The next issue of PCPhoto
will have a new name: Digital Photo. From Steve Werner...

PCPhoto was launched
in 1997 in response to the emerging interest in Digital Photography. PCPhoto
was ahead of its time, as it took nearly two years for other popular magazines
to stop regularly featuring film cameras on their covers. It was an exciting
time. Photoshop had reached 4.0, and the Internet was in the midst of two years
of explosive growth. PCPhoto was founded on the belief that the PC
would remain integrally involved in the photo-making and photo-sharing process.
To a large degree, this remains true, though significant changes have taken
place.

The PC (personal computer),
which changed the photography landscape as the new “digital darkroom,” is now
taken for granted. In another context, PC has come to represent a distinction
between competing operating systems (Windows and Mac). Once there were many
consumer magazines with PC in their title; today the number has shrunk
dramatically.

Over the ensuing decade, PCPhoto
editorial coverage has evolved to reflect the interests of its readership and
the ever-changing trends in technology. A full six years ago in 2003, we began
testing the Digital Photo title on a sampling of newsstand copies.
We’ve continued these tests to the present day, as we sensed that more and more
readers, though actively involving their PCs, were becoming less attached to
that acronym.

Now in 2009, we’re seizing the
opportunity to make the switch to Digital Photo that we’ve been
contemplating for years. Recent market tests have indicated that the timing is
perfect for the marketplace. At the same time, the magazine will undergo some
important design changes and add new editorial content. Some of these changes
have already been phased in over the past year. We’re refining our columns and
departments and adding some new ones. We’ve modified our features to be more
compact, but with more information overall. We’ve followed new trends and
tastes.

Most importantly, we’ve taken
giant steps to create a synergy between the magazine and the website, now dpmag.com
(a URL we’ve been holding in anticipation of this change).
Readers go from the magazine to the website for expanded coverage. Readers seek
timely news on the website. Inversely, reader photos are featured in the
magazine in a variety of ways. Reader online polls and input influence magazine
content. In between the magazine and the website, biweekly newsletters maintain
the flow of information and interaction.

Integral to the interplay
between print and web is our readers’ passion to take and share photos. A great
deal of the traffic on the website and reader involvement in the magazine are
fomented by photo contests and galleries. Many of our advertisers have used our
gallery and contest functionality as the basis for successful promotions. This
spring, we launched an ambitious new website module that takes the galleries
and contests to a whole new level. To a great degree, this is where we continue
to communicate with our most active readers and mine content for both website
and magazine. Moving forward, this synergy will expand with the new Digital
Photo and dpmag.com.

In order to accomplish the
transition to the new title and format, two of the usual summer issues, June
and July/August, will be combined into one Digital Photo issue. This
will allow us time to implement the changes and give the new issue an extended
exposure at retail, both on newsstands and in bookstores. In 2010, we plan to
match the successful seven-issue frequency of Digital Photo Pro (our
sister title), which constitutes a standard bimonthly frequency from January to
October, plus separate November (Buyer’s Guide) and December issues during the
important consumer-buying season.

Digital Photo is the new consumer
photo magazine taking full advantage of the “360 Surround” capabilities of
print and online—content for readers and reader-contributed content. Digital
Photo is the new title to carry the mantle of this always forward-thinking
magazine into the future of digital photography.

Best Regards,

Steven Werner
President
Werner Publishing Corporation

The Werner Publishing Imaging Group Team
Digital Photo | Outdoor Photographer | Digital Photo Pro | HDVideoPro