Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/12/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Chris Fortunko wrote: > > Donal Philby mentioned National Geographic. At one time, I enjoyed looking > at the photos in that magazine. This week, I looked at a copy that my > daughter received in the mail. I must say that the quality of the photos, > both artistic and technical, appears to be very poor. I am sure that this is > not due to the photographers using Nikons or Cannons. Something happened. > Can someone comment on this. Chris, We discussed this a couple of weeks ago. To sum up: Yep! Assignments have gone from 3-6 months to 6 weeks. One contract photographer that spoke an the NPPA Flying Short Course said they would pay her for only 1 1/2 days of research for a story. Fred Ward, who has done assignments for the magazine, related a story from a just layed off editor who stated that when he went to work for the magazine there were 30 staff photographers and 2 VPs. When he left there were 2 staff photographers and 30 VPs. From what I have read, the images are duped onto film (with burning/dodging and color corections) to be 100% of final use and then drum scanned. Understand that with circulation of 9 Million that they are printed on web press, notoriously poor for reproduction. Actually, given the volume printed, I am impressed by the quality. Many of the sheetfed brochures my work get published in don't have that quality. The real tragedy is that not only have the stories gone downhill, but that it is still the finest venue for photojournalism-style photography in the world. Other publications have gone further downhill. The only serious market for magazine photographers these days is celebrity portraits. I bought a copy of Focus magazine the other day, a German publication that has taken the country by storm, overtaking Stern and Speigel. I found out of a hundred or so pix in the magazine, there was maybe one image of any real interest. Most, like in US publications, just boring head shots. Sad. Fast food for the mind. In defense of the Geographic, the issue on Mexico I considered a fine piece of work by several of the finest talents working today--especially with Leica Ms. David Allen Harvey and Alex Webb. And look at the "Mongol" issue, shot by long time Leica user James Stansfield. His images have a depth and crispness that is apparent. I just wish someone would explain Double Take magazine to me. It is about as irrelavant as most issues of ZOOM. Long answer to short question. But it is Christmas holiday and things are slow. Donal Philby San Diego