PhotoCON (フォトコン, Fotokon) is a Japanese photography magazine that emphasizes the participation of and contests for its readers. Its title alludes to "photo contest".

The magazine has a complex history. Photo Contest[1] (フォトコンテスト, Foto Kontesuto) was a monthly magazine whose first issue was dated September 1956. This turned into the much more ambitious and very different Camera Age[2] (カメラ時代, Kamera Jidai), a monthly magazine that ran from January 1966 till January 1967. The earlier magazine returned as the twice-monthly Junkan Foto Kontesuto[3] (旬刊フォトコンテスト) from May 1967, from January 1968 till October 1973 Gekkan Foto Kontesuto[4] (月刊フォトコンテスト) and from January 1974 until December 2007 Japan Photo Contest Monthly[5] (formally 日本フォトコンテスト, Nihon Foto Kontesuto; normally フォトコンテスト, Foto Kontesuto).

Notes

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  1. ^ English title as used by Shirayama ("Major Photography Magazines") and as inferred from the Japanese title, but not yet verified.
  2. ^ This English title appears on the cover, together with the Japanese title. See the reproduction in Shirayama, "Major Photography Magazines" and Shashin zasshi no kiseki.
  3. ^ English title, if any, not yet ascertained. The title means "thrice-monthly photo contest".
  4. ^ English title, if any, not yet ascertained. The title means "monthly photo contest".
  5. ^ This English title appears on the cover of the first issue (depicted in Shirayama, Shashin zasshi no kiseki), on that of recent issues, and perhaps on that of every issue, together with the Japanese title.

Sources

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  • Shirayama Mari. "Major Photography Magazines". In The History of Japanese Photography, ed. Ann Wilkes Tucker, et al. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-300-09925-8. Pp. 384 (on Camera Jidai).
  • (in Japanese) Shirayama Mari (白山眞理). Shashin zasshi no kiseki (写真雑誌の軌跡, "Traces of camera magazines"). Tokyo: JCII Library, 2001. NCID BB04894896P. 18.