By Daryl Lang

Joining other magazines that have had to cut back due to the bad economy, German picture magazine GEO announced it is closing its New York City office effective November 1.

GEO director of photography Ruth Eichhorn broke the news to photographers and picture agency editors in an e-mail today. "The economic situation forced us to take this step," Eichhorn wrote.

Nadja Masri, GEO's New York bureau chief, and Tina Ahrens, a photo editor in the New York office, will leave the magazine, the e-mail says.

Photo editors in Hamburg will continue to work with U.S. photographers, and GEO will maintain a mailing address in New York.

GEO is known for publishing lengthy photo essays, often devoting 20 pages to a story. GEO's New York office was a regular stop for documentary photographers to show off their portfolios in the hope of getting work. GEO often picks up international stories shot for other publications but not yet published in Germany.

The New York office has been in operation since 1976, when GEO was launched as an extension of Stern, a news magazine. The German edition of GEO is published monthly, and the brand includes several spin-off titles and 17 international editions.

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