View Camera has ceased publication

<p>Received an e-mail today from Steve Simmons in response to a question about my subscription. He attached an undated letter announcing that he has discontinued publication of the magazine.</p>

<p>http://www.viewcamera.com/ Here is his message on the website. </p>

No comment.

<p><img src="http://www.viewcamera.com/images/endletter2.jpg" alt="" width="540" height="700" /><br>

Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Why is this the first I've heard of this magazine? </p>

<p>Was it right next to the "Communication Arts" and "Print" magazines on the racks at Barnes & Noble and I just missed it?</p>

<p>I just read on their site they began publication in 1988 right when I got my first SLR camera, a Yashica with 50mm prime.</p>

I wrote occassionally for View Camera from about 2003-2006. Some of the profiles were great and in the first couple of decades

the technical articles were fantastic. When I first started making panoramic images in 1991, a View Camera issues

deicated to panoramic photography -specifically two articles, one about how another photographer composed his images

based on the look of graphs of bird songs and chimese scrolls (compose the image your eye travels from the left edge to

the right and not so much emphasis on near/far relationshipa is the foundation I organize the compsition composition

around) and another about a stock agency that I ended up signing with, became big keys to my eventual success.

 

Kerry Thalman 's articles about lenses were always. terrific as well.

 

I stopped writing for Simmons when getting paid by him became an ordeal. I am a writer and a photographer, not a banker.

<p>Sadly, this day has long been coming. A few years ago the amount of advertising by major companies shrank to just a few, then disappeared. The slippage in issue dates was another sign, My most "recent" issue, received in in May, was dated from the fall of 2015.</p>

<p>Hope someone stepps in to fill the nich.</p>

<p>Not only that but media advertising platforms in general are starting to low ball their production procedures by using internet services like Skype to do news interviews that used to require a bunch of expensive broadcast and satellite equipment.</p>

<p>Yesterday I just saw an HLN interview conducted this way where the person interviewed kept cutting out and couldn't hear the interviewer ask questions. The interruptions were just annoying and very unprofessional. I kind of reveled in the limits of utilizing cheaper low cost internet technology. I changed the channel immediately.</p>

<p>The issue I have with all this cutting back of production cost is the placement of TV ad time doesn't seem to be getting cheaper even though it seems VERY competitive considering the internet. Something economically speaking has got to give here.</p>

<p>it is sad that a magazine that has been around since 1988 has folded<br /> and now there is nothing that caters specifically to large format users.</p>

<p>while i am not a fan of the publisher for a handful of reasons i will not get into here<br /> ... it still is sad when a magazine stops.</p>

 

<p> What comes as a surprise to me is how long he lasted , singularly the worst subscription process I'd ever dealt with . I enjoyed<br>

the magazine enough to subscribe to it . Pity , but , no idea how to run a magazine . Peter</p>

<p>I subscribed from 2013 until death, some months being better than others. Looking Glass blows it away.</p>

<p>I am surprised that there has not been more comment about the demise of View Camera. It stuck out a mile that something was wrong and Steve Simmons handling of the whole situation has been pretty terrible. Note that there was no apology at all.<br>

Occasionally the content was good, but, sometime you wondered. The layouts were shocking most of the time, the formatting and so on, however I kept subscribing because I wanted to support LF and those who believed in it. Here in OZ (Australia) it is just a novelty and we had to turn to the US for news and anything LF. Although we do have a local forum. http://largeformatphotography.com.au<br>

An online subscription surely is an option for him if he can employ someone who knows how to put things together, and is good with correspondence. We can only dream.<br>

Richard</p>