I’m rarely the dumbest guy in the room, even when one considers my love of the sublimely ridiculous. But that doesn’t mean I’m not occasionally prone to bouts of imbecile-ia. And when I succumb, I succumb big.
Case in point: my entire approach to marketing ULTRAsomething magazine, and by the transitive property of geometry, this website.
Back in 2022 when I conceived of the magazine and designed its format, I got a lot of things right: The size; the glossiness; the layout; the full-bleed photos; its release schedule; and its rather high standard for photo inclusion. But I also got one thing wrong: my decision to make each issue contain only photos never-before published on the website.
I wanted the magazine to represent the pinnacle of my photography, and my intent was to give purchasers another reason to buy each Exorcism, since they knew they’d be getting previously unseen photos. Enter the moron-o-sphere. Because in doing so, I failed to consider how restrictive this would make blog posting.
The first problem is that I never know which photos I’ll include in a magazine until I lay out an issue. That means I’m forever loathe to post my best photos on the blog because I want the magazine to get the crème de la crème. To ensure I gather enough photos to achieve both the quality I desire as well as the flow and general ‘mood’ of an issue, I’m forced to withhold at least twice as many photos as I ultimately print — photos I can’t post on the blog because they might end up in the magazine.
Every time I develop a roll of film, I designate the best images to be ‘magazine worthy’ and bar them from posting. Even though they’re as unlikely to make the final cut as make it, I have no way of knowing at the time. So a lot of really good photos go un-posted, while a whole lot of lesser photos get posted in their place.
This means the website, which is supposed to help market that magazine, gets my least interesting photos. Who in their right mind would try to entice people to buy a magazine by only posting their lesser photos on the blog?
Couple this with the fact far more people read this website than buy the magazine — orders of magnitude more. So, saving all the best photos for the least-seen outlet means I’m just shooting myself in the foot month after month.
I’m trying to figure out a solution. I’m leaning heavily toward abandoning my dictate that every magazine contain only previously unpublished photos. If I take a photo I like and it fits the mood of an article, I should probably go ahead and post it. If it ends up in the magazine, oh well. If it doesn’t, then I will have published a good photo rather than a lesser one.
Another solution is to continue what I’m doing, but once I publish a magazine, I make its photos available for posting on ULTRAsomething. Since the vast majority of readers never see the magazine, this would ensure that my better photos eventually get seen by more people, and don’t wither and die in oblivion.
I don’t think either of these choices would negatively impact magazine sales. I suspect that people who purchase the magazine are like me: they believe there’s value in printed photos and they recognize that a book of quality prints is vastly superior to some downsized web photos in every possible way. Current magazine purchasers are encouraged to comment.
So I’m mulling it all over. Part of me thinks I should remove the “only found in the magazine” requirement, while another part of me recognizes that I’m the same moron who came up with that ridiculous impediment in the first place. So can I really trust my judgment?
In the meantime, I’ve populated this post with yet another collection of photos that I’ve deemed “magazine unworthy” — further ensuring that neither the magazine nor the website will gain in popularity.
© 2026 grEGORy simpson
ABOUT THESE PHOTOS : As promised, these photos are the dregs of my recent efforts — all gloriously failing the ‘magazine worthy’ requirements required to make it into the vast pool of actual good images I’ve been collecting for Exorcism 10 (which I will begin laying out immediately after publishing this plaintive wail of a post).
REMINDER : As you’ve likely realized, ULTRAsomething is neither an aggregator site nor is it AI-generated. Serious time and effort go into developing the original content contained within these virtual walls — even the silly stuff.
If you’ve managed to extract a modicum of enjoyment from the plethora of material contained on this site, please consider making a DONATION to its continuing evolution. Actual product, including ULTRAsomething Magazine and the So Far So So anthology book are available for purchase in the ULTRAsomething STORE.
And for those looking to engage with the site’s musical content, please check out the 3-hour, 47-song, 2-volume ULTRAsomething compilation album, which is available on all the major music streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music:
Sounds, Tracks & Soundtracks (vol 1)
Sounds, Tracks & Soundtracks (vol 2)
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