Budget

As with any creative project, a magazine is not something that simply falls from the sky — it demands investment. Not only in time, attention, and energy, but also in the practical, material side: money. Every page, every photo, every word, carries behind it an invisible budget that made it possible.

I came across an article in Chron about the expenses of running a magazine, and it listed all the major areas where costs usually appear: from printing and distribution to editorial staff, marketing, website hosting, advertising sales, even down to paper quality and colour choice. It made me reflect on my own project, because while I am not running a huge publishing house, I am still building something that requires similar categories of effort, scaled down to my vision.

The reality is: even if I tried to simplify, there are always costs. But they are different from what you might imagine. For example, I didn’t spend money on the model — she was a family member who gracefully stepped into the role, which already made the process more comfortable, not only for me but also for her. Yet, there were a lot of other things that required financial support.

• Clothing & Wardrobe: Even for a minimal, clean aesthetic, I had to buy the right clothes (black suit, cloth pants, accessories).

  
  

• Makeup & Beauty Products: From nail polish to foundation, hair styling products, and little touch-ups that make the difference under a lens. These invisible costs add up.

  
  

• Camera & Gear: Using my own camera is already a blessing, but accessories like tripods, lenses, and batteries were a necessity. A shoot without proper tools quickly turns into a mess.

  
  

• Transport: Moving between Washington, New York, and smaller local trips for scouting or shooting. Trains and subway tickets — travel is part of the invisible expenses.

  
  

• Snacks: Even if it’s just snacks, water, or a coffee break during shooting, it’s essential to keep the energy alive. I don't think anybody can work well on an empty stomach.

  
  

• Photo Editing & Software: Shooting is only half the work. Editing, retouching, exporting in the right formats — all of it requires software, storage space, and hours of work.

  
  

• Design & Layout: Once the photos exist, they need a home. Creating spreads, page layouts, experimenting with text-image balance — that’s another layer of invisible cost.

  
  

• Digital Presence: In this case, they're included all of the platforms used to get to the finish product.

  
  

• Contingencies: Replacing broken props, last-minute changes. The hidden costs that you never plan for but always face.

I decided to create this summary for myself because only by going through this process you can really understand what it mean to create a magazine. Just for me this action has its own costs, so I can't imagine what it really looks like for the bigger and more experiences brands. I have to admit that before I was one of those people that didn't really understand, not only the money that was hiding behind the creation of a product, but also the time that is put into the work and the hours spent not only to create the per se magazine but also to think about the best options. But now I understand; it is not so easy as I thought.

And yet, all of those little things are what make a creative vision real. Even though I didn’t hire professional models or rent extravagant studios, I still had to build the project piece by piece — beauty products, wardrobe, equipment, transport, food, software.

What I learned through this? Even minimalism costs something. And the fact that I chose to keep the shoot personal, model and location wise, doesn’t erase the value of those investments. If anything, from my point of view, it makes the project more authentic.

BONUS: Out of curiosity I ended up doing the approximate math of the final number of investment in the project, and the budget ended up to be around 1600 RON, the Romanian currency, which comes at about 315 Euros.