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Saying hello to Magnum Photos

I will be starting my internship at Magnum Photos on Monday at 09:30am. Well I couldn't wait to see their office and meet the people until then and gave Claudine a call to ask if I could come over to say hello and to meet her and BJ in person for the first time. Claudine is the Creative Director of Magnum's new department "Magnum In Motion" which is responsible for storytelling with digital media. BJ is a very nice guy from Denmark working together with Claudine on different projects. I've been in contact with him and Mark Lubell, Magnum's New York City Bureau Chief, for most of the time before I came to New York.
You should by the way check out BJ's website at www.versionmyrthu.dk. There are some very good online documentary stories on his website. I especially like "The Enemy Within", a documentary about Russian war veterans.
So I took the bus from Co-Op City to Belham Bay Park, jumped on the 6 train to 59th Street, took the Q train to 28th Street and walked down to 25th Street where Magnum is located. Wow, this trip took about an hour and a half. I will try to figure a faster way out.

The building where Magnum is located is rather inconspicuous from the outside. I took the elevator to fifth floor, the door opend and there I was standing in the middle of the office. The first thing I mentioned have been different pictures of Magnum photographers on the walls, a big tabel with lot's and lot's of photobooks on it and a very friendly looking office space. Claudine and BJ welcomed me and I got kind of an office tour where I was introduced to some of the staff there. Well I can only say that I am sure I'll have a very interesting time there. There will be lot's of things to learn and see. After seeing the main office space BJ took me to Magnum's darkroom which is still used by some photographers. Some of them have their own darkroom where they work, some do rareley need one since they are working digital and some still work in the darkroom in Magnum's office space. Great to be in the darkroom where so many wonderful photographers have developed and printed so many wonderful photographies! :-)) After that we went a little further and stood in the middle of Magnum's archive. It looks like the archive I was thinking of. Shelves which go up to the ceiling with labelled storage boxes everywhere, metallically archive-cupboards with labelled drawers and portfolio folders around. The best thing: Since the Magnum In Motion department consisted of only two people up to now they need some more space for all of us and we will be moving onto a desk which will be standing in the middle of this archive. What a great place to work!

I left the office after half an hour since they had a meeting and headed up north to get back to my appartment in the Bronx. I will be having a relaxed weekend since I still have to get rid of my cold. More news to come soon...

Posted by Martin Fuchs on April 30, 2005 06:46 PM