A moment of silence for Popular Photography! 80 years!

[winger]

I also stopped getting it when there was no more from Herb Keppler. I had kept (and moved from MA to PA) a large number of old issues and recently went through them to clip the articles I really wanted to keep - pretty small pile considering the shelf space they'd been taking.

I do still get Lenswork and B&W (the American one). There's still some film work in both and I enjoy looking through them.

 

[mshchem]

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

I think you are correct, I always enjoyed his work.

 

[Sirius Glass]

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!

In the early 1960's I learned a lot from Popular Photography and Modern Photography. The most lasting thing I learned was about available light photography in an article about the Jiffy Calculator https://www.scribd.com/document/2604955/jiffy. I learned about the 35mm format versus MF negative size tradeoffs, RF versus SLR battles, Bronica and Hasselblad. I wanted a Bronica S in the worst way. Then the magazines stop doing technical explanations and advice, and started only pushing the latest cameras. After that, in order to keep the advertising they would not say anything bad about a camera, no matter how bad it was. I stopped buying the magazines. Many years later digital took over and made all film cameras affordable. I discovered APUG and between APUG, Bel Air Camera and Samys Camera who needed the magazines?

So are you blowing smoke? Yes, please send some of your stash to me because it is legal in California and I am looking for truly righteous weed. We do not need the magazines when we have APUG. Thank you Sean!

 

[keenmaster486]

So are you blowing smoke? Yes, please send some of your stash to me because it is legal in California and I am looking for truly righteous weed.

No problem! I have lots of it. Just send me your credit card and social security numbers and we'll figure something out.

 

[removed account4]

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!

someone years ago DID start an apug magazine, it was called "emulsion" magazine. she took subscription $ and made
4 maybe 5 issues? im not sure how many of the issues made it to press, i know maybe 2 .. then the publisher/producer
went to mexico for some sort of wrokshop, eventually got very sick and was operated on, and no one has seen or heard from her in IDK 5-10 years ?
making/publishing a magazine takes an awful lot of work.

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.

i mispoke lenswork and FRACTION magazine are both great, and fraction was started by an apugger !

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... We do not need the magazines when we have APUG. ...

You are correct that we don't need what those particular magazines had become. But what they were in the past (perhaps prior to the 1980's) was and is valuable. Not so much as a reference, but as an artifact of their time. Fifty years from now there won't be a trace of APUG.

 

[CMoore]

Wow.....i remember when LIFE stopped publishing. And THAT was in 1972.!
In 1990 i asked a few used book stores what they would give me for a set of 1975 World Book Encyclopedias....nobody wanted them, even back then. Who would have ever thought The Encyclopedia Britannica would stop being made.?
It is all part of "progress".
For 30 years MGM and Louis B Mayer (not for 30 years) were The King of Entertainment/Hollywood/Movies. By 1970 they were selling off property and auctioning sets and props that were part of The Worlds Greatest Movies. NOBODY would have dared to think something as stupid as that in 1947.
In 1900, the railroads were the biggest of the bigs, and Pennsylvania Railroad was one of the biggest. They spent Millions and Millions of dollars on tunnels and tracks and power and cars. By 1968, Penn Station was torn down and the railroads were dying a horrible death.
Cameras that do not use FILM.? What kind of an idiot would ever think that.?
I am certainly not THE Oldest person here, but being born in 1960, i have seen my share of great stuff disappear. I grew up in a great little town. You could walk out of the city with a 22 rifle and shoot cans without anybody calling The Police, or thinking that anything was "wrong". We had a Pharmacy with a lunch counter and a Soda Fountain...!! But by 1980, in 20 short years, the city of my childhood was gone. It still has the same population it did in 1970, but it is a Whole Different place.
I have no doubt that all people experience the regrets we are, just in different ways. Imagine what kids born in 1940 saw come and go, and wonder.....How Can This Be.?
I have shed tears a bunch of times over this kind of stuff. It "Never" seems to be replaced by things that are as good.

Christ.....I've rambled.
If you have never seen this, i think it is an excellent story about Life Magazine. I could watch it over and over.

 

[CMoore]

You are correct that we don't need what those particular magazines had become. But what they were in the past (perhaps prior to the 1980's) was and is valuable. Not so much as a reference, but as an artifact of their time. Fifty years from now there won't be a trace of APUG.

Well Said.....
Whether it be our:
Work and what we did there for years.
Childhood places
Schools
Hobbies
Hangouts
Theaters
Neighborhoods
Etc etc.......
.....it is not until a person gets older that We/They really start to experience "loss".
Many of The cameras we use today are 30-60 years old. How many will still be working in your 50 year scenario.? Who will be qualified to work on them.?
Guitar amps have been part of a VERY Small niche market that still Buys/Uses vacuum tubes. It is hard for people to understand how, between 1970 and 2000 that the Knowledge/Factories/Craft Peoples and machines had almost 100% disappeared. When something new comes along, the old thing may be lost for forever.

 

[Arklatexian]

Awww come on now! We all know that a paper magazine is superior because probably no one in APUG has a computer in their bathroom..........Regards!

 

[keenmaster486]

Awww come on now! We all know that a paper magazine is superior because probably no one in APUG has a computer in their bathroom..........Regards!

Ohhhhh don't be so sure

 

[wiltw]

I'm quite sure Keppler was with Modern Photography, at least back in the early to mid 70's.

Herb first was associated with Modern Photography in 1950; he became associated with Popular Photography in 1987.

 

[wiltw]

Awww come on now! We all know that a paper magazine is superior because probably no one in APUG has a computer in their bathroom..........Regards!

So you know with certainty that no owner of a smartphone ever carries the phone into the bathroom with them, and that they never have logged into APUG while there?!

 

[Larry the sailor]

Awww come on now! We all know that a paper magazine is superior because probably no one in APUG has a computer in their bathroom..........Regards!

Those are called "smart phones".

 

[keenmaster486]

So you know with certainty that no owner of a smartphone ever carries the phone into the bathroom with them, and that they never have logged into APUG while there?!

Those are called "smart phones".

Do not be silly, I carry actual desktop computers into my bathroom all the time. Piece of cake.

Sometimes I bring my server in there just for fun.

 

[ozphoto]

I do miss photo magazines. I used to buy a few, but as they were imports it cost quite a lot (they still do) and I was pretty particular in which issues got my $$. Sadly as mentioned above, it was the continual regurgitation of the same articles in slightly different formats (and a huge increase in advertising) that led to me dropping them, not the price increase.

I'm toying with subscribing electronically to a couple but will need to have a look at the preview editions to decide if it's worth parting with my cash. I'd love to be able to subscribe in print form, but with the majority at $AUD100/yr it's difficult to justify when 70% is often advertising.

My favourites were Practical Photography (UK), Camera & Darkroom, Photo Techniques, PhotoPro (UK), Professional Photography (UK) and B&W Photo (UK). PracPhoto got dumped once I got tired of the same story every year (with just the example images being updated and the text rewritten), C&D, PT, PhotoPro and ProPhoto (UK) went under and B&W Photo went totally digital. I'm not adverse to digital stories - I actually do find it interesting but without any film features it's not at all worth the $AUD15/issue. If it had a couple of analog features each month, I'd probably go consider subscribing again.

I subscribed on a regular basis to all of these except Popular Photography, with the final subscription to Professional Photography (UK) ending when they ceased printing 2 years ago.

Airline travel hasn't been the same and I can't even be bothered buying at the airport - the issues on the shelf bore me to tears, or those I'd like to read are simply not in stock.

 

[ChuckP]

Camera & Darkroom didn't go under. They became PT.

Darkroom Techniques became Photo Techniques. Darkroom Photography became Camera and Darkroom and they eventually stopped publishing.

One thing about magazines is the information will live on a long time. I have old 40's magazines I got from my father with still interesting equipment lists. I wonder if today's websites will still be available in 60 years?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

It was the same publisher though. Just name changes to keep up with the times... I as well have many back issues of a couple of magazines and often refer to them.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Won't miss it..I do miss the juicy ads for LF equipment in shutterbug...lots of great deals!

 

[grahamp]

I'm old enough to have a fair set of Creative Camera on my shelves. And quite a few UK editions of Zoom. The publications with a technical bias have a limited and changing demographic - as one learns, the information becomes familiar. Image-centric publications have more interest to me, but not to the 'gear-heads'.

 

[EdSawyer]

This. Darkroom Photography which became Camera and Darkroom was clearly the best magazine in modern times. Before that, Modern Photo was the leader, IMNSHO, of the gear-related magazines. And Keppler was a big part of that.

PT always seemed like a poor substitute for anything, the layout and design was horrendous as was most of the editing.... just painful to try and read.

French PHOTO was worth seeking out, American PHOTO was a weak substitute, sort of like the British version of The Office or Top Gear vs. the USA versions.

-Ed

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.

 

[EdSawyer]

DIY work on the cameras (and tube amps) is the best way I think to preserve knowledge and function. Learn to repair your own gear, it's empowering. I still use a lot of vacuum tubes (audio mostly), btw. ;-)

Well Said.....
Many of The cameras we use today are 30-60 years old. How many will still be working in your 50 year scenario.? Who will be qualified to work on them.?
Guitar amps have been part of a VERY Small niche market that still Buys/Uses vacuum tubes.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I miss good photography magazines with useful articles and ideas, but in the 1980's that ship pulled out of the train station and sank way down the tracks.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

...
One thing about magazines is the information will live on a long time. I have old 40's magazines I got from my father with still interesting equipment lists. I wonder if today's websites will still be available in 60 years?

Not long ago I went to one of my favorite sites, Canon EOS Lookup & Compare. It allows you to select up to five or six Canon EOS cameras or EF lenses and do a side-by-side comparison of features and specifications. It also lets you specify by the Japanese, North American, or International designation. Well, that site is now gone. I found it by the Internet Archive "Wayback machine", but that doesn't allow the comparison - it's just static data. So, that's one of several sites that I used to visit often that no longer exist.

I really like tangible artifacts.

 

[flavio81]

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

PDEEH
Winner, Post Of the Year Awards 2017, APUG

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

Ads, ads, ads. And the same "10 Tips to Taking Great Photos!" recycled over and over.

Golf Digest: How to chip it close! Check out the latest game improvement clubs! Crush your drives! (Repeat monthly.)