Photograph by Sean Gladwell
It’s an odd feeling, writing your own announcement post, but in this case it’s also a wonderful feeling (plus, anytime I can be snarky in an article title, I consider it a win). And so, it is with something approaching jubilation that I officially announce I’ve left PetaPixel, and am joining 500px as the new Editor in Chief.
Over the course of almost 3 years at PetaPixel, I’ve written about it all: from Kanye West, to embarrassing copyright debacles, to exciting gear that has changed and continues to change the photo industry.
Now, as I join one of the most enthusiastic and motivated groups I’ve ever had the honor of encountering, I’m beyond excited to bring that experience and sheer passion for all things photography to the 500px community:
It is with something approaching jubilation that I officially announce I’ve left PetaPixel, and am joining 500px as the new Editor in Chief
It’s hard to convey excitement in writing. Short of inserting a Carlton happy-dance GIF all I have is black text on a white page — allow me to give it a shot anyway.
I am now at the content creation helm of a service that contains 50+ million beautiful, eye-popping, thought-provoking, touching, and mind-bending photos created by a group of photographers as passionate as any in the world.
A company whose mission includes this little tidbt: “[To] provide opportunities for our community to be financially rewarded for their creativity.”
A service that inspires, and helps photographers show off and sell work like this:
And this:
And this:
As of today, I’m tasked with the holy-crap-this-is-a-job-you-can-get-paid-for duty of inspiring and informing the people who create photos like this. It’s now my job to dig through the archives and pull out the best; to show you how some of these images came to be; to tell the oft-unbelievable stories behind some of the best photos the 500px community has shared with the world; to help take your photography to the next level.
This is, to put it lightly, a daunting task. And so, like any good editor, I’m not going to try and do it alone: I want to ask for your help in two ways.
First, by asking, encouraging, even imploring you to contact me directly at dl@500px.com with any and all tips, feedback, criticism, encouragement, and ideas you may have. I am at your disposal, day and night.
I work for you. I’m here to tell your stories, inspire you, inform you. And since there’s no way one person could find the best of your work day-in and day-out, I would be honored if our readers and the 500px community as a whole helped keep me on top of my game.
I am at your disposal, day and night. I work for you. I’m here to tell your stories, inspire you, inform you.
Secondly, I want to ask you to get me off to a great start by dropping some feedback in the comments of this post, or emailing me today as soon as you’re done reading this.
Tell me what you love about ISO. Tell me what you want to read more of on the magazine. Tell me what you feel we could do without. Tell me why you think the Carlton happy dance is the pinnacle of artistry. But mostly, just tell me how I can make ISO a daily read for you.
What would inspire you to bookmark ISO and come back every day over your morning coffee? My goal is to make ISO your first and last stop for information, education, and inspiration where the photography world is concerned, whether or not you’re part of the 500px community.
Let me know how I can do that, and I promise you’ll find your ideas, suggestions, and criticisms are all thoughtfully considered and often implemented without delay and with a big fat “thank you.”
Finally, before I end this little novella and get to the business of doing everything I promised above, I want to give you a preview of coming attractions — a small taste of the new types of posts you can expect to see from ISO in the coming months:
- A daily news roundup that covers all of the most important stories in the world of photography that day: A short blurb and a link to find out more, it’ll be a quick way to keep up with the most relevant photo news without wasting hours down that rabbit hole.
- 500px Gear Reviews: Reviews of the newest, most exciting gear to hit the photo world, put together by 500px photographers who can push this gear to its limits.
- Deep interviews with amazing photographer that go beyond “how did you get into photography,” and really dive into what makes these successful women and men tick.
- Crappy Gear, Amazing Photo: A recurring feature where we pick out some incredible photography from 500px that looks like a million bucks, but was actually shot with affordable gear accessible to every level of photographer.
- Exciting, interactive contests with quirky prizes: We’ll leave these details a mystery for now!
This is just a small taste of what’s coming. We’ll of course continue highlighting the best photography on 500px, giving you a peek at A Day in the Life of top photographers, sharing original in-depth tutorials, and a whole lot more.
There are so many wonderful ideas bouncing around the 500px offices, and that doesn’t even include the ideas and tips I know will begin flooding my inbox and the comments of this post.
2014 was an incredible year at 500px. The community continued to grow and get more creative, we launched Prime and grew it into a vibrant licensing platform where photographers make 70% of each license they sell, and we’re setting the stage for a mind-blowing year in 2015.
Stick around, engage with our team, and become a part of taking 500px and the ISO magazine to exciting new heights this coming year.
So yes… it is definitely odd writing my own announcement post, but I couldn’t possibly be more excited to be the guy at the keyboard today. Cue Carlton happy dance.
To keep up with me, send me tips, offer feedback, or just say hi, you can reach me over email, on Twitter, on Instagram and, of course, on 500px (get on me so I upload more!).
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