B&h Photography Podcast

In terms of its sheer reach and influence on photographers, there is no magazine that compares to LIFE. From the 1930s into the 1970s, it was the weekly go-to for news, lifestyle, entertainment and, of course, world class photography. With the likes of Margaret Bourke-White, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Capa, Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, and Alfred Eisenstadt under contract, and a commitment to the photo essay, LIFE was a groundbreaking publication that has yet to be equaled. At its most popular, it sold 13.5 million copies per week. With America’s attention switching to television by the early 1960s and, eventually, away from print media in general, LIFE slowly became a remnant of another era, but its influence on photography is still immense. On today’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we discuss the magazine, and particularly its print and online reincarnations in the 2000s. Joining us for this conversation is the former editor-in-chief of LIFE, Bill Shapiro. Shapiro, a long-time editor at Time Inc