What do you want in a magazine?

Roger Hicks said:
Those who cannot describe what they are doing in short words (or at least in common words) are often unable to explain what they are doing at all. Instead they hide behind a smokescreen of obfuscatory jargon.
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What does "obfuscatory" mean? I am unfamiliar with that long word. 😀
 
i know this stuff probably won't be seen on the printed page, but i'm not sure my interests are narrow. what i've basically described are the interests of the online film photography community, which is compensating for the dearth of information in the printed media. most importantly, the material i want to see is more challenging and in-depth than what you usually see online, things that beg to be in print.
 
four rounds of .30-'06, 165-grain hornady spire points loaded to 2,850 feet per second. uh, sorry, wrong kind of magazine ... 🙂

i don't care about the technical stuff, except to learn what equipment was used - and why - for a particular shot. of course, without a bunch of technical, stuff, gear reviews and such, advertising is hard to sell because gear, film, etc., are all the advertisers have to sell. run the single-copy price up to make a little money, then starving photo artists can't afford to buy.

a cyber mag is the way to go, but then it will be a labor of love. what would you rather spend your money on? some more film? or a print magazine?
 
"how" is a graphic design publication.

as far as that goes, i guess my magazine would be the film photo equivalent of "eye", "baseline", "dot-dot-dot", and the old "typographica" and "emigre" all rolled into one.
 
antiquark said:
What does "obfuscatory" mean? I am unfamiliar with that long word. 😀
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That was in fact the point. From obfuscare, to darken or obscure. Part of the readership will understand and think nothing of it; part will understand and feel superior; and part will not understand and feel angry.

Cheers,

R.
 
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The internet, with Google search and photo forums like this, satisfies all my curiousity and needs that photo magazines used to do. Information on the internet is available on demand, ususally I can find exactly what I want, at the depth I want, and many times it is interactive, and it is free. Magazines just can't do that.
 
Roger Hicks said:
I just got last week's AP, and they're coming very close to what a lot of people here are asking for
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I like AP and it's definitely the best thing to pick up when out shopping at Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys. I do wonder what a monthly version would be like - maybe I should compile my own out of the weekly editions 🙂

As for what I'd like to read about, I'd like articles with information on things like composition, seeing creatively and more general artistic advice. Being a fan of film and RF cameras I'd also like articles on some of the lesser known film cameras that can be picked up cheaply for fun. It might be nice to read interviews with more amateurs too - about what they photograph and why, that sort of thing. I can't relate to a pro in Africa photographing lions with a 600mm L series superlens, I'd be more interested in seeing what one can photograph on a wet weekend in Swansea.

One thing AP does that I really like is the "On this day.." part at the front, where an extract from an old issue is reproduced. It may sound a bit cheesy but one of the things I like about photography is the history. And that list of uses for empty 120 film spool is still relevant 😀
 
nathanp said:
I like AP and it's definitely the best thing to pick up when out shopping at Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys. I do wonder what a monthly version would be like - maybe I should compile my own out of the weekly editions 🙂
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If it was monthly, I suspect it would look exactly like all the rest of the dreadful photomagazines out there. At least being weekly means that it can be reasonably topical and react quickly to news.

I'm the wrong person to contribute to this debate because if I want to see good photography, I'll go to an exhibition, or buy a magazine like Vogue, or National Geographic or whatever; and if I want to find out how to do something technical, I'll look it up on the net.
 
It's old-fashioned (perhaps) but I like Shutterbug, and I always read Roger and Frances' columns, the other contributors, and the ads. I think SB is doing a good job of reinventing itself for the modern era. I stopped reading periodocals or journals about the art of photography - I just don't give a rats ass about what anyone has to say about it - I just like to go out and do it. (I think getting my MFA kinda' ruined me.) Don't get me wrong - I still like to see good photography by others, but I just go to museums (and other places) to do that.
 
Roger,

Many, many years ago in AP I came across one of your articles where you dissected a photograph, which actually I thought was pretty ordinary. But your insight into the compositional technique, the discussion on the exposure etc. was incredibly informative. Every now and then, it would be great to show us what you see when you take a picture.

Rgds
 
Spluff said:
Roger,

Many, many years ago in AP I came across one of your articles where you dissected a photograph, which actually I thought was pretty ordinary. But your insight into the compositional technique, the discussion on the exposure etc. was incredibly informative. Every now and then, it would be great to show us what you see when you take a picture.

Rgds
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Interesting thought. Thanks. I'll try.

Cheers,

R.
 
Hi Roger,
I have always found "Nippon Camera" a good example of a monthly publication. It is only available (like their website) in Japanese. Good combination of what's new, what's coming, local events etc. There are long running articles, technical reviews, photo pages from local photogs in different films, etc - the normal content but well done on good quality paper. The head to head reviews are interesting. Of course being "ad" driven, there is a focus on the new stuff.

I also like their ad sections (toward the back of the mag) as a good way to find local (used) camera shops and keep up on pricing of the used equipment etc. They are not afraid to include some histrical stuff when a maker brings out something new. As well you might find some insite about the big camera companies. The section on what's new (not the big stuff, but the accories etc - trade mag style).

There are a couple of other major momthly publications (glossy), but since I started with Nippon Camera, I kind of stuck with that format.

Casey
 
Hi Roger,

Quite a few years ago I used to read a French photo magazine, the name of which escapes me now (maybe you'll remember?), which used to have very informal but informative little chats with great photographers (a couple were Jeanloup Sieff and Sebastiao Salgano). They would basically ask them the sort of questions you might ask these people if you were sitting down with them over a pastis - how did you get interested in photography, what gear do you use and why, what is your personal philosophy when you are going out to shoot, how do you approach your subjects etc. I thought that was about as instructive as I've seen in a photo mag.

Cheers, Phil
 
In sorting through old mags, and tossing the ones I no longer wanted, I found the older American Photographer magazines had a good mix of tech articles and user tips for those of us still doing our own darkroom work. They also had extensive - eight to 12 pages and sometimes more - articles on photographers, complete with works of same. Then the name changed to American Photo and the good stuff seemed left behind. So I saved the old ones and tossed the newer - early 1990s on. Lenswork is good but has become too digital to suit me. So, for now, my good magazines all seem to be old magazines.
 
Articles on Street Photography, rangefinders, lenses, technique. Some features on the old masters and I mean long and in depth features; Winogrand, Bernice Abbott, Atget, Bresson, etc. Also, some of the old portrait/studio photographers from the 30's and 40's.

I'd buy that.
 
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