New multimedia essays from Leica and Magnum

A new range of powerful and thought-provoking multimedia essays will be the fruitful product of a new collaboration between the camera manufacturer Leica and Magnum Photos.

Leica is putting its weight fully behind the project by financing the entire endeavour, which will use a variety of media including film, photography and photobooks, to take a "deeper look into the stories behind the photographs".

The fascinating thing about this project is that it is editorially driven – commercial interests, though important to both organisations, are not part of this set up, meaning the content of work drives the whole initiative.

Dr Andreas Kaufmann, chair of Leica, told the British Journal of Photography that he personally believed good photography should be more popular with newspaper and magazine editors, and the general public.

He said: "A good picture captures the eye. But photojournalists are getting fewer and fewer commissions now. For Leica, these reportages - as the French call these stories - makes a lot of sense. This is where we started from."

Oskar Barnack built the first Leica prototypes in 1913.