Journeying Into Our 20th Year in Print

“I have yet to meet a passionate photographer who isn’t young at heart and spirit, regardless of age.”

As you read this, Better Photography has completed 229 issues in print, having never missed a single monthly edition in the past 19 years. Oddly enough, for all the effort that has gone into it, I could not help feeling that it seems to be a rather small number. There is so much more to explore! Perhaps, the familiar excitement of waking up to something interesting and wonderful everyday, just as it did so many years ago, has something to do with it. Photography does that. I have yet to meet a passionate photographer who isn’t young at heart and spirit, regardless of age. So, as teenagers often do, we decided to dig up a few numbers for us to boast about. Here they are.

We have 54 subscribers who are still with us from the very first issue in June 1997. The most senior of them is now 92 years old and he sends letters to the magazine regularly. Over the years, we have interviewed 614 photographers or featured them in depth. Of these, 141 greats are extremely significant or legendary on a worldwide level, including the very biggest names you can think of. We have reviewed and tested 1047 cameras, lenses, and accessories (including film and a lot of analogue gear). We have featured over 5200 photographers (we lost exact counts here on), their opinions, and their images, in other features and articles.

On to bigger numbers… we have had over 14,000 participants in workshops all over India, most of which were conducted by the editorial team. Speaking of the magazine, over 34,000 pages have been filled by us, collectively. We estimate that we have introduced the joys of serious photography to over 8,00,000 people, through the print edition of the magazine, of which we have printed approximately 67,70,000 copies so far. And yes. In Mumbai, the rare secondhand copy of the magazine commands a street price of at least Rs. 50, if pages have not been torn out of it.

Here’s to reaching our next magic number, our 250th issue. Cheers!