Photographer Magazine (2001)
From a young age, I had an excessive love for magazines. Three issues of a student newspaper ("Student Trumpet"), three issues of a university magazine ("Topics"), six issues of a photography newspaper ("Photographic Circle"), two inserts in "Photographer" ("Photographic Circle") and thirteen issues of a photography magazine ("Photo Space") might not constitute an ideal harvest to be called a successful magazine publisher, but they certainly reflect my passion for periodical publications. Therefore, I am perhaps better positioned than anyone to appreciate the perseverance and will of Takis Tzimas and to wholeheartedly congratulate him on the consistent and continuous presence of "Photographer", which reached 100 issues with dense and complete circulation and distribution. However, this anniversary tempts me to present my personal views on the content of a photographic magazine, not as a failed publisher but as a passionate reader.
There are topics and approaches that always attract me and others that consistently bore me. It's strange that these latter ones are found in most magazines in every country, which means they interest many others. In this category, for example, belong the all-too-common sunsets, flowers, and landscapes as well as travel impressions, topics that almost invariably serve as a ground for simplistic populism and aesthetic maltreatment. I similarly find competitions boring, in which mostly mediocre photographers submit their photos. I realize that competitions are popular, but I doubt whether the interest of the few participants can compensate for the boredom of the many who do not participate and are forced to "skip" accumulated pages during reading. I place technical articles that provide specific advice, such as how to photograph at night, babies, semi-nude beauties, pets, or weddings, in the same negative category. I am surprised at how one can specify and categorize such advice, which should be limited to general technical principles. These articles are usually accompanied by exceedingly dull explanatory images. Finally, I always find laboratory analyses of equipment, whether individual or grouped, boring and untrustworthy. They tend to say about the same things and not very clearly. As for reader letters, while I understand it is proper to publish them, because it seems that those who truly have something interesting to say hesitate to write, we are usually left with clichés, generalizations, and often nonsense. In the negatives, I must also categorize every commercial populism, both in content and in the graphical presentation of topics or the cover, which - we must all admit - has suffered greatly in the realm of photographic magazine publications.
Let us now turn to the positive and appealing topics. First and foremost, I classify every interview. Artist, theorist, merchant, craftsman, professional, amateur, publisher, etc. Even the foolish things are interesting when they are lively. Along with these are every theoretical article, with personal views, as well as translations of excerpts from theoretical articles in foreign magazines. Reports from abroad are useful, as are presentations of exhibitions domestically, provided the critic's stance is concise, photographically justified, and free of bias. Also, presentations and reviews of books, but without star or number ratings. Preferably brief comments on professional, educational, legislative events, institutions, and issues. Portfolios of photographers, unknown or famous, old or new, provided they constitute a cohesive whole. It wouldn't be bad for each portfolio to be suggested and presented by a photographer, journalist, or theorist, whether a guest or a regular collaborator of the magazine. Moreover, presentations (not just portfolios) of the work of significant photographers are never harmful, given that a large part of the readership is unaware of them, but even those who know them will always derive something. As for technical articles, I always appreciate the brief and popularizing (not pseudo-scientific) articles on specific technical topics, useful for beginners, as well as equally brief and specific articles aimed at more advanced photographers. I won't hide that I have understood more about photographic technique from well-written magazine articles than from technical textbooks. News about new machines, devices, and accessories is the first thing I read in every magazine I get my hands on. Inside every photographer, there is always a love for technological toys. Instead of technical tests of machines, I much prefer product presentations by someone who has "worked" them and tells us their opinion, away from analyses and technical charts. Also, every market research, product catalog, price list, and list of technical information (e.g., development times) cannot but interest us. Finally, I don't think digital photography should be the subject of a separate section or chapter. The technical or theoretical articles, as well as product presentations concerning it, can be part of the whole. Someone might argue that all the above do not fit in one magazine and that they could constitute the content of various more specialized publications. It seems, however, that readers and especially advertisers are numerically too limited to support so many editions, and so we are forced to accept a magazine that more or less collects them all.
I recognize the need for editorial realism. However, I cannot but wish for the coexistence of this realism with an editorial utopia. Because if our era treats adapting our dreams to reality as a sign of success, the opposite course, namely the attempt to expand reality to the size of our dreams, may lead to likely failure but also carries within it the seed of progress and quality.
Plato Rivellis