The Magnum Holiday Gift Guide, 2019
From the aspiring photographer, to the image aficionado, to the expert collector, find the perfect gift for a loved one this holiday season
Stocking Stuffers
For a gift that makes a charming stocking-stuffer, shop a book of 20 posters each featuring iconic Magnum images, a make-up bag featuring a vivid close-up by Martin Parr, Magnum tote bags and mugs, or a CD of Larry Towell’s field recordings.
The Magnum field notebook (the same used by some Magnum photographers) comes in handy for keeping organized notes during photographic projects, while our carefully curated selections of postcards and notecards, featuring various Magnum images, might offer a touch of additional inspiration to handwritten correspondence.
You can shop Stocking Stuffers here.
Gifts under $50!
From classic books by Jacob Aue Sobol and Martin Parr, to one-off magazines and newsprint publications by Matt Black, Susan Meiselas, Jim Goldberg and Sohrab Hura: you can get your hands on a signed publication by a Magnum photographer for under $50. Make an impression on a budget and find the perfect gift for a photography enthusiast.
Shop Gifts under $50 here.
Books of 2019
For many, the photobook is the ultimate way of engaging with a photographer’s work, whether in the form of a single-project monograph, or a career-spanning retrospective. The attention that can be afforded to details of presentation, design, sequencing and reproduction means that books can be the truest way to see a photographer’s work in the purest sense – the way they see it, and the way they want it to be seen.
For the book lover, find a fitting gift in our selection of Magnum’s 2019 photobook publications, every copy signed by the photographer.
Shop this year’s books here.
Read a complete list of Magnum photographers’ books from 2019 here.
Magnum Learn
Looking for a present for a more hands-on photography lover? With a gifting option available, Magnum’s on demand, online courses are ideal for any aspiring photographer.
Alec Soth leads the second online course by Magnum, Alec Soth: Photographic Storytelling, in which he demonstrates the different techniques and approaches he uses in his photographic practice. Through an engaging curriculum of 19 in-depth video lessons, learn about a variety of topics, from building a project to approaching subjects, and creating photobooks.
Also available is The Art of Street Photography. The course features seven world-class Magnum photographers who shed light on their practice, share their wisdom, and offer a glimpse into their working methods over 10 video lessons, assignments, and additional workbooks.
Read more about and gift Alec Soth: Photographic Storytelling here, or, for The Art of Street Photography, click here.
Something special: Rare Finds
For more unusual gift options, shop a curation of our rare and hard-to-find items. Our rare prints, special collector’s edition and out-of-circulation books make for extra-special gifts for the collector or photography connoisseur.
The Magnum Distribution sets — or Magnum Distros – consist of a full photographic story in an envelope. Conveying much of the nostalgia of the press prints used before the digital age, they’re ideal for lovers of magazine publishing and reportage photography.
You can also purchase a sought-after, signed copy of a seminal Magnum photobook, such as Bruce Gilden’s Coney Island, Alec Soth’s Niagara or Bruce Davidson’s Brooklyn Gang.
Shop Rare Finds here.
Exclusive to Magnum
Alongside the Magnum Distro sets, many other items can only be purchased through the Magnum Shop.
Contact sheet prints – reproductions of the unedited series’ of prints made from negatives – show the images taken just before, and after, seminal Magnum photographs – setting them in chronolgoical context. From David ‘Chim’ Seymour’s portraits of actress and style icon Sophia Loren, to Werner Bischof’s striking botanical studies, these contact sheets offer unique visual insight into the genesis of some of the agency’s best-known images.
Other exclusive items on the Magnum Shop include Postcards from America – an editioned box-set of objects (a book, five bumper stickers, a newspaper, two fold-outs, three cards, a poster and five zines) from a special project involving five Magnum photographers, stamped Magnum Collection posters, and the group publications Magnum Photobook and Magnum Manifesto, both signed by the collective’s members.
Shop products exclusive to Magnum here.
