First-time publisher launches mag showcasing photo talent

A former computer programmer has launched a photography magazine from his semi-detached house in Swindon.

Paul Dunn, 42, had the idea for MaVista after discovering a wealth of photographic talent on the internet. A pilot issue was distributed in 2006, with photographs donated from online portfolios of both amateur and professional photographers.

MaVista will be a quarterly title, includings portraits, sports and wildlife while avoiding adult or shocking images. The magazine will not include technical advice and Dunn said he sourced pictures according to their merit, not on the reputation of the photographer, style of photography or equipment used to take a shot.

Dunn said: ‘It’s not a how-to type of magazine – there are no camera guides or hints and tips sections. It’s about the picture itself. I don’t care who the photographers are or what camera they have taken the picture on – so in that way its quite egalitarian.’Dunn is distributing MaVista from his website because of the high costs in dealing with wholesalers and of convincing advertisers to buy into a first-time publisher.

He said: ‘The difficulty of distribution is that there are only a few wholesalers you can deal with, and for a new title they want quite a lot of the percentage price which reduces what you get if and when the magazine sells.’Dunn has created a MySpace page, myspace.com/mavista, to generate awareness, adding he was confident of making a profit: ‘So long as I sell sufficient quantities of the magazine I can make a profit quicker than by going through big publishers.”