We chat to Matt Snellin, editor and founder of Print Magazine, about the magazine’s success and how it encourages new talent.
What made you decide to start Print Magazine?
During university I was surrounded by talented photographers, most of which had social media accounts and posted their work there like I did.
I think these platforms are great but I found, especially in this day and age with so many camera phones, that my work got lost down news feeds.
Although we had brilliant printing facilities at my university I found it difficult to get my work printed and published in a legitimate magazine.
I believe having your work printed and being able to physically pick up a publication to see your work published is an incredible feeling, and there is more satisfaction than seeing your images on a monitor screen.
The magazine started in late 2019.
However, I always wanted to start a publication that showcased great photography work.
I pitched the idea to the creators of Frequency Festival and they loved it and I was given a grant to kickstart the first issue.
It was an amazing opportunity to get Print Magazine finally from an idea in my head to a physical product.
How has the magazine evolved since issue one?
Issue one was amazing in its own way.
Firstly it was the start of Print Magazine and this journey but the feedback I received from it was incredible and made me realise how much I wanted to carry it forward.
Although issue one was a success, it had loads of things that needed improving.
Since then myself, and now a few others that have joined the team, Natalia and Caoimhe have been changing, adapting and working on each issue to improve it.
Successful submissions have multiple page spreads instead of just two pages, we have raised the quality of the paper and design too, so it not only reads and looks good but feels great too.
As well as all this, Print Magazine is now distributed to over 15 universities across the country including LCC, Leeds, Manchester, Lincoln and Derby.
How do you support emerging talent?
One of our main aims is to encourage, promote and showcase emerging talent.
We mainly target our artist call outs to students as we understand as a student it’s difficult to get your work out there.
However, we want to stress you do not have to be a student to submit.
Print aims to give up-and-coming artists a platform to showcase their work where professionals from the industry will see it.
Most importantly though, Print gives these artists a chance to get their work printed and published in a legitimate publication.
We try to support as many artists as possible but one of the hardest things to do is letting people know they haven’t made it into the next issue.
It’s something that never gets easier.
Why do you think it is important for emerging photographers to see their work in print?
I believe there is just no comparison to seeing your work in print compared to on a screen.
With technology forever growing and social media platforms trying to out-do each other, there is so much content online at the moment and work can just get lost down news feeds.
Being able to physically pick up a print or magazine and hand it to someone to look at is a beautiful thing.
They have to take time to open it, read the pages and explore the image or images.
You can just take more time to appreciate the work.
Photographs deserve to be printed and put on a wall.
If you’re proud of an image you’ve taken, get it printed!
How can people get involved in Print Magazine?
There are loads of different ways to get involved with Print.
You can follow us on our social media pages where we post our Artist Call Outs.
We do Instagram Live talks with photographers and also takeovers.
You can check out our website at www.printmagazine.co.uk where we also post updates and information regarding the next issue.
Or, if you would like a copy of one of the issues that has been released, then you just send us a message letting us know and we’ll get one posted out to you.
Your next issue includes Laura Pannack as a guest photographer, what was it like to work with Laura?
Great! We mixed things up this issue and decided on, more of an interview-style feature.
That way we could ask what we really wanted to know.
Her work is just incredible and we really admire how she embeds herself in her work, often working with the people she photographs for very long periods of time.
What was great was she let us choose what images to feature which made things so much easier for us.
We’re super proud with how issue four is coming along so make sure you grab a copy when its released!
Are there any photographers you would love to feature?
Yes! Lots! Probably too many to name.
So many photographers at the moment are bringing out such great work.
What is the most rewarding thing about your job?
Getting great feedback from people who have received the magazine always makes all the hard work worthwhile.
It’s really nice when people message us or send an email saying they appreciate what we’re doing and that the publication has helped them a lot.
I don’t think there’s just one thing, its a combination of lots of little things that make us smile.
Getting tagged in photos of people reading the magazine on a train or in coffee shops and also seeing how happy and pleased people are when they find out they’ve been successful in their submission.
We had someone email us back saying it had made their week and things like this never happen to them and that their family was really proud of them.
That was really rewarding for us.
What’s next for Print Magazine?
We have a lot of exciting things in the pipeline.
Firstly, issue five is our next milestone and will be a big issue so make sure you watch out for that one.
We are planning to spread physical copies to more and more universities and also planning to get them into book/magazine shops too.
We will also be doing more live streams with photographers in the industry, where people can ask them questions and we can chat about everything photography.
We’re just trying to push Print as much as possible and get it seen by as many people as possible.
Hopefully this will give more and more people interested in photography a chance to showcase their work.
Apart from that, we’ll be carrying on improving the magazine and sharing great work!
Find out more about Print Magazine online at printmagazine.co.uk.