View Camera Magazine, Special Edition

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I managed to find the issue at a Borders in Goleta, California. I must say it is an impressive issue.

Jim

[Drew Bedo]

Ok: I've got my copy of this special issue in the mmail . . .where is the subscriber's password/code number so I can access the subscriber's section of the website?

[Merg Ross]

Ok: I've got my copy of this special issue in the mmail . . .where is the subscriber's password/code number so I can access the subscriber's section of the website?

Drew, have you tried the password from the previous issue? I believe that may work, not sure.

Just checked, the password is on the spine of the Caponigro issue.

[Drew Bedo]

Hello Meg.

There it is!

Thanks for the sharp eyes . . .I amlegally blind and don't see half of what I look at!

[Frank Petronio]

I think the new issue speaks volumes to the power of having a good graphic designer, they all should be this quality.

[anglophone1]

Frank
Just subscribed to get this issue, which means in Europe you buy this years issues, good thing too as I gotiJuly/August with your excellent article and images. Really nice and now I can see a bit more where you're at, interesting!!

[Tyler Boley]

Imagine the subscription fee for a magazine whose every issue is designed by Eleanor Caponigro or a peer. Come on. I was a subscriber to View Camera from the beginning, though I did let it lapse for a few years. It has never occurred to me to allow my attention to drift to design quality with this magazine, since it was the only magazine of it's kind with content devoted to my interests, whenever it came in the mail you could immediately write me off for a few hours at least. When endeavours of every kind involved in pursuits related to this membership are dropping like flies around us every day, View Camera is still managing to be there, somehow.
So now when the most beautiful publication aligned with our interests I have seen in maybe a decade hits the streets, a stunning example of the very esthetics we expound, we're bitching about fonts?
So you say Steve's a little cranky? Really?
Tyler

[Frank Petronio]

Ugh... because I know Steve will not respond well to constructive criticism but yes, to me at least, respect for design and at least the craft, if not the cutting edge, of typography and layout should mesh with the same value system that respects a finely crafted B&W large format print. Slamming something out with little regard to the design could be considered disrespectful and a big turn-off -- better photographers who want to control their work wouldn't want to be published in a magazine that comes off as unprofessional.

It doesn't have to be Eleanor designing it. It's really just a basic level of craft that's needed, a basic 101-course level newsletter design, perhaps a good designer providing a template and occasional advice?

Do you really think Paul Caponigro would have let his images be published without considering the quality of the design? He probably talked Eleanor into doing it as a precondition to publishing his images.

I think design matters. It's probably responsible for half the praise this issue is getting, even if it's not acknowledged outright then subconsciously it is appreciated.

For that matter, if it were designed nicer, it could sit on the shelf on par with other art magazines and definitely sell better than it is now.

[Tyler Boley]

Frank, I don't think that's what I was saying at all. There's a lot of mileage between the varying quality of the production values of View Camera over the years, and "Slamming something out with little regard to the design".
As someone who was in the Mead Show and AR100 year after year, I think it's safe to say I think design matters.
So that's it? Not the slightest of slack here? Middle ground? Gray area? Man, this place is brutal.
Tyler

[Frank Petronio]

So that's it? Not the slightest of slack here? Middle ground? Gray area? Man, this place is brutal.

Sure, plenty of slack. Just read what I wrote....

It doesn't have to be Eleanor designing it. It's really just a basic level of craft that's needed, a basic 101-course level newsletter design, perhaps a good designer providing a template and occasional advice?

Hey I already know he won't take my comments the right way, but the intent is to encourage him to keep up the nice quality design and extra attention to proofing that this last issue had. It doesn't require an expensive designer or more than a few hours, it's just a little effort for an important gain.