THERE WILL BE two sorts of eyeballs reading this. One set will have seen the magazine before and decided to try it again. For this we thank and welcome you back.

The other will be those meeting the magazine and its makers for the first time. We hope you agree that whatever else it is, PHOTOICON is a high quality product.

By MIKE VON JOEL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

roducing a magazine to this standard comes at a price - and it's not cheap. Most publications that hit the high street outlets (WHSmiths for example) are products of large, established companies - prestige beehives where a whole stable of titles are knocked out once a month on the dot. They share production facilities, advertising teams, dominate a distributor - that is, if they don't own one outright - and command the most prominent positions on the newsagents rack. And up until recently were very profitable operations.

If trade analysts are to believed, and recent ABC* figures accurate, there has been a growing shift in magazine buying habits. The 'lads mags' and general women’s interest titles are haemorrhaging readers. Men's 'style' magazines have polarised up or down with some surprising casualties. The one sector on the rise is the specialist interest magazine. As you might imagine, we at PHOTOICON hope this includes us!

PHOTOICON has a clear vision of what it hopes to achieve. We wanted to explore the fusion between art and photography; to revisit the great masters (both historic and modern) of the art, and to introduce young and original talents to a wider audience. Right from the first issue we wanted to avoid creating a formula magazine, following a standard look and adopting the usual gimmicks found in the corporate glossies. We particularly wanted to offer a platform for anyone seriously interested in the photographic art. The Photoicon website (if you haven’t looked recently, scope out www.photoicon.com) has attracted some outstanding reader’s contributions to the image galleries. We’ve had two winners already for the Award For Excellence, both of whom won a classy new Olympus SP-55OUZ. We, in turn, have been grateful for the help and support of many at the top end of the global photographic business.

If you enjoy the magazine and support its aims, might we cordially invite you to subscribe and help us streamline our overheads. We pay all the postage and you get the magazine mailed directly from the end of the press - days ahead of UK newsagents (and sometimes weeks ahead if you live outside Britain). You can take advantage of back issue offers to create a complete set if you are interested).

As this edition went to press, Sony launched the inaugural World Photography Awards in Cannes. A prime example of how photography is being revised as a major art form of our time. The SWPA is designed to be a truly international event, loosely modelled on the Hollywood ‘Oscars’, and Sony are determined that it will match the LA movie beano for pizzazz and high profiling of the award winners. There will be plenty of press coverage meantime, but the next issue of PHOTOICON will have an offbeat, insider report from our own man in the shades and deconstructed linen suit.

*ABC Audit Bureau of Circulations