At the risk of showing my age and yours, I would like to ask; do you remember Life Magazine? THE Life Magazine, not the wimpy re-make that has shown up from time-to-time in recent years. I remember when Life Magazine was a common sight in many households. I remember pouring over photographs of the Kennedy children in the Oval Office and crying over the emotional images of President Kennedy’s funeral. Even as a child, I was impressed by the stunning Black and White photos.
Ask any photographer to name the premier American photo magazine of all time and you’ll probably get one of two answers. He or she will name the National Geographic if they treasure exquisite color travel and nature photography or Life Magazine if they love classic Black and White photojournalism. (When I started out in photojournalism, my hands-down favorite hero was W. Eugene Smith, one of Life’s finest.) I suppose a younger photographer might have a different answer and if you fall into that category, I would love to hear your take on this.
Today, Life and Getty Images has launched Life.com, an online playground for those of us whose memory banks are richly papered with images from Life Magazine. As stated on their About page: "LIFE.com not only lets you wander through the legendary LIFE and Getty archives, but with more than 3,000 new photos added every day, it also gives you the best pictures of the people and places shaping our world now."
Check it out.



