ABSTRACT
For many magazine readers the photographs and illustrations are one of the main reasons for buying the publication. This may not be welcome news to writers and obviously doesn’t hold good for all publications, especially those which concentrate on information and news. But for periodicals as diverse as National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Vogue, Homes & Gardens, Classic Cars, Country Life, Men’s Health, Time, Glamour, Take a Break and Kerrang!, the pleasure readers get from their purchase is as much to do with looking as reading. Readers want to indulge themselves by lingering over photographs of the highest quality. This gaze is one reason magazines still thrive even in this era of digital media. You can pause over, cut out, pin up or keep images from magazines in ways with which television and the internet can’t quite compete.
