Dominic Nahr and Moises Saman have both been invited to join Magnum

July 5, 2010 6:46 AM

Photographers Dominic Nahr and Moises Saman have both beeninvited to join the prestigious photo agency Magnum (as nominees).
posted by chunking express (26 comments total)

Rick and T.C. will be jealous.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 6:57 AM on July 5, 2010 [7 favorites]

whatever happened to pictures of pretty flowers?
posted by billybobtoo at 7:04 AM on July 5, 2010

Gasp! Magnum!
posted by mhoye at 7:07 AM on July 5, 2010

Some context or explanation would be nice, for those of us with no idea why this is important?
posted by Dr.Enormous at 7:24 AM on July 5, 2010 [5 favorites]

I understand the grammar of this sentence but none of its proper nouns.
posted by LSK at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

Both of the photographers websites feature work that I think is really good, hence the link. I think you can enjoy their work without having to know what Magnum is. If you want some back story: Magnum is a photo agency; it was started by Robert Capa, Henri-Cartier Breson, and a few other photographers of note in the 40s. You can find out more about Magnum using the Internet. I didn't include links to other random junk because it distracts from what I wanted to share here.
posted by chunking express at 7:32 AM on July 5, 2010

If I could start this post over again, I probably would have said "Photographers Dominic Nahr and Moises Saman have both been invited to join Magnum (as nominees)." C'est la vie.
posted by chunking express at 7:33 AM on July 5, 2010

You can find out more about Magnum using the Internet.

Well hey, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks.
posted by octothorpe at 7:46 AM on July 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Magnum is like the AAA league for COBRA! right?
posted by Babblesort at 7:50 AM on July 5, 2010

Boy I had my Mangum common-spelling-error indie music smackdown all ready, too, just in case the ambiguously-worded post was about some new Jeff Mangum project.

Anyway,

Magnum Photos is a photographic co-operative of great diversity and distinction owned by its photographer-members. With powerful individual vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its peoples, events, issues and personalities. Through its four editorial offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and a network of fifteen sub-agents, Magnum Photos provides photographs to the press, publishers, advertising, television, galleries and museums across the world.

posted by carsonb at 7:52 AM on July 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a Hasselblad H6D, the most powerful camera in the world, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
posted by doctor_negative at 7:57 AM on July 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

Photographers Dominic Nahr and Moises Saman have both been invited to join the prestigious photo agency Magnum (as nominees).

That would have avoided all these derails.
posted by rocket88 at 8:09 AM on July 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Eugene Jarvis and Richard Garriot have received lifetime achievement awards from the GDC"

This headline would have made sense to me immediately. But I like to think that I wouldn't have assumed that I could FPP it without any preamble whatsoever.
posted by CaseyB at 8:15 AM on July 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

And Ed Kashi was invited to become a member of VII last week.
posted by photoslob at 8:45 AM on July 5, 2010

Listen guys, if you aren't a photonerd you can just fuck right off to Google to make any sense of my posts.
posted by basicchannel at 9:41 AM on July 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

There are three links in this post. Two of them go to the sites of them are portfolio sites. One of them goes to Magnum's website. I thought regular-ass nerds could figure out what's up. Clearly I was wrong. If someone wants to start a MetaTalk thread and I can flame out over there. Or you know, we can keep talking about how this FPP was so poorly worded right here. Those are the best MetaFilter threads ever.
posted by chunking express at 9:54 AM on July 5, 2010

Wikipedia tells me that "Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members". And they have a very impassioned mission statement, just like every other company. On that basis, who gives a fuck? Why should I care that these photographers joined an agency? I don't care about most offers of employment. What's so special about Magnum?

I don't doubt that you have good answers to these questions. How about sharing them instead of telling us ignorant philistines to go do our own background research before we can appreciate your post?
posted by CaseyB at 10:23 AM on July 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

[edited the post per the OPs request, carry on]
posted by jessamyn at 10:43 AM on July 5, 2010

[edited the post per the OPs request, carry on]

Are you the one that misspelled "photographers," jessamyn?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:02 AM on July 5, 2010

On that basis, who gives a fuck? Why should I care that these photographers joined an agency? I don't care about most offers of employment. What's so special about Magnum?

Exactly. How is this more important than any other person getting a really awesome job? This kind of reads like a press release.
posted by lunasol at 11:31 AM on July 5, 2010

I thought this post had something to do with the makers of the Desert Eagle pistol.
posted by mecran01 at 11:38 AM on July 5, 2010

[edited the post per the OPs request, carry on]

Can you edit my derail to make it funny again too?
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:38 AM on July 5, 2010

How about sharing them instead of telling us ignorant philistines to go do our own background research before we can appreciate your post?

The post is the portfolio sites of the two photographers. They both take nice photos. That's the post. I regret mentioning Magnum at all, since it apparently made people go crazy with the rage.
posted by chunking express at 11:41 AM on July 5, 2010

I can come back in a couple hours to say the same thing again?
posted by chunking express at 11:42 AM on July 5, 2010

I'll agree that this makes a thin newsfilter post, but it's worthwhile to see the work of Nahr and Saman.

On to Magnum: The importance of Magnum to the global media, photojournalism, and photographers cannot be underestimated. They were founded at a time when photographers were getting screwed by every publication (much like today) and managed to make it so photojournalists kept copyright in their contracts as standard industry practice, that they were paid both for time/creative fee and usage, and that photographers could spend time (months or years) documenting a single topic that no one else was covering. These efforts continue today. Their education arm, helmed by David Alan Harvey, annually gives out tens of thousands of dollars to "emerging" photographers as a way of funding the future of visual communication, too.

There is not a globally important event in history since the 1930s that was not photographed by someone who is or eventually would be in Magnum. And there are a host of other topics that have only been covered by Magnum. Their styles and approaches to photography are, for better or worse, what sets the tone for documentary, journalistic, and some art photography, and this has been the case for the better part of 50 years.

If you don't know Magnum, you don't know photography. I feel quite confident in that statement.

(disclaimer: I've worked with and alongside a few Magnum photographers, both on the page and in the office)
posted by msbrauer at 5:01 PM on July 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

Msbrauer, thanks for the explanation of why Magnum is important.

If you don't know Magnum, you don't know photography. I feel quite confident in that statement.

Indeed, I know neither, so your explanation was helpful.
posted by lunasol at 5:19 PM on July 5, 2010