British Journal of Photography Suspends Print Edition After 172 Years

British Journal of Photography (BJP), one of the world's longest-running art media publications, has suspended its print edition after 172 years, citing the rising costs of producing and distributing a physical magazine.

In a letter to readers, Mick Moore, the magazine's CEO and creative director, announced that BJP would move to digital-only publishing from this week.

The cost of printing a magazine and sending it around the world has risen beyond what we can sustain right now,’ Moore wrote. ‘Rather than put the magazine at risk, we've paused our print edition.’

Founded in 1854, British Journal of Photography has documented the development of photography from its earliest commercial applications to its emergence as a major and mainstream artistic medium. 

Originally a technical publication serving the photographic industry, it spent much of its history as a weekly journal before undergoing a reinvention under the editorship of Simon Bainbridge into a fine-art premium print magazine.

Bainbridge, who edited the magazine from 2003 to 2020, oversaw its transformation in 2010 from a weekly trade publication into a monthly magazine with an emphasis on editorial design and long-form journalism that profiled emerging photographic talent.

In 2013, the magazine was acquired from corporate publisher Incisive Media by Marc Hartog in a management buyout, becoming the centrepiece of an independent publishing business that was subsequently rebranded as 1854 Media.

Alongside the magazine, the company developed an international photography awards programme, including Portrait of Britain, a partnership with the advertising company JCDecaux, and the International Photography Award, as well as further creative services for clients like Photo London, Rencontres d’Arles, Nikon, Adobe and The Photographer's Gallery.

The business nevertheless encountered financial difficulties. In 2022, following Hartog's departure, 1854 Media was acquired by a new private owner in a deal that rescued the magazine from the threat of closure.

The suspension brings an end, at least temporarily, to a print publishing history stretching back to the Victorian era. It also reflects the mounting financial pressures facing specialist arts magazines, for which rising production and international distribution costs have compounded the challenges of sustaining a paying readership.

‘What hasn't changed is what we publish,’ Moore wrote, stressing that the decision would not affect the magazine's editorial programme. Its latest issue, Politics, examines the relationship between photography, conflict and power, with contributions addressing drone warfare in Ukraine, the documentation of alleged abuses by Greek authorities and the rise of the French far right. The issue features work by Pouria Khojastehpay, Katerina Angelopoulou and Rémy Artiges, alongside an interview with photographer Misan Harriman.

For now, the publication has characterised the end of its print edition as a pause rather than a permanent closure of its print edition. Moore offered no timetable for its return.