Prophotos.ru: photography magazine

Photography is perhaps the most popular art. We do not take cinema into account, its mass character is of a different kind, purely consumer. But with a photograph it is another thing - just a desire and very small investments are enough to feel like a creator. True, desire alone is not enough. As in any business, in order to achieve something beyond banality in photography, it is necessary to learn: on the works of recognized masters of the case, on articles about a particular type of photography, and the choice of technology is not an easy task in itself. Of course, there are many ways to solve this problem - a dozen or two good books and albums, a couple of online forums for photographers ... But for the century of rapid development of the Internet, this is somehow at least inconsistent. Why not combine all these areas in a single Internet project?


Perhaps it was these thoughts that were visited by a simple amateur photographer, Arkady Akulov, when he decided to start an online project about photography. However, by that time, Arkady had considerable experience in creating large portals, and therefore he was acutely aware of the lack of such a source of information on the Russian Internet. Since 1999, Arkady has been engaged in two projects that have unwound from the zero level to the level of leaders in their field.

The first is the women's magazine Ameno.ru , whose audience by 2007 had reached 40,000 visitors per day. At the same time, the Independent Media publishing house became interested in the portal, which ultimately resulted in the purchase of the entire project. Now he continues to work under the control of IM.
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A similar fate for the second project - the first Russian online service of astrological forecasts Astrostar.ru . The basis of Astrostar.ru business is paid horoscopes, which are compiled personally for each system user. Over several years of operation, the project has managed to develop a very powerful affiliate program with more than 500 participants (including Rambler.ru , Cosmo.ru , KM.ru and many others), and the number of registered users of the system has exceeded 6 million. In 2007, a share in the project was acquired by Finam investment holding.

But back to the photo. Just in 2007, active work began on the launch of the first online magazine about photography Prophotos.ru . The idea of ​​the project was born from the very reflections about which I wrote at the beginning of the post - to become an exhaustive source of information for photo lovers, as well as a place for communication of amateur photographers and professionals. The official launch of the project took place in November 2007, since then the magazine’s audience has grown to 20,000 unique users per day. To date, the main sections of the journal are as follows:

- Catalog of photographers . It collects information about the best photographers in history. Those who need to learn vision and skill.

- Lessons . The purpose of this section is to become after some complete source of information for newcomers to photography. It will be a kind of online encyclopedia, from which you can learn all about photographic equipment, about shooting in a particular genre, or about photo processing.

- Technique . As you know, the most authoritative source of information on modern cameras is the British site dpreview.com . Many Russian attempts to make something even remotely resembling it ended in nothing. The Prophotos.ru team set an ambitious goal to bring its technical section to the level of the best Western analogues. Already, all tests of the technique are carried out according to the original method, which allows readers to independently compare the capabilities of different cameras. In the near future - the launch of a unique test photo comparison service. Here, for example, one of the latest materials in the section is a detailed test of the Samsung GX-20 camera and a set of accessories for it. The volume of the test - 13 pages of text and photos, there is even a short video about the camera.

- Poster . This section contains information about all significant events in the photographic life of the two capitals - exhibitions, contests, master classes. The most interesting events are visited by Prophotos journalists personally, and following the results they issue short video reviews (already within the PhotoTV section).

- PhotoTV . This is a completely new format for talking about photography on the Russian Internet. Video tutorials are the basis of PhotoTV, and their range is very wide - from the simplest, for those who are just starting to take pictures, to advanced ones that will interest more experienced amateur photographers (for example, a lesson about choosing a tripod ). In addition, as part of PhotoTV, there are reviews of all cameras entering the Prophotos test lab, as well as reports from the most interesting exhibitions (one of the latest reports from the opening of the David Dubile exhibition on Chistoprudny Boulevard ).

- The Prophotos team implemented an unusual project - a virtual version of the Photoforum 2008 exhibition. If for some reason you were not able to attend this exhibition, in a special section on the Prophotos website you can “walk” on all main stands, see photos and interviews with representatives of major manufacturers technology.



Prophotos team is not going to stop at one project. The launch queue is Photoawards.ru portal, in which more than two dozen contests will be held every month, and the best of the best will be able to qualify for participation in the annual award.

Another project, scheduled for release in the fall, also sets new standards for the Russian Internet. This is the tourist portal of the new generation Foturist. Work on it is already in full swing, it’s too early to talk about any details, but one thing is for sure - it will be a very beautiful and informative travel site. You can say, the first Russian online guide.