“As of August 10, 2014, Fotopedia.com will close and our iOS applications will cease to function,” the company writes in its blog. “Our community of passionate photographers, curators, and storytellers has made this a wonderful journey, and we’d like to thank you for your hard work and your contributions.”
Fotopedia isn’t specific about why it’s closing, only to say, “We truly believe in the concept of storytelling but don’t think there is a suitable business in it yet.” Despite the community of users it built, judging from that statement, it probably couldn’t attract enough to find a way to make money.
The service, which launched in 2009 and was founded by former Apple employees, was different from standard photo sharing sites, in that photos submitted by contributors, revolved around topics or themes; many of the entries are travel centric, taking you to exotic locales. The highly curated website experience and apps felt more like reading a National Geographic magazine, where you could read a bit about the topic and view high-quality, usually stunning and inspiring photos. Fotopedia also has a number of free travel apps, some in collaboration with National Geographic Traveler.
If you are a Fotopedia user who has uploaded content, you have until August 10 to download the data. Click here to begin the process.
