Chris Wild’s Retronaut Joins Mashable
New York, NY (PRWEB) August 11, 2014 -- Mashable, the leading media company for the Connected Generation and the voice of digital culture, announced today that it had signed an exclusive agreement with Chris Wild, founder of Retronaut.com, to bring Retronaut’s unique brand of historical photo curation to Mashable.
Starting in September, Mashable will exclusively host new Retronaut-branded articles, photo spreads and videos created by Wild and his curators in a new section of the site devoted to history.
The posts that he creates for Mashable will bear the distinctive Retronaut flavor that Wild has developed since founding the “photographic time machine” in 2010. In those 4 years, Wild has built an audience of more than 1 million monthly viewers and helped fuel the exploding public fascination with historical images.
The philosophy behind Retronaut can be summed up simply: “See the past as you wouldn’t believe.” And the images that Retronaut highlights often present surprising twists on subjects that people might think they know.
Through Retronaut, we’ve seen Jay-Z driving in London at the age of 19, Leonard Bernstein with his fingers in his ears at a Beatles concert in 1965, and Colin Powell making a selfie in the 1950s. Wild’s team starts with the question "what makes an archival picture powerful?" and selects pictures that fulfill that.
Wild’s philosophy about the power of archival images dovetails perfectly with Mashable’s commitment to visual storytelling, said Jim Roberts, Chief Content Officer and Executive Editor of Mashable.
“As we document the digital revolution, we also understand the significance of representing the historical moments that have defined the world we live in today,” Roberts said. “Few others can tell stories of the past in such an unusual and powerful way as Chris does with Retronaut. We look forward to sharing them with our readers around the world.”
Wild had been collecting iconic images for the past decade. He has scoured England’s thrift stores, museums and archives to develop a body of content that allows people to take an interconnected journey back in time. Those images, and others like them, will be at the heart of Retronaut on Mashable.
“Mashable has demonstrated a tremendous ability to share stories with its highly engaged social audience using a variety of creative, innovative formats,” said Wild. “We’re very excited to work alongside a team that is just as committed as Retronaut to visual storytelling and connect with Mashable’s growing global community.”
Wild is currently also guest curator at Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives, England and this fall, will partner with National Geographic for his new book; RETRONAUT: The Photographic Time Machine
Retronaut can be found on Twitter at @theretronaut.
About Mashable:
Mashable is a leading source for news, information, and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable’s record 35 million unique visitors worldwide and 17 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Fiorelli Salvo, Mashable, +1 (908) 219-7955, [email protected]
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