Design Federation

UnseeN Magazine is a webzine devoted to photography. It started in 2001 as an outlet for designer / photographer Garry Trinh to display his collaborative works with other artists and designers. Trinh believes there is a market for “a photographic magazine for photographers who are passionate about the medium’s creativity in all its forms.” In 2004 he and his friends set out to turn Unseen Magazine into a print reality, learning a few lessons along the way.

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GT: From the start, the people I spoke to about starting a magazine all warned me against it. They all said it was a ‘cutthroat’ industry but they didn’t tell me why so I read all the books I could get my hands on about running a magazine business. I wanted to succeed.I thought being a graphic designer, I could do all the design myself. As for content, there is an enormous amount of photographers who all welcome the opportunity to show their work to a wider audience. I had no problem getting photographers to send me their images and write about their work. However, why most magazines fail is in the financing.Getting businesses to invest in magazine advertising is a tricky business. Most advertisers are only interested if your magazine has a high circulation. Which means that you will have to print a large number of copies. Much more then you would be able to sell, if your magazine is for a niche market. Printing is still very expensive (even in Asia). The money from advertisers and the money from selling the magazine will likely be cancelled out by printing and distribution cost. This is before any payment is made to staff. There’s an extremely slim profit margin, if any at all.

All my time I spent on the magazine sucked up the time I had to do jobs that paid my bills. I could see I was only be able to do that for a short time before I would run up some serious debt or have to stop running the magazine. That is why most independent magazines die after a few issues.

Sadly, the worth of a print magazine is judged by the amount of advertisers it attracts. In our capitalist society, staff members, ideas and a magazine’s history count for very little. I still believe there is a market for a print photography magazine that isn’t about selling photographic equipment, or about boring photography business practices, or about equally boring academic photographic theory. There is a market for a photographic magazine for photographers who are passionate about the medium’s creativity in all its forms and permutations.

At the moment UnseeN Magazine is a webzine for photographers. We see it as a temporary project, until we can work out how to independently publish our own photography magazine.

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After 13 years in the game, Garry has developed an eye for quality photography. UnseeN Magazine accepts submissions, but will only display work that meets a certain standard. You can view UNseeN Magazine here http://www.unseenmagazine.com and submit your work http://www.unseenmagazine.com/submissions.html

Interview by Kate Newton