You realize the editor reads this, right? And possibly other staff and contributors from the magazine?
Criticism is fine, but some of you are really not very nice people.
You realize the editor reads this, right? And possibly other staff and contributors from the magazine?
Criticism is fine, but some of you are really not very nice people.
When judged on journalistic content, I guess the 5 Pulitzer prize winning L.A. Times is a periodical masterpiece then? In my eyes, it's a mouthpiece for the American status quo; full of shallow half-truths, propaganda, and straight out lies meant for a readership with an adolescent mentality.
I wouldn't have given LA Times any Pulitzers until it first stops telling lies. (I'm trying to say that judgement of quality depends on whose doing the judging, obviously.)
Personally, View Camera magazine accomplishes the task I ask it of being an inspirational publication. PhotoTechniques is another favorite. I have moved beyond Popular Photography, but once liked that one as well.
Perhaps those who are critical about VC have just 'moved beyond' it somehow?
I am fed up and would like to give my opinion.
Mr Rory, (as I don't know what's your name)
I think that this forum is not the right place to start such a polemic, that many people are not interested at all with what you think or what you write.
I don't know what are your true intentions since the beginning of these threads, but all these attacks look quite sordid.
You write "There is no attempt at editorial direction or quality control." and later "I would have told Mr. Simmons to find a staff writer to fulfill this function."
Are you an unemployed staff writer who has been seeking for such an employment and was refused by Mr.Simmmons ? It looks like that.
So I have two advises to give you :
First, if you don't like View Camera, or if you don't agree with the editorial policy, stop reading it, stop subscribing, and let it there.
The way Steve Simmons manages View Camera is maybe criticable, but he has the merit to do it, and IMO, he does it very well.
I am a subscriber in France since many years. I have always been very satisfied with the content of the magazine, and I am always very happy to read it.
I consider that View Camera is an outstanding magazine. I wrote it to Steve Simmons, (and I do not await a reduction on the price of my subscription for that). ;>))
When I like a magazine, I buy it, I read it and I support it. That's all.
We don't have anything like View Camera or Camera Arts in Europe, and in my opinion, anything comparable in the States. I know that many people appreciate this magazine.
You also wrote "Mr. Simmons already has an entire website to advertise his products."
So what ? Advertisement is like the content of a magazine : it's a different kind of information, and I consider that we never have too much informations.
The quality of informations, opinions, reflexions and analyses and the commercial target are the only differences between an article and an advertisement, but I consider we need both.
If the content of an article is followed by an advertisement for the same product, that's a useful complement, and that's a good thing.
If I am interested by the product, I'll buy it, otherwise I don't. That's all.
Don't you know how press magazines can live ? Do you think that selling issues or subscriptions are the only ways for a magazine to last ?
Second, it is always easier to criticize than to act.
And you, what are you doing ?
What kind of articles did you wrote ?
Where are they published ?
If you disagree with the editorial line of the magazine, if you consider that you are more clever than people who manage or write articles in View Camera , why don't you create your own LF magazine ?
Be sure I will be among the first to buy and to read it. If your production is better than Steve Simmons' View Camera, my choice will be immediately done, and you will have a faithful subscriber.
As long as you will not be there, it would be better to remain quiet, and to let Steve Simmons manage the magazine in the way he thinks he has to do it.
So, please, stop this "Gunfight at the OK Corral".
PS : You will notice that this answer is signed with my complete name.
Buying View Camera magazine, along with Camera Arts, and Lenswork, is one of my few vices. I don't subscribe, but they do keep me going to Barnes & Noble for a cup of tea and a scone and provide me the chance to put my feet in the photogrpahic water.
I won't disagree with much Rory said, but I will say I can't get to excited about it. Unlike big slick magazines that are heavily edited and controlled, View Camera magazine feels more personal, and closer to the photographer. And like photographers I meet in person, some communicate well, others not so well, and their interests range from those who know nothing more than the specifications of the latest gadget they acquired to the photographer who simply breathes photographs. And I enjoy listening to them all.
I will disagree with the notion that the discussion about the magazine does not belong in this forum. I have read displeasure with Steve Simmons, with conferences, with Fred Newman, and on an on. And each heated statement has been answered in kind with other viewpoints, opinions, and experience. The process here seems so much more honest (even when someone may be wrong, dishonest, or downright mean) that it ever is in real life. I have seen similar situations arise in the classroom where a student or faculty member will make a strong statement that will go unchallenged, that no one will offer their opinion, and just sit and be polite.
If I were a magazine editior, I would welcome the criticism, if for no other reason than it is hard to come by. Mr. Simmons can sort out what he does with it. I do not believe an open discussion is anymore detrimental to the long term process than I do when people engage in an open discussion about the war in Iraq, the environment, Wal-Mart, or anything else. The reason I come here to this forum is to have access to largely unfiltered information. I take what I need and leave the rest.....
Steve Willams
Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks
Geez, Rory. For a magazine that you throw in the trash without reading, that's a pretty comprehensive critical review.
It's Steve's magazine. He can run it however he likes. It our money. We can buy the magazine or not, as we wish. I don't like every article that I see in there, but View Camera is the only photgraphic magazine that I still buy with any regularity. It's not perfect, but it serves my needs better than anything else on the shelf.
Guess I need to weigh in, too.
When people donate materials for testing with no idea whether a reviewer will slam them in print, they deserve the label "kind" in my book. I refer to no one as "gentle," so I feel justified in asking for accuracy if I'm going to be criticized. I appreciate these donors unconditional generosity, and the world should know of it.
Meaningless conclusions? After reading so much drivel in places like this where people slam products, which, on subsequent examination, they have not meaningfully investigated and compared, I found that to be irresponsible, and not helpful to our small community. I did real comparisons and meaningful tests, which few, if anyone, have ever undertaken. And I found no bad paper/developer combinations. I learned that RC ain't so bad as I had always been told. I found two papers and two developers that for my work look better than others, and I have a sense of what kinds of work look good with the rest. To me, those are meaningful conclusions. I have changed what I use as a result, and I'm much happier with the prints I am now making. While the differences are subtle, there's a psychological benefit of knowing that I'm using the best I could find, and that's good for my head.
That said, my work is my work and yours is yours, and so I state, once again as in the articles, that you owe it to your work to use what I say as a guide and try some combinations on your own, as any dedicated artist would do. I have the prints, hundreds have seen them and drawn their own conclusions, and found the exercise to be quite valuable for their own work. In fact, among the better printers that have seen the prints, there is almost universal consensus on one combination with my negative. That, to me, is very meaningful. And if you actually read the articles, you can figure it out. Or contact me, and I'll come show you, or you can come to beautiful New Hampshire and see them.
As far as my writing style in this case, it came after a long study of previous View Camera articles, and was intended to be lighter in tone, and therefore distinctly different, than much of what I read there. Let's face it, it was in many ways a crazy exercise, and to then write pompously about it would have been ludicrous. Isadora Duncan said: "Take your work seriously, but never yourself." Good advice for writing about this stufft.
View Camera and Steve contribute mightily to our small community. Yup, I could probably find editorial gaffes if I wanted to look hard (such as leaving out my table of paper comparisons in Part 1! Full table available in the expanded web version...). But life's too short, there are too many photographs waiting to be made, and I have too much respect for the VC folks to engage in that sort of enterprise. They deserve my support. And yours.
And if I were to be critical, I'd send an e-mail to Steve, rather than posting it to the universe. "Praise in public, criticize in private" was some of the best advice I ever got in my career in business. That's gotten lost on much of the Net, and the relative sense of civility has suffered with it. Positive reinforcement in public has a way of shaping desired behavior much better than criticism.
But I'm also happy to put in a huge second to the kind words about LensWork. A different objective, finely achieved. If you don't subscribe, you should.
'Nuff said. Let's go add to the stock of beauty in the world by making some good pictures.
Bruce Barlow
author of "Finely Focused" and "Exercises in Photographic Composition"
www.brucewbarlow.com
I don't read View Camera for its literary content. I am interested in large format photography, from my particular point of view, and find it both entertaining and informative. There are articles I don't read, due to a lack of interest in the subject matter (digital large format comes to mind), but this is my personal bias.
As has been stated, a photographer is not necessarily a good writer. I enjoy reading from the daybooks of Edward Weston. He is certainly not a "great writer" but his words have a pleasant simplicity and carry a genuine feeling of his life and times. Granted, he was not writing to an audience, but to himself. I could judge him morally (the morals of an alley cat), economically (not a very good businessman) or as a human being (I believe he was a decent man who was motivated by his passions). But this is just opinion on my part. (please not, an incomplete sentence)
I think this is a fair venue for this type of dialog. Steve is an adult who is capable of defending his point of view, which I think he does quite well every two months. I read a criticism of Hemmingway by Vonnegut. It was basically an assault on a man who was able to use "dinky little words" and still have the work called literature. Although tounge in cheek, it was a valid criticism. Too bad Hemmingway didn't write about the zone system, I might understand it better.
Please blog on.
From a list of management principles, and worthy of consideration with respect to this and similar threads:
"We praise in public and coach in private."
Maybe there needs to be a seperate forum where people can go to piss and moan about View Camera Magazine.
If you don't like the way the Magazine is run, great. Go start your own. Don't buy View Camera, Quit wasting people's time. If you are not willing to do anything about it and really want to piss and moan, go burn up some film or something. Relax. Expend your energy where it is most useful. Other wise take your concerns to Steve directly. He has an E-mail account, a phone number, and a mailing address.
If you like it, great. Go buy it. I am sure Steve apprecites the money and support.
I feel some of your frustration, Rory. Occasionally the writing is sloppy. Sometimes I flip through an issue and don’t see much that interests me (bound to happen, just by chance). A few years ago it seemed like every other issue featured either the Polaroid 20x24 or hyper-saturated photos of slot canyons. Nonetheless, I kept reading.
Is the magazine perfect? Far from it. But I sure would miss it if it weren’t there.
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