What Leica (or other photo related) magazines to you subscribe to or read on a regular basis, and why? I hope this is not phrased too intrusively, but I'm sure you understand.Thanks for your thoughts

-- Brooks (Bvonarx@home.com), August 03, 2001

Answers

I don't. I have always found Leicas publications bland, extraordinarily conservative in imagery & artistry, & expensive.

I subscribe to LensWork, Camera Arts & American Photo...

-- patrick C. Garner (pg@patrickgarner.com), August 03, 2001.

Leica World is a very good magazine with excellent reproduction. The design, which has won awards, is stunning and, best of all, the articles are not all about Leica nor even Leica photogrphers. Currently there is a series on graphic designers that is both fascinating visually and well written (no stunted translations from the German!).

For info on Leica cameras both new and old, the LHSA Viewfinder is very good though visually disappointing. There are large sections on using Leica cameras, lenses and accessories. Dick Gilcreast's articles in particular have caused my net worth to decline precipitously.

I have tired of LensWork. The standards of photography and reproduction are excellent but the editorial writing and interviews are too repetitive. Creepily similar to the constant repetition in PopPhoto, though with "arty' matters rather than zoom lenses.

American Photo has come under the thumb of PopPhoto's Keppler so the equipment reviews and the Best of this or that content has skyrocketed. Underneath all the aforementioned and the required glamour nudes, there is still quality writing about photography. It was American Photo (previously American Photography) that first introduced me to ,and followed the careers of, many now famous, or infamous, photograhers from the arts, advertising and journalism.

PhotoTechniques is another great magazine on the skids. Mr, Johnson was a very good editor whom they have not managed to replaced satisfactorially. There is always a gem or two inside so I have not been able to stop buying it. Now I just skim and read an article here or there where, before, I would read everything.

Finally PopPhoto. Unbelievably bad and wonderfully interesting at the same time. Too many ads but hey, we love comparison shopping for gear we never intend to buy. At least some of the articles are interesting, unlike Shutterbug (another great voyeuristic comparison shopper).

Oh dear I do seem to have rambled on...

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), August 03, 2001.

I attend this forum daily and its the main source of photo related material that I read.

From the view point of published material, I regularly read Practical Photography from the UK........great pictures with informative articles; I have not missed a issue for three years now.

yours

Tommy

-- Tommy Chung (dr_tommychung@hotmail.com), August 03, 2001.

"Leica Fotografie" despite horrible translation in English, used to be informative 30-40 years ago. Now it is more an example of navel- staring self-delight. Superficial product info,very often written by author unknown. Repetitious re; use of Leica in extreme situations like the (Ant)arctic, on Mt Everest, the African Desert etc etc- etc. And ongoing fascination with big prints from small negatives. All this for a rather high price. Good photography though when I last saw it 3 years ago.

Photo Techniques was good until a recent change- does anybody know why Michael Johnston,the previous editor, left? Now there seems to a loss of direction, with an invisible non writng editor. It still offers some thought provoking articles (D. Vestal, H. Bond a.o.) Mr Johnston's writings are now accessible through the LuminousLandscape.com website.

-- Hans Berkhout (berkhout@cadvision.com), August 03, 2001.

I read: Lens work; view camera; camera arts; phototechniques; B&W; photovision. The most interesting to me is lens work because it addresses why we take pictures more than how. B&W keeps me up to date on what people are buying. When I need a catalogue fix I buy a copy of ShutterBug..It lasts at least three months.

-- jeff schraeder (jeff@engineperformance.com), August 03, 2001.

Lenswork, View Camera, Camera Arts, PDN, Shots, Aperture............sometimes the junk ones if I just want to look at photos of equipment. I agree that a shutterbug lasts about three months, or more. I find the Leica magazine boring and over priced unless they have a specific article or interview that I'm very interested in.

-- Josh Root (rootj@att.net), August 03, 2001.

My three subscriptions currently are PopPhoto, Outdoor Photographer Shutterbug and Chasseur D'Images (I'm bilingual)...mostly because they're a lot cheaper than buying them at the magazine stand. PopPhoto is the default since Modern Photo went the way of dust some years ago, CDI is cool because it's in French, and Shutterbug has ads from a few guys who don't yet have websites, but it's frustrating because most of the time the good stuff is long gone by the time the magazine hits the street. In terms of articles the only ones I really enjoy are the ones Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz write because they're into old-tech equipment. Outdoor Photographer (if you're interested in that specialty as I am)has some really top-notch columnists like Galen Rowell, George Lepp and Dewitt Jones (and formerly the late John Netherton) among others of equally lofty credentials in the nature/wildlife genre. I just let my subscription to Rangefinder run out, despite the misleading name it's basically geared to the commercial pro (weddings, HS seniors, product photography, etc.). I got Leica Fotografie for a couple years, was less than thrilled with the eclectic and superficial articles and the horrendous translations. As someone else posted, there is some juicier stuff on the internet than on the newsstands.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), August 04, 2001.

I don't subscribe to any photo magazines (too expensive to ship overseas to my home in Hong Kong), but if I did it would be Aperture and Doubletake. I might be a little out of date, but as far as I know these are still the best art / photojournalism magazines available.

-- Jay D (jayd@netvigator.com), August 04, 2001.

I rarely buy magazines because I usually only find only 3-4 articles worthwhile reading even in the better once, instead I visit the library 2-3 times a month, and flip through all the magazines in the art, and photography section. I almost always find something interesting on photography (in an art context) in the following: D'PICT (formerly Creative Camera, UK), ARTFORUM (US), Aperture (US), Katalog (Denmark), Frieze (UK). I find the best equipment oriented magazine is FOTO MAGAZIN (Germany), FOTO (Sweden) is not bad either. But i usually know about new gadgets 1-2 month in advance through the Internet.

-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), August 04, 2001.

As Niels pointed out: who needs a subscription if you have a library? For a good overview, there's the municipal library, and in case I need in-depth information the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is within walking distance. Despite the ongoing destruction of all that isn't "life science"-related in the German educational system, you can still get plenty of information this way.

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), August 04, 2001.

Camera Arts is the only mag I subscribe to, but working in a camera store allows me the luxury of leafing through most of the mags in my spare time. But my personal library - there's another story. Maybe we should have a seperate posting for everyones favorite books on photography. Mine would have to be the 3 book set from Ansel (Camera, Neg and Print), The Leica Manual (Morgan & Morgan), long since out of print and a number of signed Ralph Gibson monographs (my personal favorite Leica photographer). As well I recently purchased the small writings on photography by HCB (can't remember the name). What about the rest of you??

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), August 04, 2001.

O.K. Bob,

My books are of the photojournalist / documentary variety, and somehow seem to revolve around the 1950s and 1960s.

I have the re-issue of the David Douglas Duncan book, "This is War!" DDD covered the Korean war with a couple of LTM cameras and (Gasp!) LTM Nikkor 50mm lenses. His entire book is 99% shot with the 50mm lens with only one shot with a 135. It is interesting to see the number of variations on a single focal length, and indeed it would be hard to argue that the images would be stronger if he had a bag of glass.

"The Americans", from Robert Frank. No explanation needed.

"Eisentaedt's Guide To Photography", from 1978. Many photos with explanations on the process. This book made me pick the 35mm lens as my normal lens.

"Leica M: The Advanced School of Photography" from Gunter Osterloh. This book has the best lens chapter of any Leica book I have, (and I have every contemporary book). The problem is that this is almost a "loose leaf" book now. Almost every page has come out of the binding. Great narrative, poor construction. I read on the LUG that this book is quite valuable today.

"The Leica / Leicaflex Way", from Andrew Matheson. Great for historical perspective on the evolution of the range. Statements like the fact that the 28mm lens is a super wide angle not useful for many things, lets you know how things have changed.

Every volume of the book series, "Masters of Contemporary Photography". Came out in the mid 1970s and had a book dedicated to every area of photography, from the experts in that range. My favorites are from Elliot Erwitt, Mary Ellen Mark, Art Kane.

Many, Many more.... Anyone else?

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), August 04, 2001.

Two recent books really are beautiful. Peter Turnley's book of life in Paris and Steve McCurry's new book of images from Southeast Asia.

-- David Enzel (dhenzel@vei.net), August 05, 2001.

I found a 1965 issue of the Leica magazine in a local second-hand bookstore, and bought it out of curiosity. Oh man, the magazine is boring to the point of being unreadable! There's one long article on the technique of casting the right shadow, and is well illustrated with b/w photos of shadows cast at various angles and distances by a tennis ball mounted on a stick! Anyway, I read American Photos and National Geographic regularly as I'm more interested in reading about the stories behind the photos.

-- H (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), August 06, 2001.

Right now, I still have a subscription to Leica Photographie, but plan to let it lapse because it has become too marginal for my personal tastes. The only other photography magazine I regularly pick up is The Railroad Press, which is specialized towards railroad photography (my particular interest). Oh, and as I recently joined the LHSA, I'm receiving their publication, which I'm (at least temporarily) in love with.

As for books, most of my photography books center around railroading, with a few early history (i.e., logging or regional) photography books and some music photography related items, although I do have copies of most of the "modern" Leica books.

-- Eric Platt (ericplatt@aol.com), August 06, 2001.

Many Leicaphiles eschew Popular Photography, myself included. However, the current issue, Sept 2001, has a very well-done piece on the "0" series Leica, in my opinion. Every once in a while, Popular Photography comes forth with a surprise. I still think LHSA Viewfinder is the premier publication that addresses my interests. Photo Techniques is declining as they dwell more on digital. Leica Fotografie has improved since it got a new e

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), August 07, 2001.

i don't like Lenswork because the editor gets on his soapbox too much and he has a bit of an ego with his essays taking up too much of the magazine. also, it's expensive.

i like b&w magazine because of their interviews and articles and true dedication to black and white photography.

i like leica world because it's a fine publication and well done. i wish it came out more often than twice a year.

i don't like leica fotografie (and will also let my subscription lapse) because it seems very pedestrian with very poor english transations, etc..

i like the LHSA viewfinder because of the great articles and non commercialism.

i read this forum via my palm and avantgo, so i don't have to be at my computer to get caught up here. it's great!

-- Tristan Tom (tristan@tristantom.com), August 07, 2001.