"This is our blog for readers who want a little more out of our three yearly magazines. So here it is, a behind the scenes look at what I go through to put the mag together. You also get to meet the writers and shooters who bring you the stories and images you all love to read and see. A lot of work goes into each issue; from finding stories and images, to coming up with the different layouts, to give each story a unique look and feel. Each issue has a story behind the stories, and a personality of its own... I hope you enjoy!"
SDM Editor - Eli Martinez
ISSUE 21
October 5, 2009
I have too many great articles coming out in this new magazine! I am blown away with it. I know, I know this one is really late but this was a crazy year and due to the economy I had to dial it down a notch so that we could survive this roller coaster ride of 2009. I am happy to announce that we are still here, and will continue to put out issues of SDM for you all. A proud year for me. So anyway back to this issue. I have been hard at work creating pages for you all. Most of my time has been spent with Andy Murch's articles, and it has been so much fun working on his adventures. Even though I was not there with him for some of the amazing places he has been. It gets me all fired up to get out there and carve up some roads for myself. I normally do not show anyone the layout pages for the mag, but I decided to give you all a sneak peek into a couple of the pages I have been working on. So you all can see for yourself what is in store for you when you open up the pages of SDM's issue 21. I hope you enjoy them...
This is how I am kicking off Andy's tour pages.
This is Nathan's article for his salmon shark adventure in Alaska.
I tried to really get people in the mood for each article. I wanted to put you there and just get you sucked up into moment, and sort of feel what these places were like. The hope is of course to get you all running out the door because these articles just make you sick because it is not you out there. Thats the hope?
SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
I was on fire today and came up with a layout for Nathan 'Nat' Meadow's article that I am very excited about. Nathan's article is about his salmon shark adventure up around Valdez, Alaska. Nathan first told me about his upcoming trip back when we were with Andy Murch for a dive trip up in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Venice, Louisiana. It was part of Andy's North American shark tour, and 3 of us (me, Nathan, and Paul Spielvogel) went down there to meet up with Andy and Claire, and my old friend Captain Al for a day of shark diving. We ended up swimming with over 100 silky sharks that afternoon and came home with another great shark adventure to share with you all. - more on that later, when I start laying out that story.
Me, Nathan 'Nat' Meadows, and Andy Murch. Heading out for a day of shark diving in Venice, LA. We spend the afternoon with over 100 silky sharks. The beer that evening was so sweet
So today I was trying to get in the mood for working on the mag. Its not easy trying to come up with exciting layouts. Like writers block sometimes your just not inspired to create. I am sure I could drop photos in on white paper and it would be ok, I am sure people would still like it. Because the images are always great, and the stories are always fun and exciting. But I am not in doing things half ass, and I do not do make this mag so that people like it, I only do things that people will love. So I have to come up with new ways to present the story for you all. I have been the layout editor since issue 13 and I am always trying to improve our magazine, to make it better and cooler, (as if that is possible? Its already the coolest mag out there. Ok so maybe I am biased.)
So with each issue I try new things, and different layout ideas. And now after 8 issues as art director - each issue has to have a personality of its own. It has to feel good to me before I can create it. It takes longer to create a mag this way, but I can not help it. I am either going to put my whole heart and soul into it, or I am going to shut the mag down, and do something else that inspires me. Plus with all the one of a kind stories and images I get from our contributors, it is only right that I try to make their work just glow. They deserve that respect, and so do the sharks.
Part of Nat's adventure involves bears, lots of bears. But what else would you expect when you visit the wilds of Alaska? The crazy thing about Alaska is every picture you take is worthy of being a post card. It is just that beautful.
I know I sound artsy, but thats what happens when you cross that line, and you choose an exciting life that is full of adventure. When you shy away from routine, and boredom, and instead you go off and experience life changing adventures, you never return the same person. Your different because of it, sometimes for the better, but sometimes for the worst. But as a result, everything in my life has meaning, I take nothing for granted. Just like every sunset I watch or every shark dive I experience, SDM must be an exciting and fun expression of this life I have chosen.
One of the most exciting sharks in the world, the salmon shark. It is close kin to the white shark, and also a hard shark to find.
Well anyway, today it was raining all day and that put me in the right mood to create Nathan's salmon shark article. Because when Nat was in Alaska, it rained everyday, with barely any sun, and it drizzled almost non stop. So while I sat at my desk, I could hear the rain on the roof of our office, and I found my groove and started working, and working, and by midnight, (this is when I finished editing for the night, and started writing this blog), I finshed Nat's story and it is awesome!!!
Tomorrow I will put the finishing touches on the article and move on to the next article. Issue 21 is alive my firends and it breathes and it is going to be our best issue yet! Thanks for being a part of this adventure with me.
AUGUST 27, 2009
Last night I read through one of the articles I have on file for this issue. The first step in creating the mag is of course picking the stories. I normally have between 15-20 stories on file, only 9 will make the cut. Of course because most of the issue will be dedicated to Andy's adventure, I only have room for 2-3 extra stories, so most of the articles I have on file will go into the next issue. The smart thing for me would be to save the unique and rare species stories for the next issue, so that I have an attractive feature for the upcoming issue, but that is just not my style. If I have an amazing story in my hands, with the images to back it up. Its going to be printed it in the next issue, and a salmon shark story is a must for this issue.
After I decide that this particular article is going in the upcoming issue, then I will read through it and make sure it all flows well and makes sense. Onc that is done, then the article goes to our grammer editor, where it stays for a a couple of days. After that I am free to begin the layout process.The first story I am working on is Nathan Meadows Salmon shark article.
Nathan just got back from a trip to Alaska seeking out salmon sharks. The sharks migrate to the area follwoing the great salmon migrations through these waters. When Nathan first told me about the adventure I was really amped up to go. Especially after hearing Nathan's stories from all the adventures he has been on. Marlin baitballs in Baja, sailfish baitballs in Isla Mujeres. All of these adventures were just Epic beyond scale. So when he told me he was going after the elusive and very hard to shoot salmon sharks, I wanted in. Of course there as no way I was able to go, because I was scheduled to be in Holbox for the whale shark migration. It killed me not being there, especially because I knew he was going to nail it. Nathan has got great shark mojo, so I knew he would find the sharks. It did not hurt that legendary shark photographer, Doug Perrine was there by his side. Even Andy wanted to side track from his current tour travelling itinerary to join them. But he also ended up else where.
August 24, 2009
This is the first blog for the new issue. If you follow my regular blog then you already know that this issue will be about SDM shooter, Andy Murch and his fiance Claire. Right now (as I write this) they are on a four month shark diving road trip. Well... it was supposed to be a four month road trip, but just like any responsible Shark Diver, they do not want to go home. Or more to the point they are refusing to go home and decided to keep their Endless Shark Summer rolling. So I have decided to dedicate this issue to their amazing adventure.
I first met Andy in the first year of SDM's business. He joined me on our first tiger shark/great hammerhead trip in the Bahamas. We spent 9 days on the boat where Andy shared with me some of his amazing adventures, and I was thinking damn I have got to get to know this guy better, everything just becomes an adventure when you hang with Andy. So I stayed in contact with Andy after that and it was shortly after that first adventure that Andy began writing articles and submitting images to our mag.
I made Andy our first official SDM shooter, I can't really remember exactly when? I do know that there were a couple of really high profile shooters that wanted that position, but I chose Andy. Those guys went off to have successful shooting careers of their own, and built up their own following , and I am happy for them. But when I decided on Andy for the role, I just knew he was the guy for our team. His personality fit what we stood for, and it has been fun watching his career flow and become an even better shooter and story teller. As a shooter he has had his images on the cover of SDM. (The ultimate goal for any shark photographer if you ask me.) 
Top L-R, Issue 9, Issue 10, and Issue 16. Andy has had more covers for our mag than any other shooter.
I am really all over the place when it comes to picking images for our covers. The thing with me is, when I pick a cover - I know it the second I see the image. I just know that that is the picture I want for my cover. Which is exactly the way I chose the cover for issue 21. It was right after this dive, while we were sitting in the hotel room, checking out the days images. I saw the image on Andy's laptop and said this is it. This is the image I am going to use for our next issue. Andy did not agree with me at first, but then after looking at a bit closer he agreed and said yea, it would make a good cover.
When it comes to the stories I have planned out for this issue. Well, if you read my last Making the Ma,g then you know that the issue started out with a set plan as to what stories I had planned to publish, but by the time it was finished, it totally changed. By the time I go to print, stories that were supposed to be in the issue end up getting pushed aside, or bumped. This is because stories are not turned in on time, or not turned in at all. Or I get another story that I am excited about and decide to put it in there, and will move an article back. Other publications have more structure to the way they do things...I don't. Each mag flows, that is how I create it. To me each issue has a personality of its own and I never want one issue looking like or feeling like the other.
So today is day one of the birth of issue 21, and I am going to enjoy creating this one. For those of you new to this feature, each issue takes a long time for me to create, because I put so much effort into the look and feel of each article. Maybe I should not be like that. But I can't help it, once I get rolling and I start the layout process, the ideas just flow,or they do not flow. So I am stuck there trying to figure out how I want it to look. In some of my past issues I look at the layouts and I think damn, why did I do that, or I should of done a better job of presentation, but for the last issue I did not feel that way. I was excited about the issue and it felt good, so for this issue I am going to be doing it the same way. I am going to dig deep and give each and every page the detail needed to make it great. So that when you all finally get the issue, because I know you all wait a long time for each issue, you will feel like it was worth the wait.
