A moment of silence for Popular Photography! 80 years!

Found out last night that Bonnier has ceased operations both print and online of Popular Photography and American Photo shall cease, the last issues will be April 2017 edition, so I am told.
Sadly the digital cellphone photographers, were not supporting the real advertisers or camera companies to the point where its content dwindled in recent issues.... A beacon of light is out in the photo marketing and publishing era, I used to wait for that magazine to arrive to see the breakdowns of analog cameras, darkroom articles, getting the most out of slide film and who could forget the back pages with all the equipment "The Spiratone Girl Watcher telephoto lens for $39.95/mail order had to be my favorite.

The digital age, watch what you wish for.....
80 years is a long time for any publication, maybe they didn't "keep up with the times"?
Who is left worth reading? I know View Camera Magazine was quirky at times but still a
greatly missed publication........"and another one's gone, another one bites the dust" Queen.

Harlequin

You know, what if we at APUG joined forces and created an (analog) successor of sorts to Popular Photography? Just an idea... It could be just online for a while and then go to print if it takes off. Obviously a mammoth venture but it could work. Maybe a Kickstarter? I was highly impressed by how Lab-Box has upwards of 700% of their original funding goal; maybe that indicates enough interest in analog photography in the crowd-funding world to make it work?

I'm only blowing smoke here but maybe someone else feels the same!

For me, print photo mags died with the passing of Herbert Keppler.

Ads, ads, ads. And the same "10 Tips to Taking Great Photos!" recycled over and over. I think it was good in its day, but that day was long ago.

+1

Yes, ads, ads, ads, like most magazines. But I enjoyed it years ago when the back of it was filled with ads of the big photo stores. There were many more back in the day, some with pages and pages of inventory, and you could find some pretty good buys.

PopPhoto died at least 30 years ago. No need for continued mourning.

"Magazine [x] has stopped!" is a rather common thing talked about in the last number of years, and typically brings up comments about how terrible a loss it is, which then leads to people talking about making a new magazine to replace the old, and 'doing things different/better' than before.

But an honest and serious question that needs to be answered each and every time: Why is the "Magazine" format in anyway superior to a blog or similar modern web based content for the subject matter?

Subscriptions on bulk periodical content really doesn't make a lot of sense in my mind in the face of an open format on-demand article system. (aka, a website) Photography is however one of the few subjects that I feel as a strong reason to continue existing in a physical medium, that is, the actual photos, but the vast majority of content pushed out in any photo magazine I've ever picked up is suited just fine to existing as well written articles that can be viewed on a website.

If anyone does wish to put the time and effort into reviving a magazine, then I would strongly encourage them to think long and hard about the format, content, and access of it.

One model that I think could do reasonably well would be something more along the lines of "Photos of the Month" club - provide all the written content online (Plus digitized copies of the related images), with an easy to use print layout for anyone who wants physical copies of the article, and then offer an optional mail bundle that is sent out every month or so with physical copies of the relevant photos that simply aren't suitable for web-viewing.

Most users don't need a professionally printed chart of ISO/ASA/DIN values, or graphs of whatever - That is very easy to consume online and reproduce with average home printers. But the actual photos? Well a small packet of reasonable sized prints made in bulk might tempt a decent number of users into ordering. - Higher quality and more 'real world' view of the photos than what would be typical of a magazine, and without a lot of the 'fluff' physical material that doesn't really matter and takes up needless shelf space or suffers the long slow death stuffed in a box in the back of a closet or basement.

Additionally it could prove to provide a stronger basis to demand ad revenue - "Hey look at this month's edition! All printed on Advertiser's snazzy new product... And you get to hold the real thing in your hands rather than just take the word of someone you've never met."

Articles could easily be pushed out to readers 'when ready', rather than being sat on till the next edition, or rushed out the door to fill content, and good editorial recap could be used to hype up the 'up-sell' on the physical product - "This month's photo batch is just around the corner, lets talk about the articles from the site and their related photos that are included..."

keenmaster486 said:

You know, what if we at APUG joined forces and created an (analog) successor of sorts to Popular Photography?

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We have that. It's called 'APUG.'

Magazines that I treasured have all gone. LensWork is still there, but it's not really a magazine, focusing on the conceptual side... and too expensive once you've converted to Canadian dollars. The only magazine I subscribe to (online version only) is Looking Glass. It is excellent.
Thank God for Apug!

Magazines died for me when Camera & Darkroom went under. Photo Techniques was good for a few years after that. Black and White out of England was good for a while, but by the mid oughts had turned almost completely digital.

I miss the old days when I would get my issue of Camera and Darkroom and read it cover to cover. Times sure have changed.

I never read Popular Photography. Not worth the time. American PHOTO was decent, although not as good as French PHOTO.

Camera & Darkroom didn't go under. They became PT. But yes, it certainly wasn't the same thing, was it?! It died for me when digital crept in, eventually taking over. I still look over old issues from the 80's and 90's. They had some terrific articles. Black and White is mostly digital HDR.

Luckless said:

But an honest and serious question that needs to be answered each and every time: Why is the "Magazine" format in anyway superior to a blog or similar modern web based content for the subject matter?

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Because a paper magazine can be read by members of apug, none of whom own or can use a computer.

While I do believe that forums such as this are the new magazines for today I for one do enjoy photo magazines.

Pop Photo however was not one that I enjoyed reading. Interestingly, I do buy a few old copies here and there off the bay. The older ones were quite well done. I guess, in a way, I am a subscriber of sorts.

I will certainly miss View Camera though. That was one of the few remaining photo rags worth reading.

pdeeh said:

Because a paper magazine can be read by members of apug, none of whom own or can use a computer.

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bvy said:

Ads, ads, ads. And the same "10 Tips to Taking Great Photos!" recycled over and over. I think it was good in its day, but that day was long ago.

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Yep. Interesting for the first three or four months after I first picked up a camera, but pretty much worthless thereafter.

I occasionally read Pop Photo, but last 10 years or so not much meat on the bone, in the day the pop photo magazine I liked best was Modern Photography which I think was bought out by Pop.

I just restarted a subscription one month ago ... great timing.
Print magazines have their role, even in the 21st century. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of "new" stuff out there to prompt interesting articles. The makers of those cameras add a few megapixels and higher ISO. Frequently the ads are more entertaining than some of the articles as far as seeing what is available. The how-to articles rarely teach me anything I don't already know (and I don't know that much to begin with) with the exception of overly complicated photoshop tutorials. Recently it seems that most of the articles about photographers promoting their businesses and egos with little useful information.
Still, I will miss the magazine laying around.

Luckless said:

...
But an honest and serious question that needs to be answered each and every time: Why is the "Magazine" format in anyway superior to a blog or similar modern web based content for the subject matter?
...

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In electronic form, I would enjoy being able to search for an article in a past magazine issue or enjoy being able to search a book for a phrase, paragraph, or person who appeared a hundred or so pages further back. I'd like to electronically annotate or cross-reference things.

However, paper magazines, and also printed books, do have a place. Just as with old negatives or old prints, once you have it you can just reach for it off the shelf or bookcase and read it - maybe decades later. Perhaps modern books and magazines aren't worth saving like that, but (just as an example) my few-dozen issues of photography magazines from the 1970's never were in electronic form and therefore it's pleasing to me to have and view them in their original form.

RPC said:

Yes, ads, ads, ads, like most magazines. But I enjoyed it years ago when the back of it was filled with ads of the big photo stores...

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Tangent alert. I suspect that one of the reasons for B&H's success is, as customers aged into presbyopia, its back-of-the-magazine ads were set in larger and larger font, even at the expense of paying for more pages and/or displaying fewer items per issue.

Wolfeye said:

For me, print photo mags died with the passing of Herbert Keppler.

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Although I'm in England Wolfeye I kind of agree with you I was one of his dedicated readers around thirty odd years ago and he is sorely missed.

The only periodical that was really worth reading was the Dignan Newsletter which was published for seven years. It contained many interesting articles AND formulas. They were probably the first to publish information about processing many color films.

MY introduction to Freestyle Photo, remember the tightly filled ad each month with "all items not marked 'Fresh' are out of date but fully guaranteed"

probably lensowrk is the best of them all, and i think it is still being published
and the publisher is a nice guy, not some sort of off the wall individual.

LeftCoastKid said:

Yep. Interesting for the first three or four months after I first picked up a camera, but pretty much worthless thereafter.

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I found, many years ago, that Pop,Photography had a tendency to repeat articles about every three years. Some words were changed but basically they were the same articles. Also thought they seemed to only write about 35mm stuff especially about the time I got into MF and 4x5. After that there was nothing for me....Regards!