Art Photography Magazines - what options?

[perkeleellinen]

Photo magazines at my newsagent are total dross; a mixture of computer programming, equipment fetishism, advertorials and articles about how to copy someone else's technique.

What options exist for printed art photography magazines?

Ideally ones that give a wide berth to technical matters and focus upon the art of photography regardless of equipment used.

I'd like to see portfolios, interviews and editorials looking at artistic matters.

I don't care about what camera was used for each photo, I don't care about how to desaturate in photoshop, I don't care about darkroom techniques.

I want to be inspired by great photography.

Is this a pipe-dream?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Not available at the newsagents' anymore (only via subscription) is LensWork. It is probably the best out there. SilverShotz is pretty nice also - they do have technique articles, but they're not a gear/techie-fetish mag. Black-and-White (the US photo magazine) is purely a portfolio magazine, so no tech anything. There's others but I don't have all of mine readily to hand, and I'm sure other folks will have additional suggestions I'm not aware of.

 

[Dan Henderson]

maybe Silvershotz?

 

[cloudhands]

How about Aperture? No gear-talk as far as I have seen. I don't have a subscription but my library does and I go in now and again and read a few issues.
I'm with you about not wanting too much techie shit or whatever, but I at least would like to know a few details. I got the latest black and white and it's got some fantastic images in it, but also some that I'm incredulous about. Some could be HDR, some heavily manipulated, etc. I know it should be all about your reaction to the image itself, not how it was made, but I still wonder. I know film isn't any more inherently "honest" than digital but I have somewhere along the line developed such a distaste for the heavily postprocessed digital image that I am always suspicious.
I, also, would like to see more attention paid to "artistic matters" as I was raised in a math/science type environment and I am still trying to figure all that out by myself

 

[Ian David]

I have been a subscriber to Lenswork and Silvershotz for a while and still enjoy both mags.

 

[Joe Lipka]

You have described LensWork.

Dead Link Removed

Just to make sure they are what you want (and they are) you can download (for free) samples of their magazine. Once you read it, you will subscribe.

Good news for you, they ship overseas, too.

 

[perkeleellinen]

I'm with you about not wanting too much techie shit or whatever, but I at least would like to know a few details.

I recently thought about starting a thread in the philosophy section entitled "The Role of the Computer in Photography". I wanted to explore why many photographers (digi & analogue) have embraced the computer when many other artists haven't. My piano playing wife doesn't record herself and edit the audio file with a computer. Painters don't scan their work and touch-up in photoshop.

But I decided this is borderline material for APUG.

I'm not so sure about knowing details. I have no idea what typewriter Orwell used. If you dislike HDR because of how it looks - then you must be able to spot it to dislike it. If you dislike it on ideological grounds - then I think a more technical publication would be necessary.

 

[perkeleellinen]

And thanks for all the replies / ideas!

 

[Chazzy]

The only problem with LensWork is the tiny size of the magazine. Just my personal preference, but I like to see bigger images.

 

[Ian David]

The only problem with LensWork is the tiny size of the magazine. Just my personal preference, but I like to see bigger images.

I kind of like the unusual size of Lenswork. It is a very handsome publication. But I can understand what you say Chazzy.

 

[Andrew Horodysky]

In addition to the above-mentioned, also available are:

"Blind Spot" -- well-designed photo-based magazine (Dead Link Removed)

"Afterimage" -- published by the Visual Studies Workshop -- on the "heady" side, it contains critical writings, reviews and news on photography, video, film, and other media art forms (http://www.vsw.org/afterimage/)

"European Photography" -- print and online magazine out of Berlin (http://www.european-photography.eu/)

"Lens Culture" -- online photo art magazine (http://www.lensculture.com)

"Photo-Eye" -- online photo art magazine (http://www.photoeye.com/magazine/)

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

There's another one I forgot about before- Souza (I think that's the spelling) - a magazine for middle-eastern photography.

 

[perkeleellinen]

I couldn't find "Souza", I think I need to play around with the spelling to locate its website.

@a.horodysky: many thanks for your list!

I liked "Blind Spot" best of all from that lot. Lenswork and Silvershotz also seem good - Lenswork I know about as when I lived in Sweden the city library had it on the shelves along with other art photography magazines (how great is that?) whose names escape me.

These are expensive journals and I think I need to thumb through an edition or two first. There's no chance to do that in my little village so I think I'll have to wait until I go to London next (I'm thinking of going to this).

 

[Willie Jan]

thanks.
ik saw some I did not know about...

 

[mikeg]

Lenswork,

Silvershotz

Shots (www.shotsmag.com)

Ag (also includes a fair amount of technical articles, mainly digital) (www.picture-box.com)

Mike

 

[mikeg]

Ag and Silvershotz, and a number of others are usually available in UK branches of Borders -- there may be one in Oxford -- not sure.

Mike

 

[delphine]

I like Ag a lot - very well writen quality content - and light leaks if you like low fi photography.

Also, you can peruse quite a few mags at the photographers' gallery if you happen to pop by London.

 

[jbridges]

Shots Mag, FStop online mag, and Diffusion is a new one that just came out.

 

[perkeleellinen]

Also, you can peruse quite a few mags at the photographers' gallery if you happen to pop by London.

This is my plan.

 

[John Lawrence]

ZOOM used to be quite a good magazine, although I haven't seen a copy in a while - the days when WHSmith stocked it have long gone!

 

[perkeleellinen]

I've heard a lot of people say that ZOOM was good in the '70s & '80s. I'm not sure how good the current incarnation is:

http://www.zoom-net.com/zoom-magazine.aspx

 

[nocrop]

Aperture is a long-time favorite of mine. I make an impulse buy now and then, but have never subscribed to it. I like it better than LensWork. Rangefinder is horrible monstrosity that raised my expectations and proceeded to dash them and spit on them.

 

[Gary Grenell]

Even though my portfolio did not pass the review process for publication in Lenswork, I still love the quality of the photography, the quality of the reproductions, and the excellent writing. (See...no sour grapes!) Plus, I pass through Anacortes, WA (the town that it is published in) on my way to the ferry that takes me to the San Juan Islands of Washington, and the building that it is housed in is charming and old. There are quite a few interesting bistros and pubs within a few blocks of Lenswork.

 

[Roger Krueger]

I need to try Blind Spot again, I used to love it (well, half love, there was a lot of great stuff, but a lot of "WTF is this crap" too), but I found it less compelling after founder Kim Zorn Caputo's passing, and haven't delved back in to see if it's returned to form.

Re: Lenswork, this month's issue isn't very representative, it's zero portfolios, just a bunch of (very good) writing, a tribute-issue to recently departed back-page writer Bill Jay. Also, go to their website, the free Lenswork podcasts are generally interesting musings on the creative process and the business of fine art photography. He avoids the gear drooling, technical instruction and MFAbabble that is the limit of 99.9% of photography writing.

Not on-topic year-round, but I always find Communication Arts' Photo Annual issue to be a can't miss.

nocrop: Wow, you like Rangefinder a lot more than I do.

 

[Wyno]

I sometimes buy Photoicon. It's nearly all images.
Mike