Tuesday 30 January 2007

Magazines.... in-print or on-screen...?

I'll say it right now.... I'm a bit of a magazine'aholic.... But with the internet image content growing not only in size, but quality, and most of it being free, can the printed magazine really last much further into the future...?

I sincerely hope so, because for me there is no equivalent to seeing the printed image. The magazines that I see having potential problems are the typical 'how to'/'review' types. The internet is so active and so jammed packed full of forums, review sites etc, I don't know how these type of magazines can continue to compete. For example, by the time they print a review of something its already old news on the web...

The magazines that I see with a future are those which concentrate on images only... and whose image content is way above average.... Bearing this in mind, my current favorites are:
  • Lenswork - A small format magazine from the States, B&W only, the images and printing are stunning and the content inspiring. It has been going for years and I hope in continues for many more. There is also an enhanced issue which basically contains the entire content of the printed magazine plus added images, interviews, podcasts etc, in a pdf format, a clever bridge between the real and virtual worlds.
  • Phot'Art - A new'ish magazine from France, with absolutely gorgeous printing, also includes sumptuous glossy pages on heavy format paper. Images are both colour and B&W. The webpage is a bit sparse, and does no justice at all to what is a very high quality printed magazine.
I do enjoy some of the online magazines as well (I'll talk about those another time), but if you like the printed image you'll be hard pushed to find anything better than the magazines mentioned above...

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