Agenda

Blurb BookSmart v2.5 released

Online book printing and publishing service Blurb has today released an improved version of its book creation software. BookSmart, which is a free dowload from the company's website. Blurb has also introduced a flat rate shipping fee for orders of between 1 and 5 books, which means the vast majority of orders should now be cheaper. Full details at Blurb.com.

Impressions calls for photobooks

We received this information too late for the next issue of Ag which is at the printers, so here it is online. Impressions Gallery in York is calling for independently published photobooks to be offered for sale during its Photography Book Fair Weekend, 24-25 October 2009. You have until 6 October to apply, so hurry up. For full details click here.

Latest Ag magazine in the shops now

The summer 2009 issue of Ag magazine is now in the shops. Ag56 features the results of our Brilliant Book Awards - are you featured? The cover story is a portfolio of 35 years’ work from Arno Rafael Minkkinen whose only subject is his naked self. Paul Gallagher begins a four-part series on b&w landscape and Tim Soar and Carl Radford take wet-plate collodion to a Cumbrian quarry. David Lee presents a resonant portfolio of 1960s Salford by Shirley Baker and Olaf Willoughby reports in pictures from Antarctica. Duncan Davis goes underground in the Durham coalfields, while Andy Biggs presents a documentary project on the river Wyre. David Hurn remembers his old friend Bill Jay, plus we have four new portfolios in Scene Around. Wall-to-wall photography!

Bill Jay has died

Bill Jay - the author, photographic educator, founding editor of Creative Camera magazine and regular contributor to Ag magazine and LensWork - has died in his sleep last Sunday, aged 69.

Born in London, Jay had lived and worked in the USA for many years. Having effectively retired, but still working when ill health allowed, he relocated last year from San Diego to Costa Rica. An appreciation will be published in the next issue of Ag. The photograph of Bill is a self-portrait.

Peter Goldfield obituary online

At last The Guardian has got round to printing Eamonn McCabe’s obituary for Peter Goldfield, who died on 9 February -- it’s in today’s issue. It’s arguably a little matter-of-fact but, to be fair, it does occupy ¾ of a page, so fair dos. Better late than never. You can read it online by clicking here.

Spring 2009 of Ag in the shops

The Spring 2009 issue of Ag, Ag55, is in the shops and on its way to subscribers, and includes the final call for entries to our Brilliant Book Awards. We’re looking for your best photobook ideas, and the winners will be printed as beautiful hardbacks by Blurb.com -- plus prizes from Adobe of Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2. Over £2500 in prizes to be won! Cover photographer Andy Gotts talks about photographing the stars and we have exclusive new colour work from John Blakemore. David Lee reviews a new body of work from Chris Killip -- Here Comes Everybody -- and Bill Jay advises on how to fake appearing profound about photography. Gerry Badger hails a series of books on photobooks from Errata Editions and Tim Daly describes how to reproduce b&w print effects using inkjet output. Eddie Ephraums discusses the relationship between text and pictures, plus we have six great portfolios in Scene Around. And we have the usual mix of new and views and some of our favourite new photobooks. Click the link top left for more.

Agenda major revamp

This site is presently dormant while it undergoes a major revamp.

Hope to be up an running in April!

Autumn 2008 edition of Ag out now

The October issue of Ag is tremendous: issue 53’s cover story introduces an exhibition of Rob Grierson's Family Pictures; Gerry Badger admires a new Anna Fox retrospective and A D Coleman reports from the Houston Fotofest; we test drive Blurb's B3 book production service for professionals and Tim Daly proposes a logical approach to digital workflow; there's a stunning portfolio of Cumbria by night, from Henry Iddon, taken from the hilltops; David Lee is underwhelmed by a rehash of Josef Koudelka's 1968 Prague invasion reportage and Kyriakos Kalorkoti sets out his philosophy of landscape - plus more new photography in the Scene Around section and our regular selection of newly published photobooks. Click here for the full details.

Beth Dow wins Photography.Book.Now prize

Ag magazine reader Beth Dow, based in Minneapolis, has won the $25,000 first prize in the inaugural Photography.Book.Now awards with her book In The Garden. The prize is sponsored by Blurb.com and Beth's book was chosen from over 2000 submitted entries. You can find out more about the competition and winning entries by clicking here, and details of Beth's winning book by clicking here.

International Photography Awards deadline looms

You have until 25 September to win your share of a £13,000 prize pool in the fourth International Photography Awards organised by British Journal of Photography. For full entry details - click here.