But today it no longer has much to do with the company of yesteryear. “NZZ Format” tells how Magnum Photos is coping with the rapid developments in photography and how the agency wants to master the balancing act between tradition and modernity.
Stream the full length documentary here:
That’s what the documentary is about
Magnum Photos celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Due to increasing digitization, Magnum must also adapt to the rapid developments in photography without losing its heritage and strong authorship. Magnum Photos no longer has much to do with the agency of yesteryear.
The agency was founded in New York in 1947 by the four photographers Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David “Chim” Seymour and has been managed by the members ever since. In this way, the photographers were able to keep the rights to their photos, market themselves better to large agencies and magazines and at the same time be professionally independent.
Magnum’s roots lie in war photography and photo reportage for magazines, which were in high demand from the 1950s onwards. Swiss people like Werner Bischof and René Burri also belonged to Magnum. Today, 60 employees in New York, London and Paris work for around 50 active photographers and fight to keep the photo agency going.
“NZZ Format” visited Magnum and spoke to photographers and employees about the balancing act between tradition and modernity.
«NZZ format»: Documentary films from the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung»:
Every Thursday at 11.05 p.m. on SRF 1,
Sundays at 5:15 p.m. and Mondays at 11:10 a.m. on SRF Info.
Stream other full-length “NZZ Format” films here.