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I had friends over last week so I sent out an e-mail in advance asking if they wouldn't mind bringing old magazines they'd otherwise recycle.  As I watched Housewives and The Sopranos I rapidly flipped through them, ripping out photos I liked.   

I rarely buy magazines these days so it was a very good exercise for me.  Also - very different magazines than I would purchase myself for the most part.  I don't intend to replicate anything, but it does help the creative juices.  Colour combinations, lighting setups, etc. cropping possibilities or angles & configurations of Christmas ornaments on a tree. 

Some things that I noticed are:

1.  Every photo in magazines is not great just to be there.  My eye is a little more critical than it once was and I was quite underwhelmed by a lot of the imagery.  I kept wonder if many would be accepted by (fill in agency here) and I truly don't think a lot of them would! 

2.  Food photos in magazines are dramatically different from most that I've seen on stock.   Majority of the food shots were all in a warm natural environment - not isolated on white.  Of course, the difference here is they have recipes to inspire the photos and have commissioned the shots themselves and reflecting the magazine's demographic and seasons, etc.

3.  The photos on one magazine really stood out... It was a premier issue of a Canadian Parenting Magazine.   I really enjoyed the images it used, then spotted a tiny photo credit...  flipped back and a lot of them had the same agency credit (likely about 20 or 30)... you guessed it - IStock.  The quality really stood out.  I think it says a lot about IStock.

Just thought I'd share.  Does anyone keep an idea file of sorts?

I subscribe to Wired just so I can do what you do. I read it while I'm not at my computer and tear out the good image ideas.

I used to tear out like a dozen pages per issue. In the last issue, I didn't find a single 'inspiration' graphic. While it's true that Wired is going downhill in general (and losing ad pages like crazy), it is also true that I have become a lot more picky.

The better imagists on SS and IS are now better than those who illustrate Wired.