Lenswork - what do you think?

[PViapiano]

Wow, so I wake up to Brooks actually weighing in on LensWork!

Now, here's one classy guy who rises above the fray...my hat's off to him for the way he's handled this rebuttal. A lesson in difference of opinion, and like many of the editorials in LW, a lesson to be learned from if only we would keep an open mind.

[Christopher Perez]

Cobalt, well said.

Tools are just, well, tools. As I said earlier, the only thing that matters is the final image.

People might ask themselves, how did they get to the final image? It's a matter of tools, and not really that big a deal.

... My point is, hobbyists generally quibble over the dumbest things, such as which tool or medium to use, as well as who is boring and stagnant. Artists use what they use--and make art...

[Christopher Perez]

Brooks, keep up the great work.

Sorry to be joining the party so late . . . I just discovered this thread late yesterday!

Thanks one and all for the incredibly passionate feedback about our magazine, both supportive and, well, constructive...

[tim atherton]

My response? I guess I have a broader perspective than some because I remember the old days when Popular Photography, Modern Photography, and Shutterbug were about it.

But you know, sometimes they actually got it right! - I still have an old Pop Photo annual edition from the early 80's - it had Martin Parr, Chris Killip, Sally Mann, John Blakemore (and a bunch of others I forget right now) all in the one mag - but that was more a flash in the pan...

LensWork is, no doubt, a niche magazine. Certainly we cannot please all the folks, all the time. We don't even try to. Our best hope is to simply be part of the landscape of the discussion about creative photography, and based on the number of views of this thread, I see we are at least succeeding in that goal!

I think the biggest critical response I have come across in the last few weeks has been about what seems to some to be a certain visual rut that the magazine appears been stuck in for the last couple of years (this from folks who once upon a time bought every issue). Of course one persons rut is another person's groove...

One thing that strikes me is that a lot of this feeling parallels issues and current debate about the place of contemporary black and white photography (b&w obviously being very much Lensworks ethos). There is much contemporary B&W work which isn't typically the sort of work seen in Lenswork these days (and I think once upon a time some of it was).

And while you obviously depend on submissions, there's a whole area of contemporary b& w photography that could be explored, but isn't, from John Gossage and Sugimoto, through to Osamu Kanemura, Jason Evans, An My Le (did you feature her?), Susan Lipper, Idris Kahn, Michael Wesely, Alan Cohen, Jeffrey Ladd, Gregory Conniff... and more

I think the feeling of some is that there was a time when Lenswork did feature exciting contemporary work

That said, were you to feature this kind of work I'm sure you'd get as many complaints about it from those who like things just the way they are...

BTW, lest anyone think LensWork is "in trouble" as a publication, let me dispel the myth. We are just preparing issue #71 for the printer and I am proud and humbled to say that it is the 71st issue in a row that has an increase in subscribers, an increase in press run, and that we have just hired additional staff to help keep up with our business growth. How can I possibly thank all of you enough for making this possible? This is our 15th year of publishing and we are still breaking our own records with every issue. God willing, we will be here for a long time to come.

I think I made that point yesterday - there are probably plenty enough and more readers who happen to like lenswork exactly the way it is and will keep it being a success.

[tim atherton]

Now, here's one classy guy who rises above the fray, and I include myself in that count, instead of sniping and trying to prove how hip he is by talking about "modernism" in photography.

Modernism in photography hasn't been "hip" for, oh I don't know, 50 years or so....

and forcing his opinion on everyone else here

I think that's actually your problem

[paulr]

... and forcing his opinion on everyone else here.

yes, i've become so concerned about Tim forcing his opinion on me that i've decided to unplug my computer and start wearing an aluminum foil hat.

god help us all if i suddenly start liking that crazy work from the last four or five decades ... and all because of his evil influence.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Sorry to be joining the party so late . . . I just discovered this thread late yesterday!

I need to take your PR class....

[tim atherton]

I need to take your PR class....

LOL - what until your "nudie" (aka Jock Sturges issue) issue comes out.... then you'll have fun

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

LOL - what until your "nudie" (aka Jock Sturges issue) issue comes out.... then you'll have fun

You have no idea what kind of hell my printer gave me when I showed them a PDF of the Jock Sturges article...I got real tired of their holier than thou closed mindedness real fast and in the process found a printer that's saying they can get my quality up to LW standards with 300 linescreen compared to the 133 we've been using. Anyway, I went to over two dozen printers nationwide...I found one printer who was okay with the images, but he couldn't find a place to get it bound...in the end, I didn't wind up using any of his more controversial images as I would have liked to.

[Nate Battles]

Sometimes Lenswork really seems to be on top of things. I listen to every podcast by Brooks Jensen. I agree and I disagree. At times he seems to be harsh towards the art market and his sour views on abstract art are quite blatant. Although his own work seems rather abstract at times. This also opens up that age old question about what constitutes art. Let's not discuss that here, not now. Lenswork is also exclusive to silver gelatin printers, which will inevitably limit their portfolio submissions, but that is probably a good thing. I think he has done a great job at expanding coverage of that magazine by adding the Lenswork Extended, and his podcasts have certainly helped me when I've been in a photographic slump. For the most part, I think Lenswork is doing a fine job at providing quality reproduced work in a magazine.

~nate