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WHO WE ARE
VAULTPHOTOMAG is currently an online blog–style site showcasing photographer’s work from around the world. It's not just a site of random offerings but a site of carefully selected and curated work that is both captivating and thought-provoking. This popular site is growing quickly and followers are multiplying. With this growth are the continued requests and appetite for a printed magazine. That’s where the real fun begins....
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THE MAGAZINE
We are embarking on a journey to create a printed piece that is as artful and engaging as the work we currently feature. A piece that challenges ideas and explores creative possibilities. In short, we're going to create one cool magazine!
Let’s start with the overall “idea”. The idea of a unique piece. with a universal lexicon – one that pervades the entire piece from design, to articles, to image, to advertisements, to packaging. A piece that has one subject. Maybe it’s the idea of “Consumption” or “Mischief” or “Unusual ways to use everyday household goods”.... every article and every image will be crafted to support the idea. And we have every intention of making it captivating.
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This is an age where everything is digital. So why look to a more “traditional” vehicle to deliver information and beautiful images to the world? Because the “traditional” can now be “unconventional”. The era of analog was a period where amazing things happened, cultural thinking shifted, change caused both anxiety and excitement. That era was both clunky and intoxicating. Look where we have come in such a relatively short time. We look back and savor some of the åmazing offerings. Today we covet them for their timely innovation and now for their emotional nostalgia.
So back to the question “why a magazine”?
Because it’s a physical object that can be kept, cherished, touched, and engaged with. It can stimulate the senses and provoke the mind in away that is different from a 2D online experience. It goes back to our more human roots where a 3D object can be kept and revisited time and again. It can be physically passed around and shared. Is it somewhat analog? Yes. Is it traditional? Well that is where we see the possibilities!
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THE IMPACT
VAULTPHOTOMAG is more then just a showcase for photographers and creatives to showoff their best work. This is an opportunity for these outstanding talents to challenge us visually. These visionaries deserve the chance to get their works out to the masses. Or at least to our readers. This is a valuable opportunity and one that is done with style, edginess and value. While this may be the first printed version of this magazine, this isn't our first time creating such a piece. VAULTPHOTOMAG already exists online and has a swiftly building following. And Kelly has designed numerous – 38 to be exact – award winning books. We plan on doing this very well and we'd like you to be a part of it!
WHY WE NEED YOU?
Because we believe in all things well-crafted and we believe in doing this right. Manufacturing and printing costs money. That's the simple truth. Our desire is to create a beautiful, tactile magazine that is more then just printed paper but is an artful object. And in doing so, give these unsung talents an opportunity to be seen. AND YOU WILL BE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING SO!
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WHAT WE NEED...
To design and produce a magazine requires a tremendous amount of effort – and yes you guessed it – money. These are the steps and the areas that need funding.
1. The Idea
This includes everything from research, concept development, sourcing contributors, collecting images, hiring writers and exploring ways to realize this vision.
2. Design and Production
The piece needs a look. This is an intensely time consuming part of the process. We want this to be a captivating, thought-provoking and aesthetically exciting piece. A piece that you will want to collect.
3. Manufacturing
This means printing, binding and packaging. We intend to use an environmentally responsible paper and a environmentally conscious printer. We plan to be as thoughtful in our processes as possible. Plus our Limited Edition books are meant to be kept and even possibly re-used.
4. Distribution
We have to get out to our readers and indie magazine mavens. Postage is a real cost.
THE FUNDS
We have done our research, looked into printing and manufacturing prices and know what our costs are to create this piece. Kelly has been designing books and magazines for numerous years and has a really solid understanding of the money required to produce unique objects like this magazine. She is also very budget conscious and will be utilizing the money as carefully and effectively as possible. We want you to get a great piece that is thoughtfully produced.
We are asking for $30,000 which is very realistic in order to launch this effectively and do this this right! If we don't make our target then we will need to look at other avenues to raise the remaining dollars but this will happen regardless. And if we are lucky enough to raise more then this will be applied to making it even cooler then we intend to. Plus it will help us to prepare for issue Number 2! Our vision is long-term.
... & WHAT YOU GET
You get to be a part of this project. That may sound like an obvious statement but you really do! We are an indie magazine. We are approachable and accessible. You can actually contact us and we will acknowledge you. But even more then that....we are challenging ourselves to design a magazine that is valuable and intriguing. We want you to want it as much as we want to create it. And we can't do it without you. You can be part of a family of thinkers and mavericks who collaborate together to create the unconventional and a reader who hungers for just that!
... And did we mention we have great perks?
THE PERKS
We are offering some great perks like our custom VAULTPHOTOMAG Trucker Hat, copies of our Magazine, a chance to have your name shown in our Magazine (which is pretty cool). We will be designing a Collector's Limited Edition Magazine that is definitely worth collecting and will have a select amount personally signed as well. If you're a lover of collecting cool artifacts and interesting objects then you won't want to miss this.
WHO WE ARE
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Kurtis Martyn, editor, photographer
Some things happen for a reason but sometimes the best things happen when you're not looking... or looking for something entirely different. This is how it started for Kurtis. His passion for all things crafted stems from his "day job'" as a carpenter. Craftsman-ship extends into his desire to capture and shoot things in a way that isn't as much random as they are considered. In a sense, his images are as crafted as his buildings.
"As far back as I can remember, I've had an interest in design. I would seek to find a balance in the simplist things. Looking for symmetry, form, leading lines and patterns in a chaotic world. I wanted to put my style, personality and identity into something that could be used for social interaction. To make people stop and realize what they are looking at. I wanted to inspire others to incorporate their own style into everything they do. Whether or not it is photography." Kurtis Martyn
This was the start of www.vaultphotomag.com . He has interviewed some of the industries best and discovered some of the most surprising talent in his explorations. He has found inspiration in places you wouldn't expect and gained insight from those "indie" mavens who live, eat and breathe their craft. And in keeping with the adage of finding things in the most unexpected places, this seems to be Kurtis' new talent. Unexpected seems to be his new "norm".
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Kelly Hartman, designer
Kelly has been a practicing graphic designer since she was 5. Although not as thought- provoking as her work is now, this early need to capture type and image in unusual ways was the impetus to her journey in design. Today, she has garnered 38 national/ international design awards and has been published numerous times. And most of these awards were garnered for the editorial pieces she has created (magazines and books).
She has a passion for type and a desire to collect all things odd and unusual including her assortment of grave stone letters (she's hoping no bad karma comes attached to these). Her work can been seen in both her archive site www.fishten.net and currently at www.hartmandesignstudio.com
HOW ELSE CAN YOU HELP?
If you can't help us with a contribution (we mean money), then you can totally help us by sharing us with you compadres, getting the word out and promoting the campaign. Use the Indiegogo share tools if you can.
Really, in the end, we just want to publish a really cool magazine featuring really cool talent and we hope you're a part of it.
