My buddy, photographer Chuck Patch, wrote to say he has a photo in Issue 1 of Photographs on the Brain magazine. I followed the link he sent found found that I could get a copy printed on demand and sent to me…through a new print-on-demand self-publishing website called MagCloud — $6.99 (plus $1.56 for shipping). The brand new magazine arrived in a week and the 27-page photo spread on satin-finish paper is really nice. You can preview the entire publication at MagCloud.
Chuck’s picture is one of the best in a magazine whose works range from street photos to what look like Facebook party pictures. There is humor in many of the works and some, like Chuck’s is sly humor. A typical airport waiting area has three figures in dark silhouette in front of windows through which raking sunlight streams in. Outside the window is a stripe of stark white that runs the whole width of the scene. Is it a beach? snow? It’s not clear and so the exterior doesn’t make sense (what airports are on beaches?) But when you look closely you see the shark’s fin of an airplane in the distance behind the white expanse –which must in fact be a wall. The airplane tail is pure Airplane! But the humor sneaks up on you in what looks like a picture with primarily formalist concerns.
So, self-publishing moguls check it out. MagCloud is a Hewlett Packard lab project that’s in Beta test mode. It doesn’t cost to become a member and create your magazine. All you need to do is have an idea for a multi-page magazine, then create and upload it as a pdf file whose pages can print out letter sized. Choose your sales price (must be at least 20 cents/page–which is Magcloud’s charge). You get your markup price paid to you by MagCloud in a royalty check.
Many of the magazines on the site are first issues….including Livestrong Quarterly, published by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a 76 pager with inspirational stories about cancer survivors, tips on this and that, stories on drug advances, a story about humor — and advertisements. It looks like it might be a doctor’s office staple in a few years. $9.95 plus shipping.
