Photographic magazines

[agyga]

I usually buy Chasseur d'Image http://www.chassimages.com/accueil/Sommaire.xml.
I like it and I think it's a good mix of tech, images, news.

Bye,
AndyG

[Paul Jenkin]

Way too many magazines out there that contain the word "Digital" in their title for my liking. I'm not anti-digital, far from it, but I want inspiration and technique not pixel count and sales pitch.

I subscribe to Black and White Magazine (the UK version) and I'm about to subscribe to its sister publication "Outdoor Photography" as I buy it every month (my main interest is Landscape and Travel - especially in B&W).

Lenswork is great (though the only place in London I knew I cold get it was Borders - who closed down over a year ago). I might have to subscribe. I used to subscribe to Silvershotz but that went too far down the digital imagery path for me to follow. Call me boring if you will but I'm happiest looking at great photos rather than assessing the gear used to take them.

[silverbullet]

For me one of the best - even I've trouble to understand due to my poor French, is the Chasseur D'Image from France.
They have dedicated issues with strictly B&W photography regularly or, f.e. an interesting comparison between scanners like Imacon, Nikon Coolscan 5000 and the Epson 750 plus scanning with digital SLRs like a D300 plus macrolenses.
Very interesting and informative. When I'm in France this magazine will be my evening lecture when there is nothing interesting in TV (as usual...)

[Gyl]

I subscribe to Black and White Magazine (the UK version) and I'm about to subscribe to its sister publication "Outdoor Photography" as I buy it every month (my main interest is Landscape and Travel - especially in B&W).

I don't know Black and white magazine.
Can you give me more informations about it?
I'd like to search it in France if it's possible.

[Paul Jenkin]

I subscribe to Black and White Magazine (the UK version) and I'm about to subscribe to its sister publication "Outdoor Photography" as I buy it every month (my main interest is Landscape and Travel - especially in B&W).

I don't know Black and white magazine.
Can you give me more informations about it?
I'd like to search it in France if it's possible.

Hi Gyl,

Here's links to the publisher's website - specifically for "Black + White Photography" and "Outdoor Photography" although this publishing house is involved in publishing magazines covering a wide variety of interests:

http://www.thegmcgroup.com/pc/viewCateg ... tegory=698
http://www.thegmcgroup.com/pc/viewCateg ... tegory=690

Both are monthly and the rates for subscription in Europe are shown on the website. The good thing about B+W Magazine is that the emphasis is on photography - both film and digital and there are mercifully few gear tests (usually one per month) and not so many advertisements - although there are a few pages of them towards the back.

Hope you like it. Regards, Paul.

[Gyl]

Thank you Paul for these informations and these links.

[Athena]

Call me boring if you will but I'm happiest looking at great photos rather than assessing the gear used to take them.

I couldn't have said it better myself . I feel the same way, which is why I don't really take the time to learn about all the technical stuff properly. I've had the GXR P10 kit since May or so last year, but it's taken me this long to figure it out enough that I can finally take much better quality pictures with it than when I first started using the camera. So I could do with learning more about the equipment and all the technical stuff, but I'd rather just take pictures, look at others' pictures, and appreciate the end results. I figure I'll learn as I go, rather than trying to make it a priority to know everything about the gear/technical stuff right from the start. Sure, it helps to have a great camera (like the GXR), but that's not what it's really all about IMHO. That's why you don't really see me participating in any of the tech/gear talk on here (apart from the fact that I simply don't know enough yet - but that's by choice, and that's how I like it).

I believe a good photographer can take a great picture no matter what camera they're using. It just helps to have a camera that makes taking a great picture easier to achieve, plus, a good camera is nice to use (though it is, in the end, a subjective and personal choice as to which camera someone believes to be nice to use, and will make the job a bit easier). But to me, that's not what the point of photography is. When people get too caught up in having the "best", "latest", "most popular" gear, etc., they begin to lose sight of the whole point of photography - which is, simply, the art itself, and the unique perspectives of the individuals producing the art.

[Paul Jenkin]

I agree with Athena, particularly her allusion to the fact that it's the photographer who creates the photograph not the camera which, as a tool, simply "takes" it. That said, I do like to understand how to get the best out of any camera I'm using - film or digital.

With film (my preferred medium), this is a relatively simple task as the "control" element is focus, compose and ensure optimum exposure for the scene you're shooting - then press the shutter. Okay, you can add use of filters and flash into the equation but I'm sure you get my drift. Which film to use is pure personal choice and down to colour or mono, grain required and latitude characteristics / ability to record shadow and highlight detail.

With digital, on the other hand, the myriad controls built into the camera to control saturation, hue, contrast, noise reduction, aspect ratio / pixel count, RAW / Tiff / JPEG, auto-bracketing / HDR and a host of other variables is enough to drive the creative juices right out of many of us. The first digital camera I owned (a Canon G5) had a user manual thicker than our local telephone directory - and most of the terminology was alien.

Okay, these days, I'm a lot more familiar with the controls but I have a craving not to need to be so. For me, at least, my ideal digital camera would be something that looks and handles identically to a Nikon F2 or F3, has a "full frame sensor", no screen on the back to "chimp" at after every shot and offers only ISO sensitivity and the choice of JPEG or RAW. I might (grudgingly) accept auto focus for when I'm shooting sport or wildlife). Mono or colour would be my choice at PP stage, as would the introduction of any artificial grain (a la Silver Efex Pro) or other special effects.

Put simply, I only want a camera not a computer.

Tomorrow, I get my wish (to some extent) as I am off to meet some kindred spirits of mine at the extreme eastern coastal edge of Kent to give our large format / pinhole / sheet film cameras an airing......

[andrewteee]

Ag magazine from the UK was fantastic, but sadly the editor passed away in 2011 and it appears to be no more. It was primarily about photographs, photographers and the philosophy of photography and art.

I used to like Lenswork, but I'm not really inspired by it anymore. It's too consistent and conservative, IMO.

There ain't much else out there. I might read Popular Photographer at the airport for entertainment.

[33dollars]

I have to admit that I have never looked at any photography or camera based magazine.
I re-embraced photography about two years ago, probably because of the visual stimulus from the internet.
Plus the fun & time I enjoyed taking photos.
I'm not an avid reader of online blogs, websites or reviewers. But I know its there & try to do my homework. Just research.
Which is what lead me to the Ricoh forum in the first place.
In the world that we live in now, and the constraints we have placed on us all.
Time, location & cost. To name a few. The internet is now our magazine.
Sure it would be nice to hold a photograph in our hands. If in a magazine or newspaper.
Pass it to a friend & say. "Remember that?"
Time marches on, as do all facets of photography & life.
There will be a lot less magazines in the word eventually as they will all need to go to a digital online presence.
That's just how its done now.
There will be a place for them. And I can envisage the older magazines staying a little longer than most.
In this day & age of ones & zeros, Ferris Bueller was right, "If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Here is another nail in a coffin
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16420823
Magazines are good. For a collector The new way is the net.
And that is why we are here. http://ricohforum.com/