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Reportage is a website dedicated to publishing innovative international photojournalism and presenting challenging articles on the use and abuse of photography in today's media.
This site continues the approach of the former print edition of Reportage magazine which received critical acclaim between 1993 and 2000.
The internet version of Reportage displays some of the best features from past magazines and at the same time shows new work. We pay special attention to the photography of newer or relatively unknown photographers, providing them with a showcase for their photojournalism which is sadly absent in contemporary magazines.
Most existing photography websites seem happy merely to present portfolios of photographers' work - Reportage sees its role as resurrecting and encouraging the neglected art of storytelling in pictures.
In 2002 we will continue to add new stories but it will be done at more irregular intervals. We have added a service of e-mail notification to inform interested readers when new issues appear: Please register your e-mail address. Also we will gradually expand the scope of the website by adding educational components to it.

London/Amsterdam, 22 December, 2001, Colin Jacobson and Menno van de Koppel (joint editors)		 The Reportage Foundation thanks the following sponsors for their generous support:

The Howard Chapnick Grant for the advancement of photojournalism

Stichting Het Parool

 




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reportage visitor's comments & reviews
Please use the comments form to send
comments, suggestions or criticism
on the content and design of the site





reportage, simplicity and modesty, a must for any photojournalist
(www.treborrevlis.co.uk/news, 13/08/2001)


Love your site! Unlike any other I have visited before.
(John McEvoy, 17/07/2001)


I often visit your page to enjoy great stories and great images. I usually use it to recharge my energies to keep going.
(Andrea Aragon, 13/07/2001)


At least a site that preserves b/w photojournalism in this world of junk color photography. Excellent work. Both of the authors and the reportage team!
(Christian Becker, 05/07/2001)


I very much enjoyed your site and appreciate your stance on telling stories as opposed to just showcasing work by well-known photographers. In this day and age where photojournalism is nearly dead, it's refreshing to see that there is still dedication to the cause and a way of showcasing work as well.
(Kurt Vinion, 05/07/2001)


It's amazing the Reportage website. I've never had the chance to see the magazine, but I'm sure it was impressive.
(Rafael Jacinto, 28/06/2001)


I like it. It's simple and clear and lets the journalism speak for itself. Too many sites are overdesigned.
(Tim Hurles, 21/06/2001)


Wow! It's really a nice site.
(Amelie Billette, 05/06/2001)


On first glance at the home page, the content seems slim. but upon accessing the archive i see that it has a wealth of visual material.
(David Friend, 25/06/2001)


Thanks for this site. The images these journalists provide us with, and the stories behind them, are essential and very moving. It's amazing and provoking to come across something that is so beautiful (though sometimes horrific) and profoundly disturbing, especially on the web (which is for the most part vacuous and shabby).
(Tim Hurles, 20/06/2001)


I remember the first print copy of Reportage back in 1993, I could barely afford film then! I found your site whilst looking for info on Dieter Telemans (superb photojournalist), using the 'google'search engine. I think the site is great as it is, very quick,good links and not confusing and as the saying goes - 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'.
(Phil Kneen, 12/06/2001)


It's nice to see a site which is actually updated on a regular basis! A great inspiration for all struggling photojournalists, in fact when I get payed for my next job I will buy all the printed back issues. keep it up.
(Phil Kneen, 12/06/2001)


Great photojournalism. This is one of the best sites, however I would like to sugest a links page...
(Osvaldo, 11/05/2001)


What a beautiful site. Thank you.
(Anna Kirtiklis, 22/04/2001)


I found it on a link in Mamma.com when I'm looking at other photo galleries, so far your site in the only one I came across that really gives photo essay a major exposure. it's like a 1950-1960 LIFE mag. on the digital hi-way. There are lots of people who miss the LIFE photo essays, and there are lots of new photog. who are doing it now but don't know that they can present it as an essay because most of picture mag now is looking for only one photo. You give us a place to learn and a place to express.
(Tomas Eric C. Sales, 05/04/2001)


You have put together a wonderful online magazine with a great purpose. And without all those Flash/Shockwave graphics and flashing banners! I actually wasn't aware that the printed version has ceased publication.
(Choon Huat Tan, 04/04/2001)


I read about your site in Popular Photography. Excellent photography, strong and provocative, of the kind that is sadly absent from the mainstream media with their one-shot approach. Gives me some encouragement to continue shooting in the documentary/photo essay genre, which has been labeled 'dead' even by my art school professors. Major cudos for showcasing unknown and unrecognized photographers whose livelihoods have been endangered by the MTV generation's 2-second attention span.
(Leon Tverskoy, 31/03/2001)


I work for a local paper here in Trinidad and Tobago and I thought I knew what photojournalisim was all about until I accidently saw your sight. Thanks I will strive now to do better and be even more inovative with my work. Thanks for the inspiration.
(Kenrick Bobb, 31/03/2001)


I enjoyed that you present the photographers' works simply and directly, unaccompanied by a great deal of graphics, links, heavily stylized design, or other visual rhetoric.
I loved the presentation of the series on the Sierra Leonian Olympic team. Loading the images on a single page, and allowing a viewer to scroll _across_: It's ingenious. I cannot stand image sites that require me to endure the serial tedium of page click after page click of images, and I feel oppressed by the verticality of everything web. Your horizontal orientation was new to me, and I enjoyed dallying over the work, rocking the images back and forth across the screen with my mouse (as opposed to up and down).
After this, however, I confess to feeling impatient in the alternating text/page layout of some of your archived pieces (e.g., the piece on the Irish dog races); but then it's your own fault for having opened my eyes to new possibilities.
(Matthew Justin Kelly, 29/03/2001)


What a wonderful, thoughtful, beautiful site. Thank you for sharing it, and thank you for introducing me to the work. Yours is one of the very few websites I've found that deliver on the potential of the internet.
(Matthew Justin Kelly, 28/03/2001)


I am glad to see that there is a glimmer of hope for those of us that are impassioned by the world around us, and have a need to share how we see it with others. Most often the things hardest to publish are the ones we most need to see. I suppose in hopes of having a forum we must keep documenting, keep clicking and more importantly continue to care about that which we photograph. Hats off to you, and those who have started to a fill a void that has been there for too long.
(Jennifer Catron, 25/03/2001)


Glad to see a site with the mission and standards of Reportage.
(Pierre Burnaugh, 20/03/2001)


I'm a joung Italian photographer and I really am pleased to see that somebody gets really interested in the meanings and the opportunities given by reportage. Something I find really interesting (and in a way is the meaning of my personal photography) is the attention you give not only to big events of history, but even and in particular to the 'common' life, which in fact is not alway so common, and contributes to make history. Getting to know the other part of the story I think is a good way to make people stop and meditate on human events....and this is alway a good thing.
(Carlo Furgeri, 23/03/2001)


Not just photos but storytelling in pictures is the remit of the Web version of this photojournalism magazine founded in 1993. After six months online, it harbours an impressive selection of images and text, from a poignant if one-sided account of the effect of Iraqi sanctions to a fascinating compare-and-contrast look at Japanese and Senegalese newspaper production. Colin Jacobson, former Independent Magazine picture editor, aims to encourage new photographers, and to look critically at the media's use of their work.
(www.independent.co.uk/websites, 12/03/2001)


I visit the site regularly, and really enjoy it (I was a subscriber to the late, lamented print version). 2 things about the site you could improve are: 1) have a mailing list and notify people when you publish the next update. 2) don't say it'll be ready in week 10 (or whatever). Nobody knows what week we're in. Tell us it'll be ready 'week commencing ...'
(Bob Walkden, 10/3/2001)


I think that your current website contradicts to the image of the respectable magazine.
(Andrew Evdokimov, 18/03/2001)


Very impressed with the crisp presentation and easy-viewing format.
(Richard Baker, 08/02/2001)


Now that anodyne ´lifestyle´ photography is a common design feature in websites, corporate communications and consumer material, it's striking to see photography used as powerfully and confrontationally as it is in Reportage.org. Every month there are new stories from practically unknown photographers and unusual work from famous names - such as fashion photographer Paolo Ventura's eerie ´Dressed for Eternity´. Features (among them ´Running wild´, about an Irish drag hunt) are so vivid that they outshine most other photojournalism work currently in print. In Reportage.org, stories are whole and orchestrated to be consumed in one seamless sitting, which takes a fraction of the time you'd spend reading a Sunday supplement article. The strength of the images and the accompanying text make this a much more valuable use of your time.
(www.rufusleonard.com/Surfing Madly, 05/02/2001)


As a novice surfer, I'm charmed by the horizontal filmstrip format. There are no arbitrary page cuts, the images can just flow on and on in endless juxtaposition. The pictures also seem so luminous on screen. You know how we edit everything here on projectors, so the printed page can seem so flat, such a letdown. You don't have that problem! It also must be great that you can correct typos anytime ("trendily" in the tango story, for instance), no terrible mistakes sealed in stone forever on the page. I did wish that at the end of each screen I could hit a button to go to the next screen in the story rather than having to hit "back" each time. I do like how you can hit "archive" on any screen when navigating through past issues. I loved the Palermo catacombs, the Soweto coal kings, the Djenne mosque, and the Czech women with their dolls. Plus this most recent issue, which seems like a graceful pairing.
(Elizabeth Cheng Krist, 25/01/2001)


Amazing photojournalism! Glad to see the Reportage site growing.
(Brian Storm, 29/01/2001)


Liked the two new stories very much. Good to see stories with strong reportage styles but not dealing with death and illness. A welcomed breather which also exemplifies the scope of great work being produced from all over the world. Keep it up
(Ed Kashi, 23/01/2001)


As a former subscriber to the print version I'm glad to see you back. I still hope there will be some way you can resurrect the printed version.
(Bob Walkden, 20/01/2001)


Yeah I really liked that sideways scrolling. Like all the best solutions it is so simple and yet works a treat. It helps us (the readers) to keep track of the other pictures in each story. the Senegal rappers and the naked protest stories work particularly well with this treatment. Many congratulations! Welcome to the happy band of digital storytellers. Now all you need is some sound...
(Daniel Meadows, 11/01/2001)


great site. how about streaming the pictures to make it more enjoyable to view them.
(Rehan Jamil, 11/01/2001)


Site is great and work....dont have words to write about....
(Akhtar Soomro, 07/12/2000)


An excellent site, very useful, some beautiful work.
(Bob Silver, 06/12/2000)


Nice, clear, simple site, but I have a few comments: 1) There's hardly any information on the home page and the About This Site page is none too informative either. Simplicity can go too far... 2) I like the idea of having one picture per page, but either the pics could be bigger or you could make them a clickable link to a bigger version of the pic. Not big enough to be printable, of course, but it's hard to see details in some of the pics at present. Raising the gamma of the pics would help, too - I'm viewing the site on a PC and many of the pics appear way too dark. 3) Having the words on a separate page to the pics is not good. I'd suggest having a "taster" paragraph directly under/beside the pic with the rest of the text below, as on the present text pages. This would make it easier to refer back to the picture the text relates to.
Finally, you say you want to showcase the work of lesser-known photographers but you don't say how such photographers can submit work for consideration. All in all, though, a good site. I'll be back.
(Peter Wardley-Repen, 04/12/2000)


absolutely WoNdErFuL/AMAzing!
(Yvette Marie Dostatni, 04/12/2000)


great site. particulary like being able to scroll throught the site with the first story. like the layout and scale of using pictures against each other. well done.
(Millie Simpson, 29/11/2000)


I commend you on keeping the torch burning. The site is a little garish and lacks a strong metaphor. But please don't think this a massive criticism as I am happy to se the Reportage idea going.
(Garry Clarkson, 27/10/2000)


I have to say what a great site´really liked all the works exposed.
(Carlos Ferreira Marques, 15/10/2000)


In all I like it but I would do the navigation for all story in the same way and avoid too much text, as I think the medium has to live from it`s pictures...
(Christian Jungeblodt, 10/10/2000)


I like the photography and the awareness. I think the presentation can be inproved a bit. For example, I find the horizontal scroll awkward, it's anti-intuitive at this point.
(James Wintner, 10/10/2000)


I am so happy that this site exists. It fills an ever widening void in the world of nonstop "news". One comment on the layout however, when you place all the photos in a line going across the screen I am forced to scroll to see them all. It would be easier to read to place them vertically. And how about varying the size of the images (bigger) and their placing on the page. I'm aware of that getting images to always stay where you thought they would be on the page isn't always easy with all the different browser configurations out there, but it would be great to see this. Also, I'm not sure if it something with my browser or not, but your logo is pretty jagged as well as some of the text. Perhaps it is a corrupt font on my computer.
(Mat McDermott, 28/09/2000)


When I first looked at the site I thought it looked bland an uninteresting. The magazine had a very distinctive look and I felt that the site should also attempt to continue with this look and feel wherever possible. I realise that there are fairly major constraints when working on the web but even so I did feel that it could benefit from a little improved design and layout work. However having said all that when I started to actually look through and read the features I found the uncomplicated look and simplicity of design quite refreshing. It was very quick and easy to get straight to where I wanted to get too.
(Andrew Turner, 22/07/2000)


Great to see reportage on the web. I am, however, disapointed to know the photographers out there can't support a publication as fine as reportage, but I sincerely hope your presence on the Web can expand your audience, and that one day I see you in print again.
When I opened the S-21 page, first thing I wanted to see were images. So I went to ARCHIVE option, which brought me back to the beginning. Of course, I quickly figured out what was happening. But, it isn't clear that ARCHIVE option refers to the general reportage archive, as opposed to an archive of images about the story that's specific to the page, in this case images from S-21. Again, this is an item quickly figured out, but it went against my instinct. The NEXT option on the open page one quickly discovers is the way to continue, but when I first saw it, I thought it was the prompt to go to the next reportage featured story. My instinct was the reverse of the way the site is designed, with regard to these two functions.
As I paged through the S-21 story, one thing I found that didn't come accross is the volume of victims. The text makes this clear, but I find myself wanting to understand this visually. I was hoping to see a page down-load, perhaps right away, of a screenful of faces. the whole screen! In the instances where three images run accross the screen, or two with text, I find these pages the most effective. And then when the final image is a single, the experience of all the individuals coming down to this one face, the effect you've created is quite powerful.
(Chris Riley, 11/05/2000)

Please use the comments form to send
comments, suggestions or criticism
on the content and design of the site
Home | Archive | Print edition | Visitor's comments & reviews | About this site/back to top