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An open letter to Magnum New York and a job in London

There is a lot going on in my life right now. As I wrote a little over a week ago my time in New York comes to an end. Magnum offered me a job in it's digital department about two months ago which I didn't take because I felt the need to move on and push my photography further.

Well my plans changed in the meantime. Mark Lubell, Magnum's New York bureau director, asked me if I would be interested in taking over a job in Magnum's London office. Hamish Crooks who is among other things responsible for Magnum's image database and website is going to leave Magnum. They need somebody to do that job and Mark thought that I might be well suited to do that for different reasons.
Long story short, I said yes because I think that this position is a pretty interesting one. Because of all the things I've done in the past, because of six months knowledge of Magnum and my pleasure to learn new things and gain more experience I decided to go for it. And hey, it's another country again...

Again a pretty tough decision because that obviously means that I can not start working as a photographer right away. I got quite a lot of positive feedback from people who told me that they have high respect for my decision to reject the job in New York and follow my own photography. Now I kind of feel like betraying those people, this respect which was brought towards me. But I thought about it quite well. And it seems to be the right way for me. Having a full time job doesn't mean that I am not photographing anymore. Look at the past six months. I worked a lot but I also took about 18.000 photographs during that time. I've never before photographed that much. So it's also a chance for my photography. I am going to stay in a highly inspiring environment and am able to work on a personal project on the side.

So what does that mean for the rest of the time in New York? Well I was supposed to leave New York Saturday the 12th to fly back to Vienna. I rearranged my flight today... I'll leave New York already Tuesday November 8th to go back to Vienna. I'll arrive there Wednesday and will fly to London for a job interview on Thursday. It's not for sure that I'll get the job. I'll be one of many applicants and will have to see what happens.

That messes up my time plan for the last days in New York. I feel the stress already. Gotta do this, gotta do that, want to hang out with my friends here before leaving and so on. I'll be at work tomorrow and on Monday and that's it.

Subject: An open letter to Magnum New York

Tonight I send out an e-mail to all the Magnum New York staff to say goodbye and thank you. Since I have the feeling that this e-mail shows my feelings towards my colleagues pretty well I decided to share it with you. :-)

Dear Magnum staff,

After writing a whole lot of very pathetic breathed on words about my last six months at Magnum and in New York I decided to delete all that crap and try to come to the point in a couple of sentences. Not exactly what I am well known for. :-)

My time at Magnum New York draws to a close. I came here at the end of April, full of excitement as well as nervousness. The nervousness left, the excitement stayed. I enjoyed working at Magnum a lot. I met wonderful people and got inspired by Magnum as well as New York City!

My internship is about to end and I'll leave New York Tuesday November 8th. My last day at work will be next week Monday. I leave with a weeping and a laughing eye at the same time. A great experience is over, I leave the city I got to love so much and where I feel at home but I am also ready to move on. I have an appointment in the London office next week and if things work out fine for me I will start to work there.

Alright, before I start to bore everybody I want to say one more thing coming out of my heart (well I can't resist to have at least one pathetic element in here)... I really want to thank every single one of you for welcoming me the way you did, for working with me and for letting me become part of this great office. It has been a great pleasure and honor to work with you!

By the way, people with a certain job in New York City are called "New York's Finest". I'd rather call all of you "New York's Finest".

Cheers,
Martin

That's it for today. I'll keep you posted about my last days in New York and how it's going on afterwards!

Posted by Martin Fuchs on November 3, 2005 11:59 PM