Trying to contact View Camera Magazine re: unfulfilled subscription

[Gem Singer]

Thank you Denise. i found your article in View Camera to be informative and well written.

I called Eddie out for his criticism of View Camera magazine. Every article cannot please everyone. Why condemn the entire publication?

Destructive criticism will not improve a product, or service. Constructive criticism will lead to improvement.

I have been involved with photography since 1946 (you do the math). I learn something new about photography every day. Hope I never stop learning.

If View Camera disappears, I will miss it.

[BrianShaw]

I didn't print out the last issue of Magnachrome I wanted to keep, and now it's gone - lost even to the wayback machine.

Denise... if that is the issue with the dead rodent on the cover (the Hybrid issue) I can mail it to you. It is about 20Mbyte so make sure your mailbox has big capacity!

[Robert Brummitt]

Wow... who died and left you in charge?

I'm not. But this kind of thread on"How this magazine is this or that" gets repetitive. I like VC but I don't buy every issue or subscribe. I don't to any magazine except for one cooking one and that's a gift from a relative.
I just get tired of all the negativity. You remember "Kelly's Heros"? The character Oddball played by Donald Sutherland. "No negative thoughts, man"
Unlike, Denise. I don't keep my back issues of my magazine. They get in the way. So, I give them to my local school and sold some. I rather have the space for books on photography or photographers.
I do think that the web will be the future of magazine. I get far more information from my fellow photographers who visit and share. And the discussions are far more open to everyone then say single direction like from magazine to reader.
I'm not a tree hugger but maybe less trees are used for magazine pulp.

[jnantz]

I doubt you have seen too many articles on dry plate photography. I was the author of that article. It was an attempt at 21st century journalism. I referenced my website, which is over a hundred 'pages' of content on silver gelatin emulsions - far more than could fit in one magazine article. The website and its content is free.

Sincerely,
Denise Ross

i wish i had seen the article denise!
your website is like a candy store thanks!

john

[BrianShaw]

You remember "Kelly's Heros"? The character Oddball played by Donald Sutherland. "No negative thoughts, man".

Yup, I remember. Those are good words! I, too, get tired of all the negativity.

[BrianShaw]

i wish i had seen the article denise!

I believe that issue (Nov/Dec 2008) is still on the news stands.

[Merg Ross]

For whatever reasons, the mention of View Camera Magazine on this forum never goes without comment. Most often, there are a predictable number of negative posts. Some with merit, most without. Perhaps some have had portfoilos rejected, or have personal issues with the publisher. I find none of that of interest to myself, nor related to large format photography. It is what it is, the product of a dedicated individual with a passion for photography who has been publishing a magazine continuously for over twenty years. I have been a subscriber for most of those years. No one forces anyone to subscribe or read it. So please, refrain from the negative comments. If you can not learn something from the magazine, it is only a reflection on yourself.

I read a post above from Gem, who has been photographing for over 60 years, and is still learning. I echo his comment, as I enter my 56th year behind the lens; I am still learning. And thanks to articles, such as the one by Denise, my curiousity has been whetted and I have a source for further study.

[dwross]

Denise... if that is the issue with the dead rodent on the cover (the Hybrid issue) I can mail it to you. It is about 20Mbyte so make sure your mailbox has big capacity!

The issue may be lost to the wayback machine, but not to people of foresight and generous spirit. Thank you, Brian. The dead rodent is from a wonderful series of gum-over-cyanotype, titled 'Squish Series', by Christina Z. Anderson. I'll send you an address with a big mailbox.

And Gem, I love your math!

d

[Don7x17]

Well stated, Merg, Gem, and Denise.

Question: Why is it that the ones that whine the most are least likely to do any of the heavy lifting to create a worthy article for the magazines they diss, or even to make an effort to make credible technical posting online?

Denise - Kudos for doing all the heavy lifting to not only do dry plates, but to push the media through invention (emulsions, and hand coating techniques ) and to write about it. That was an excellent article in VC, and the Light Farm is outstanding.

Now if any of you newbies (under 45 years in photography) want to learn a little bit about building an emulsion, and coating dry plates in the dark, sign up for one of Denise's workshops. The last one was free for the weekend (Kudos to Kirk and Denise).

And yes, I've found one 12x20 plate holder already.

[sultanofcognac]

I certainly can't read all these posts without adding my two centimes worth.

I understand what it means to put together a magazine - I have been the editor/art director of an international (read in 183 countries) technology magazine based in Zurich, Switzerland for the past eleven years, and we sometimes stretch deadlines by three weeks to ensure each product meets our (read: my) demands of precision, clarity, beauty and substance.

The last issue of VC I received was the October/November issue. . . this means the last issue of 2008 has not arrived and now I'm awaiting the first issue of 2009. Although completely unacceptable I am partially to blame for considering myself too busy to call our local distributor (http://www.taosphotographic.com here in France. I paid, therefore expect results - but here in Europe one soon finds that the customer is not always 'right', and there may be some extenuating circumstances of which I am ignorant.

I don't have 45 years behind a still camera (I'm only 50), but I do have 35 years of photographic/video production/graphics design experience in 15 countries, and when I have a complaint about something I truly expect others in a professional forum to which I subscribe to respect my comments - and possibly to understand why my feelings have been distressed. I certainly don't need pontification from someone who believes tenure in life is cause for glorification.

If I must call the VC crew or Taos to receiving my missing mag then so be it. That's my subscription, not yours, and I don't intend to make it your problem.

This forum has provided me with information and an education on LF photography that I would have not been able to afford had it all been somehow compressed into a curriculum somewhere.

I'm an LF guy who came from an MF world, and Mr Scheimpflug and I still have a bit of a road to travel before we can meet on a common plane. But what a fantastic journey this is ~

Thanks to everyone - newbies and oldbies alike - for the questions that I was afraid to ask and the answers that I didn't even know existed.

Hey, maybe I'll write an article for VC on rambling. . . you may not be aware but I'm pretty good at that

Cheers anyway

Johnny