In defence of Aperture

[svein-frode]

After reading Michaels latest article, endorsing among other things Lenswork, I had to post a a small comment on my website PHOTOheadlines. While I am sure that Aperture can do fine without my endorsment, many of the great photographers featured should not be written off as "parking lot" photographers...


While endorsing Lenswork magazine in a recent article on luminous-lanscape.com, Michael Reichmann kicked Aperture Magazine in its kidneys by saying: …Unlike the magazine Aperture, which has sadly become a parody of itself most issues (why do they keep publishing out-of-focus photographs of parking lots?) the photography seen in Lenswork almost always has esthetic appeal, technical excellence, and something to say about the world around us… I think such a statement deserves a comment.

While I agree that Lenswork is one of the few excellent photography magazines around, I strongly feel that Aperture belongs in this category as well. In 2005 however, I ended my subscription to both magazines. Importing them from the US was just too expensive and I’d rather spend my money on photography books. The Internet has to a large extent replaced my source of photography information that I previously got from magazines. What many web sites still do poorly is publishing images at a decent size. Some photographs are so tiny that you can hardly see what they depict.

The last four issues of Aperture I have available are issues 174 through 177. What they all have in common is a decent format in which to showcase photography. Pages are almost square measuring almost 25 x 30 cm. Most portfolio images are larger than A4 and letter sized papers. I always prefer large images to small ones, and I never felt comfortable with the small format of Lenswork (especially considering the large amount of landscape photography featured). What both magazines have in common is regularly publishing outstanding images from outstanding photographers (unlike most presently available photography magazines, mainly featuring advertising and images of oversaturated landscapes or tacky models).

Aperture issues 174 – 177 feature portfolios from the following photographers:

Richard Misrach (large format landscape photography)
http://www.aperture.org/store/books-detail.aspx?ID=472
http://www.edelmangallery.com/misrach.htm
http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/lib/artists/misrach.php
http://seesawmagazine.com/misrachpages/mis..._interview.html

Egbert Trogemann („deadpan“ photography)


Richard Kalvar (reportage/street photography)
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/TreePf_M...o&E=29YL53UIO@W

Vassaman Ameri (digital photocollages)

Paul Thorel (digital experimental/manipulation/art)
http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibition...t.com&source=-1

Loretta Lux (digital children portraits)
http://www.lorettalux.de/

Paolo Woods (reportage/journalism)
http://www.tpw.it/teachers2004/woods.htm

Elaine Reichek (digital experimental/multimedia/art)
http://gardnermuseum.com/2003_exhibitions/madamimadam_ex.asp

Donna Ferrato (reportage/journalism)
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0205/donna_intro.htm
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/98-4...98/Ferrato.html

Doug and Mike Starn (digital experimental/multimedia/art)
http://www.starnstudio.com/

Rosemary Laing (Man/Nature landscape photography)
http://www.artnet.com/artist/156970/rosemary-laing.html
http://nga.gov.au/TALES/Rosemary.cfm

Nan Goldin (reportage/social/intimate photography)
http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/fi...man12-12-96.asp
http://www.matthewmarks.com/index.php?n=1&a=128&im=1

Tim Davis (social/political photography)
http://www.davistim.com/

Hellen van Meene (moderen portrait/social photography)
http://www.hellenvanmeene.com/

Judy Grayson (reportage/journalism)

http://www.deakinlectures.com/speakers/Grayson_J.php

Gary Schneider (portrait/people/experimental photography)
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_..._93/ai_n9486019
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/4aa/4aa272.htm

Riniko Kawauchi (social/candid photography)
http://www.foiltokyo.com/rinko/rinkodiary.html
http://photography.about.com/b/a/232710.htm

David Hillard (reportage/social/intimate photography)
http://www.davidhilliard.com/

Jason Florio (reportage/journalism)
http://www.floriophoto.com/

Going through the above list I noticed the following: There is a nice distribution between female and male photographers and they come from many different countries and cultures. They represent a wide spectrum of styles, ranging from street photography, photojournalism/reportage, intimate candids to landscapes and yes, more modern approaches. This naturally creates a wide spectrum of techniques from traditional black and white to digitally manipulated photography. I really don’t miss traditional “postcard photography” as it is found everywhere else in abundance. These are reasons enough to justify me keeping my specimens for many years to come. Most of he other glossy magazines I’ve bought (usually because I’m bored at some airport) have been recycled into toilet paper a long time ago… As I see it, without claiming the presence of perfection, Aperture represents one of the few truly inspiring photography magazines of today. However, I still prefer books over magazines any day…

[Giedo]

Svein,

Convincing and thorough reply! I'm planning to go through the many links that you were so kind to place in this post. I'm glad you took side of Aperture.
What I'm really interested about now - is the books that (like you say) you prefer above any magazine! Maybe this should be a sparate thread, but it would be very nice to gather inspiration from people on this forum by sharing the books that inspired us most (and preferably adding information such as links, like you did).
Would you be so kind to share some book totles?

Tia, Giedo