Dear all,
I'm writing to all of you because I am not happy at all with the magazine
subscriptions of the club and I want to understand how many of you feel the
same.
Note that everything I will be writing below can be synthetized by the
following question:
Do you want to learn from photographers that are successful in what they are
doing, or are you comfortable in being camera geeks?
For myself, I know very well the answer. I am provoking you on purpose to know
your reactions.
I have nothing against having the best reviews of the last cameras on the
market - though there are already several very good websites for camera reviews
on the internet -, but as a matter of fact there is a lot of redundancy in the
subscriptions. Not only, but those magazines are outdated after a couple of
months because brand new gears are on the market. Some of them also try to give
advice on composition and techniques, but isn't it something one can easily
find googling on internet?
Also: do we really need similar magazines in English, French, German and Dutch?
Why don't we assess magazines just by their quality and usefulness?
I am not saying that we have to get rid of all the magazines we have right now
because we are all different and have different needs, but how can you become
good photographers if you don't nourish yourselves with inspiration and
curiosity? Without inspiration and curiosity, how do you find the motivation to
learn and master a technique? The gear and the technique are a medium to reach
your ideas, but the sparkle of inspiration gives you the idea itself and the
motivation to realize it.
There are several magazines where editors make a very good job in selecting
emergent and talented photographers running interesting projects all over the
world, or showing and explaining the work of master photographers that have
made history. They make a big effort in editing to show those works at best, on
high quality paper, and one also learns how to present a portfolio or to
realize a serie. And after a couple of months or even years, those magazines
don't lose value because one always learns from what they show. Here, I only
see advantages.
I will now list some of these magazines so that you can start having a look and
develop your personal idea.
GUP Magazine http://www.gupmagazine.com/
ZOOM Magazine which is not the Dutch one -
http://www.zoom-net.com/zoom-magazine.aspx
British Journal of Photography http://www.bjp-online.com/
Polka Magazine http://www.polkamagazine.com/
Leica Fotografie International https://lfi-online.de/ceemes/en/magazine/
I hope to hear a lot of feedbacks on the topic.
Have a good start of the week,
Nicola
