LOUISVILLE, KY (WDRB) -- In a guarded location, Dana Rieber snaps off quick shots with her Canon lense of endangered birds at Raptor Rehab in Louisville.
"Hoot... hoot... hoot, hoot," says Luna, a horned owl with one eye who is the subject of one of Rieber's photos. Her story is set to run in the new free publication, This is Louisville.
The publication's first volume was published this month, the second issue is due out in early February. It can be found at various coffee shops and businesses around the city. It was started by a collective of photographers with the goal of making a free magazine to highlight the unique "hidden gems" Louisville has to offer.
A photography magazine where pictures are the priority, copy fills in the holes and the black and white images do the talking.
"That's kind of what we want to do is just show people what's going on and maybe just put you in their shoes for just a second," said Maggie Huber, the publication's editor.
Huber started the publication with an online kickstarter campaign. From there, the cyber money poured in. Then more advertising money. Now she has enough left over for a third issue. Editorial meetings are held in the living room of her Germantown home.
"We're leaving a lot more white space than we probably need to," said Huber during a recent editorial meeting.
The final editing for the magazine is done at a friend's office space in Butchertown.
"I feel like a lot of times when I look through a magazine, I maybe look at the photos and if something catches me I'll stop. I'm counting on others being like that too," Huber said.
In a time when newspapers are failing, Huber knows she faces an uphill financial battle. So why not make it an online publication?
"The idea of the publication (is that) it's kind of hoping that people will hang on to (the magazine) a little longer, that it will be more accessible to everyone," Huber said.
"It's amazing actually we started getting a really strong response before the first issue even came out," said Rieber during a recent interview.
The magazine's focus: the characters, the off-the-beaten path stories of Louisville. The owls like Luna that keep that keep on flapping their wings, but are frozen in an image forever.
"That's kinda of our goal is that it will stick around and these stories will keep on living," Huber said.
Photo by Bennett Haeberle
