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Reader's Forum: VOL. 4, NO.2 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003
 Two ThingsAs usual, I was delighted to see the current issue of Photovision arrive in my mailbox today. I used to look forward to purchasing it on one of my regular trips to the local book store. However, after reading one of your editorials in which you commented on an offended/irate subscriber who wrote to cancel his subscription because a nude image appeared in your magazine, I decided to take out a subscription in hopes that it might offset your loss of that one individual. Actually, it is nice to have a subscription since now there is no chance that all the copies of the current issue will be sold by the time I get to the book store. I was somewhat amused and bewildered to read in the editorial of the September/October issue that a few people had threatened to drop their subscriptions should you A. Publish nude figurative work or B. Include anything digital (including both ads and articles). Nude/Figurative photography is a major part of my work. I find the human figure a beautiful and fascinating subject, with endless possibilities in content, emotion, composition, and even spirituality. I photograph both men and women of all ages. The people that I photograph I do not call “models.” I consider them a partner, a collaborator. Together we make images that will speak to people. I don't really see digital or film as right or wrong, good or bad. They are merely both tools that can be used to create. We need people who are producing great images! I want the best the Editors have to offer. I appreciate the integrity of the magazine and it's content. That is why I subscribe to it. I EXPECT the Editor to be like an artist that is true to himself with his work. I expect the Editor to give me something different, something to make me think, something to haunt my vision, to show me something that matters. I expect a lot and look forward to Photovision providing that for many issues to come. Mark I. Nelson, via email G'day, Congratulations for a great magazine! I downloaded the pdf copy of Vol 1, No 2, but where are the other back issues that were supposedly available as pdf. downloads ? Unfortunately the current exchange rate between the US dollar and the Aussie dollar makes subscribing very expensive. Now, your survey; I believe that digital imagery is the medium that addresses the commercial urgencies of publishers deadlines, especially newspapers and monthly magazines. Their portability, is easily transmitted electronically from location to the magazine HQ, the current quality of the recorded image, the ease of “digital darkroom” processing, has sounded the deathnell for film imagery in that particular industry, BUT, film is still alive and well, especially black-and-white. I read somewhere recently that black-and-white photographic artwork is outselling the established oil and watercolour artwork. Would that be likely in the US ? I enjoy the immediacy of digital and the convenience it offers, but I prefer to work in black-and-white using an old Linhof 4x5 and processing in my own darkroom working with quality that would cost me a fortune to replicate in digital. A digital camera that would give the resolution equivalent of a 4x5 neg would be about $30, 000US judging by magazine articles and tests. So, please, if you can, continue with the excellence that you have thus far, and kick butts if necessary to gather support for film-based photography. Cheers. Tim Elliott, via email Editor’s response: We are working on the other issues and hope they willwill be available as pdfs soon. Thank you for your thoughts. Alone in a crowd? Just got the Sept/Oct issue of Photovision. I think it is the best issue yet. I especially liked that the issue concentrated on portfolios of photographers who work with the nude as a subject. As this is one of my main areas of concentration, I know that there are a lot of people working with little serious recognition in the art world. So, thanks for bringing some more work forward. Also, I wanted to offer some comments on the ongoing issue of “digital” in Phototvision. I attended a small workshop a couple of weekends ago and was surprised to see the advance of digital equipment among the ranks of the photographers. This was the first workshop I’ve attended where more than half the photographers were using digital equipment. Additionally, I noticed that I was one of only two photographers using medium format and the only photographer working in black-and-white. The usual conversations regarding the superiority and inevitability of digital ensued. How boring! There seemed to be some necessity among the digital guys to convince everyone that a digital image is “just as good” as a silver based analog image. Several were “amazed” that I was still using a piece of gear that is more than 10 years old. I had forgotten how happy I was with my gear until that very moment. I have come to the conclusion that you must begin to include aspects of digital image making in Photovision. I think that this would be a nice way to double the content of the magazine as I would not want it to subtract from your magnificent effort in presenting the best in film based photography. Additionally, I think a high quality presentation of digital portfolios and selected digital articles directed at photographers who love film and darkrooms and printing would be well received. Even purists and ideologues would benefit. Myself included. Eric Wiswell, via email Good old PMK/TTM I am a new subscriber—just mailed my subscription today. Although I had briefly encountered your magazine before I did not really read it until I received two copies from a neighbor of mine. I am very impressed with your magazine. I really enjoyed several of the articles, for example Margaret Regan’s about Aaron Siskind, one of my favorite photographers, and, since I make my own developers I was fascinated by the PMK/TTM recipe. I am very much looking forward to receiving the next issue. By the way, are you still accepting prints for portfolio review? Eva Sköld Westerlind Kirkland, WA Editor’s response: Yes. Please visit the website at www.photovisionmaga zine.com for details. Looking for the variety I was sorry to read your comment on the possible demise of Photovision. Over the past 40 years I have subscribed to or read most of the photo magazines in the marketplace and have at present settled on what to me are the two best. Photovision being first. While I am only a 6 month computer user, and have no intention of doing digital photography either by camera or computer, I am not opposed to having some digital articles in your magazine if it will improve circulation. Being a devout “non-professional” photographer my interests are in the areas of alternative processes, pinhole, chemistry and techniques, all of which you provide. For pure joy and pleasure I look forward to the portfolios and enjoy each presentation. I wouldn’t object to a feature or two on alternative process, or Craig Barber’s pinhole work in the portfolio section. It may not hold off the inevitable, but I am sending a two year renewal. Robert Dokka, via email Search for a niche I enjoy your magazine and have a few thoughts about its direction. It seems to me that there are other matters to consider besides whether or not to include digital photography. There are at least three good photo magazines out there whose content is similar to Photovision. They all include portfolios, articles on technique and equipment reviews. The inclusion of digital work is the only major difference between them and Photovision. It seems to me that Pho-tovision needs to redefine its “vision” and to carve out a special niche. There's plenty of information on technique and equipment out there in book form, in magazines, and on the internet. I personally would like to see Photovision devoted entirely to in-depth portfolios, biography, book reviews, information about photo events and exhibits, and the history of photography. I see it as emphasizing more traditional types of fine art work but including contemporary trends, regardless of technique. I know that there are a couple of excellent publications that concentrate on reviews and portfolios, but I believe there’s room for another. To me it’s no big deal one way or the other if digital work is included just so long as we don’t have to read yet another review of the latest printer or scanner that will be obsolete by the time the review is published. There could be issues devoted to work in a particular genre (such as the nude issue) or process (such as gum or platinum) both historical and contemporary. I do enjoy a brief artist's description of technique along with the portfolio, especially if it’s a truly unique technique, but keep it brief and give us a source for more info if we're interested. I really enjoy the articles by Greg Erf and Robert Hirsch. I would concentrate on the art rather than the technique. Sorry I've rattled on, but I just renewed my subscription, and I do hope that Photovision stays viable. Jeanne Flowers, via email Darkroom Fan As a new subscriber, I just wanted to send a few thoughts along regarding traditional vs. digital format. First, I have to tell you the reason I subscribed was that when I got your solicitation in the mail, it did say you were solely devoted to traditional film photography. I immediately sent my check. When I got my first issue, there it was —the controversy! Should we include digital afterall?? I currently take Aperture, and Phototechniques. I know Phototechniques is also trying to keep both camps happy. I think we traditional workers are just scared that all our materials are going to disappear. Already ASA 25 color slide film is gone, and Royal Gold 25 print film is gone… I made a mental note that I should get the Darkroom Cookbook so in the future I can make up developing formulas just for regular developer, never mind the alternative work! So, we need reassurance, and not empty reassurance. Please mean it. Then, I believe you might start using some digital formats. It seems kind of inevitable. Would I prefer a magazine with only film articles? Yes. I have made a decision as a photographer to keep doing black-and-white darkroom work. I love the look of a beautiful fiber base print. I am just getting started in Alternative Processes, having done some in classroom, some on my own. I want to try platinum prints. I did a Silver Mirror print last year. I am defiantly going to do some chromoskededic (sp?) psuedo solarizations soon. Those are beautiful. I am enjoying my darkroom more over the years, not less. I am a little fearful that film and supplies will be harder to find, yet something tells me that this type of work will never disappear. It might be antiquated, but it will always be done. Enjoyed the first issue. Lane Emerick, via email Another magazine Well, I had a whole eloquent letter written about convictions and being related to your soul, etc, etc. But, I will assume you will get plenty of this so I will just straight shoot it. I have not renewed any of my other photo related subscriptions and opted to receive only Photovision due to the influx of digital in those other rags. I finally ordered my subscription a few months ago after a few years of buying it off the rack. The main reason for subscribing was, no digital. If you start including it you are going to force me to ask for my money back! Why not start another magazine for the digital folks, if it is even remotely near the quality of Photovision it will surely succeed. James Conrad, Littleton, Massachusetts Margaret Regan Margaret Regan’s excellent over-view of the Aaron Siskind centenary (July/August 2003) did not mention the exhibition of Siskind’s work which opened September 6th at the Madison Art Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The show runs through January 4th and anyone in the upper midwest with an interest in Siskind will find a visit worth their time. I was guest curator for the show and culled it from my Phaidon 55 on Siskind and additional works drawn from other sources. Just as the book is the first to reproduce any of Siskind’s color work, the exhibition is perhaps only the second to have any on view. Unlike some of the exhibitions being held this year, the 35+ works in this show try to cover Siskind’s nearly 60 year career in photography while also including seldom seen examples of his work. For example—to give one last beat on my own drum—it includes some never seen examples from the “Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation” work in which Siskind got (in his own words) “very Baroque” utilizing blurred motion and double-exposure, etc. James Rhem, via email Editors response: Thank you very much for the additional information regarding Aaron Siskind’s exhibit. Sometimes we miss information on related events. |