Today we’d like to introduce you to Glenn Ruga.
Glenn, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started the Social Documentary Network (SDN) in 2008 to provide a digital platform for documentary photographers to create online galleries of their projects. Since that time we have presented more than 2800 online exhibits by 1800 photographers on diverse themes from all over the world. Themes range from very intimate and personal stories such as a documentary on elderly widows in a farming community in rural Russia to issues as sweeping and current as battle for Mosul where the Iraqi army with US support is fighting against the Islamic State and thousands of civilians are being liberated and fleeing to safer territory.
In 2015, we launched ZEKE: The Magazine of Global Documentary. This is a print and digital magazine that allows us to present the best of SDN in a curated form twice a year. Along with the images and text provided by the photographers, we also bring in journalists to write in-depth articles exploring what the photographers have started.
Has it been a smooth road?
Of course not! The biggest challenge remains financial. Since the 2000s, photography and other forms of digital content have been greatly devalued because the world assumes that all content is free, even though it is very costly for the creators to do this work. What we once thought could be a viable business for us and the photographers we work with has turned out to be a labor of love. ZEKE magazine is even more of a challenge because the stakes are much higher due to the significant costs of printing and distribution. Nine years later we are still struggling to find a sustainable financial model for SDN and ZEKE magazine.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
SDN and ZEKE Magazine are all about visual storytelling about global themes. We are known in the community of documentary photographers and photojournalists as one of the most significant organizations that focuses on the issues that was once the domain of LIFE magazine—presenting powerful and original images to help viewers engage with important issues of the day. We are most proud that we started from nothing and today have staked a flag for a medium that was thought to be dying because of the advent of inexpensive and high quality digital image tools (cell phone and digital photography) in the hands of everyone. What sets us apart from so many other image sharing digital platforms is that we are all about a story, not one-off images. To create a gallery on SDN, users much submit a minimum of six images, captions for each image, and most important, an abstract (description) of the project.
Pricing:
- A subscription to ZEKE Magazine costs $17 a year for two issues. Includes both the print and digital versions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.socialdocumentary.net www.zekemagazine.com
- Phone: 617-417-5981
- Email: info@socialdocumentary.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialdocumentarynet/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialdocumentary/?ref=nf
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/socdoctweets
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/zekemagazine/
Image Credit:
For photo of LoriGrinker-BruceDavidson-GlennRuga – Matthew Lomanno
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