May/June View Camera

[steve simmons]

The An-My Li images were made from scans provided by her gallery - the same one's used by Aperture. To the best of my knowledge they are very close to her original prints. I could've increased the contrast but that felt artificial to me. That was my joice and I will accept the consequences. Aperture and Blindspot have funding sources that are unique and give them opportunities a publication such as mine does not have. They are both valuable publications and this is not a criticism. I do not, however, consider them to be mainstream publications. You can look at OP, AP, DT, etc. and I do not think their reproductions match ours. I asked a year or so ago if people would be willing to pay more for a copy or subscription to improve the reproductions and the answer was no, that people were generally happy with what we were doing.

I hear a lot about design mistakes but that usually boils down to an aesthetic decision where there are no right or wrong answers.

steve

[Marko]

Contrary to what some like to say, we have cut down considerably on the typos in the last 3 issues.
...
If anyone finds inaccurate info in any issue please notify me immediately and we will put a correctiion on our web site and in the next issue.

Sic.

Whan
Routinely
Correctiion
Impliment

Hey, this is good news, only one more considerable decrease and you'll be almost typo-free...

Besides not really being all that important in the context, the typos do give a certain trademark kind of feel, even character to the mag. If suddenly Steve started using a spell-checker (hint, hint), there wouldn't be much left for complaining and that would be a real problem. The target audience of the magazine are mostly grumpy aging men who more often than not complain as a matter of demographics, rather than principle and eliminating reasons for complaining would risk loosing audience.

C'mmon guys, it's not that bad at all - I buy it regularly for the last six months, and the only reason I don't subscribe is that it gives me yet another reason for the trip to the local bookstore. Like Steven and Emre said above, I don't buy it for technical perfection - it'd be nice to have a technically perfect magazine with less ads and more "meat", but I don't think it would be possible at this price.

Having worked for publishing companies of one type or the other for most of my working life, I think we are getting more than what we pay for even now. And if you still can't take it, it's simple, just don't buy it. If you still can't get over it and think that you could do it much better, well, there's always room for another LF magazine out there, right?

All that being said, I'd love to see Steve be less defensive and more receptive toward some of the remarks. I think it'd be a good idea to establish a regular VC topic here, not for criticism, but for suggestions. Steve would get free consulting and we would hopefully get even better VC.

[BrianShaw]

I think it'd be a good idea to establish a regular VC topic here, not for criticism, but for suggestions. Steve would get free consulting and we would hopefully get even better VC.

Steve can speak for himself, obviously, but let me mention that he has established a discussion forum at VC web site just for this kind of chatter. I think this kind of discussion is better placed there than here... but with 4,249 views and 96 replies I might be wrong.

[william linne]

This stuff always cracks me up. If I canceled a mag subscription just because of typos or occasionally crappy photos, I would never get a single issue of Hustler or Juggs. VC does have some pretty funny ongoing proofreading issues, and the photos are often kinda crummy. But most of my photos are crummy too, as are most of the photos I see every day.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

probably not just this thread, but also an ongoing one about the film vs. digital debate, as well as Ron Wisner and his cameras...

[MJSfoto1956]

I hear a lot about design mistakes but that usually boils down to an aesthetic decision where there are no right or wrong answers.

Steve, Steve.

First impressions are lasting ones. I *KNOW* you care about your publication, your audience, your authors (I can tell by your passion)!!!

But may I suggest that the above statement (taken together with ongoing typos, quality issues, and other oversights) could be mis-interpreted as "not caring" by certain people?

Just a thought...

J Michael Sullivan

[Kirk Gittings]

At the risk of sounding foolish........

No one who participates in this forum has even vaguely come close to making the contributions to large format that Steve Simmons has.

Sure Steve makes mistakes and gets cranky and defensive from time to time. Who doesn't? Criticize all you want, but do so in a respectful manner. The man deserves that and much much more.

[Capocheny]

Kirk,

No need to feel like you might sound foolish... I'm on-side with your points of view as well.

I've just picked up the latest issue and, although the An-My Le, Norman McGrath, Janet Pritchard, and Wet Plate Photography articles weren't exactly "my cup of tea," I can understand how they might appeal to other readers.

I quite enjoyed reading the John Anderson 4 Photographs (Tech Notes), Ted Harris's "Scanning Large Format Film" [I'm looking forward to your review of the Epson 750!], and Michael Mutmansky's review of the inexpensive Schneider 550XL lens.

So, subject matter is such a subjective thing and the preference of article(s) will depend much on what turns your crank! As for the other issues...

Steve,

Personally, I'd love to see more techniques introduced into the magazine... be they techniques out in the field or in the studio. For example, take a complicated scene and walk us through the "thoughts and processes" of making the picture. What was the inspiration behind the image? What's the main focus? In other words, what drove you, as a photographer, to take the shot. Describe the techniques that you used. Tell us about the equipment used.

Now, if you had someone like John Sexton, Jack Dykinga, or Per Volquartz write the article - that would be truly great! IMHO, it would be very relevant and interesting... and I'm sure a lot of new users would buy the magazine for such instructional and inspirational articles. All I can say is, "I know I would!"

Other than that, I do enjoy the magazine and will support it in spite of some of the issues swirling around it.

.

[BTW, I was being very facetious about the 550 XL lens being inexpensive! At $US7,215.00, my nose would have to freeze and fall of in the middle of a sweltering summer before I would even remotely consider buying such a gorgeous chunk of glass. However, it's sure nice to dream, isn't it?

Cheers