Congrats to the APUG members who were published in the Portfolio issue of B&W Mag...

[User Removed]

I just wanted to give a quick congrats to all those APUG members that got published in the recent Portfolio Contest Issue #52 of B&W Magazine. It hit the stores today and has some outstanding work in this issue. Everyone should pick up a copy.

Ryan McIntosh
www.RyanMcIntosh.net

 

[david b]

SAM PORTERA !!!!

 

[Alex Hawley]

Haven't received mine yet, but very much looking forward to it now. Thanks for the heads-up Ryan.

 

[Sportera]

I haven't seen it yet but we are very excited, thank you all for your support.

 

[zenrhino]

Rock on!

 

[Jon Shiu]

Congrats, Ryan and Sam!

Jon

 

[roteague]

I'll be sure to buy a copy myself. Congratulations everyone!!

 

[blaze-on]

Who might they be?
I don't subscribe anymore, but do on occasion purchase.

 

[Jim Chinn]

I will have to check it out when it hits the shelf at the local Borders. Congratulations to all involved.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Congrats, folks!

 

[copake_ham]

Congrats!

 

[Jon Shiu]

Who might they be?
I don't subscribe anymore, but do on occasion purchase.

Hi, attached is a scan of the table of contents of the mag (issue 52, bandwmag.com).

Jon

 

[jstraw]

Dang. I just checked at Barnes & Noble and #51 is still on the rack there.

 

[bjorke]

This issue is probably the best B&W ever, imho

 

[removed account4]

Hi, attached is a scan of the table of contents of the mag (issue 52, bandwmag.com).

Jon

thanks jon

it isn't near me yet ...

congrats to ryan, sam and jon too!

john

 

[David Brown]

This issue is probably the best B&W ever, imho

Respectfully disagree.

(This is not to detract from Ryan, Sam and Jon, et al. Congrats! )

 

[blaze-on]

I see Vinny Walsh there too (aka "wildbill").

 

[jovo]

I just got mine today. It is, for my taste at least, the best special issue yet. It's great to see the portfolios of the above named 'puggers in print. Beautiful work, all, and congratulations!!

 

[Alex Hawley]

My count of APUG members is now up to five.

 

[bjorke]

Respectfully disagree.

(This is not to detract from Ryan, Sam and Jon, et al. Congrats! )

Please tell me which issue you think was better! There was a lot of great stuff in this one.

That's not an argumentative question. I really liekd this one. "More please"

 

[JLP]

Also a congrats from here to Jon, Sam and Ryan..
Lot of good work in this issue and, it is nice to see some Friends featured with some beautiful work. Outstanding guys.


jan

 

[Alex Hawley]

I think the important point with this issue is stated in Rasmussen's objective for the portfolio contest:

"As entrants, the objective is to be published, to have their work seen in print by thousands of collectors ans colleagues around the world."

Rasmussen has taken the initiative to bring fresh work to the collector world. In my opinion, this issue is serving its objective quite well.

 

[Monophoto]

Respectfully disagree.

(This is not to detract from Ryan, Sam and Jon, et al. Congrats! )

I agree with David. Sure, there is some good work in there, but some of it is just plain boring. And while I like Shelby Lee Adams work a lot, I don't think the images in the book are not the best examples of what he does. Moreover, Adams is a consummate printer, but the images in the book were anemic and lacking in contrast.

The work on pages 32-35 was an especially egregious example of what I didn't like about the selection. The first two images are dramatic landscapes, but turning the page reveals a dramatic and unexpected shift in style. The remaining images (nudes with some kind of lens distortion) are interesting and well done, but the jarring shift is style struck me as incomprehensible. First, it represented poor editing. But more importantly, the photographer was selected for an excellence award. My question is - - - Why? Based on which body of work? Landscapes or distorted nudes?

 

[User Removed]

I think Sheby Lee Adam's work looked horribly printed. Even as reproductions, you could tell they were just awful print quality.

Your right about Ed Freeman's work who starts off with the two landscapes, then goes into these over-Photoshopped nudes. Personally, even though I don't care for over-Photoshopped images that much, I found the nudes to be more interesting and stronger photographs. However, I thought this issue was where people submitted a portfolio of 8-15 images that all went together? I'm not sure how this would be called a portfolio, because they are totally different.

I found some of the best work to be in the Merit section. All of the photographs that took the higher awards did not excite me all that much. Overdone blurry water pictures, Michael Kenna style pictures, 35mm overinhanced digital landscapes, the PointLobos images which were decent.

What's sad is the number of photographers that got published, that don't even do "fine art" or even black and white! After looking at many of their websites, I found lots of them are only commercial photographers, and even found a few examples where the person work was ALL COLOR, but a few images were converted to B&W for the sake of the magazing publishing.

 

[Sportera]

I don't always agree with what is choosen for publication, I am happy to part of the issue though. I think what we are seeing now, is a change in photography, and photographer's are experimenting and looking for a niche. Ive seen the focus shift from f64 style detail, to a more impressionistic style. Both are aesthetically pleaseing to my eye, but its not unusual these days to see photographers who have many styles themselves. Not one but many.

Like it or not digital is changing the art world. I have seen digital prints selling for as much as silver recently, that disturbs me somewhat. I still believe that a hand made silver print has more inherent value.

Thank you all for the comments.