posting of digital photographs on a web site, or blog —- provides an ideal way for photographers to share images, receive feedback, and form communities with common interests. But as any photographer will tell you, photoblogging can never replace the satisfaction of seeing and holding a picture in your hands. To marry the worlds of photobloggers and print photography, an innovative San Francisco couple hatched JPG Magazine (www.jpgmag.com), a full-color publication devoted entirely to photography.

Creators Derek Powazek and Heather Powazek Champ devised JPG Magazine as an outlet for fellow photographers who may already share photos online, but who also want to offer their work in print. Because the Powazeks had no way of knowing how many people might subscribe to JPG Magazine, they decided to launch the publication using Lulu (www.lulu.com), an on-demand publishing tool that offers full-color, print on demand paperbacks.

Photographers submit photos to the JPG Magazine web site for consideration. The Powazeks, who are graphic designers as well as photographers, then lay out the magazine, upload the files to Lulu, and set the price for each issue. The publishing process itself is free, which allows entrepreneurs like the Powazeks to launch a publication without any initial financial investment. Because Lulu allows them to set their own royalty, the Powazeks can charge enough for the magazine to cover the expense of buying copies for contributors and mailing them.

“For us, Lulu was the perfect solution. They handle all the boring business parts (printing, shipping, billing), which frees up to concentrate on the fun part - making a magazine we love,” explains Derek Powazek. “The other thing we like about Lulu is that they share our interest in online communities, which is what the Internet is really about. We couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of the magazine and the feedback we’ve received.”         

The first edition of JPG Magazine showcases 31 photographers’ interpretations of the word ‘Origin,’ and each subsequent edition will also focus on a theme. One image in the first issue captures a newborn’s startled expression as he takes his first breath; another captures the crispness of the sky seconds before sunset. There is also an interview with Emilie Valentine (www.snapcity.com), possibly the first photoblogger, as well as a special spread by featured photographer Noah Grey (www.noahgrey.com). Plans call for JPG Magazine to be printed quarterly through Lulu. The Powazeks are currently accepting submissions for the next edition under the theme ‘Lost.’     

About the Editors: Derek Powazek is the author of the books Design for Community and San Francisco Stories. In addition to his photoblog (www.ephemera.org), in 1996 he founded Fray.com (www.fray.com), a popular online magazine of true stories. An award winning web designer, Derek currently works for Technorati (www.technorati.com). Heather Powazek Champ (www.hchamp.com) is also an award winning graphic designer who has written about design for numerous publications. She founded the Mirror Project (www.mirrorproject.com), an online gallery of photographic self portraits with over 25,000 images. The Powazeks’ photography will be on display in February 2005 in the Reverie Café in San Francisco’s Cole Valley district.

About Lulu (www.lulu.com): Founded by open source entrepreneur Bob Young (co-founder and former chairman of Red Hat), Lulu provides independent publishers with free access to on-demand publishing tools for books, e-books, music, images and calendars.