Today is a very, very dark day in the photography world: the venerable Popular Photography Magazine and American Photo both closed their doors and the March 2017/April 2017 issues will be the last. But we’re not just talking about the magazines, but the websites too.

For the younger generations of photographers out there, this may not mean a whole lot. But for the photographers that have been around for a while, it means a whole lot. Pop Photo was an absolutely incredible magazine and a super sleek website. For years, I even aspired to one day work there before starting up the Phoblographer. I never made it though; but I’ve rubbed shoulders with lots of the journalists who worked there.

You see, we’re all pretty interconnected. Last year the publication cut down on publishing one issue a month to one every two months–which is usually not a great sign. They were purchased by Bonnier in 2009 and were always a really well run publication. They used to throw some amazing parties. Like every legitimate publication in the photo world (this one included) they’re all run with a small staff of paid writers who try to make things work in this particular niche.

Unfortunately in the end though, they couldn’t do enough. Though from the outside, everything looked so well. The company had lots of social interactions, and the publication itself is always very solid. Plus there were always great stories to be shared.

Sources from within the company (a lot of them I call friends) tell me that there won’t be a formal announcement but the company’s wikipedia page has been updated to reflect the new change. This all could change though.

Either way, while the world of photography seems to be booming with more people taking more photos ever than previously in history and a growing analog photography world, some are still suffering.