Magazine for B&W photography

[dave_martiny]

I am considering dumping my subscriptions to Pop Photo,

Photographic, and American Photo and am looking for a good

magazine specializing in black and white photography to replace

them. Does anyone on the forum subscribe to B&W magazine,

published in Great Britain? If so, I would appreciate any

comments or reviews. Or can anyone recommend another good

periodical? I'd like a mix of topics covering all aspects of b&w

photography: composition, lighting, film developing and printing

darkroom techniques, gear advice, etc. Thanks.

 

Dave Martiny

[tony_p4]

Try would you believe "Black and White Photography Magazine" published by GMC Publications. Email me if you need extra details and I'll check the front cover for contact details.

[trooper]

Photo Techniques (phototechmag.com) has a lot of good B&W info from people like David Vestal and Howard Bond. Every issue seems to have something worthy that keeps me renewing over the years.

[david_henderson]

I can understand your desire for a change. There is a US

magazine called "B&W black & white magazine - for collectors of

fine photography" that showcases some nice material,

published six times a year for $7.95 each. If you want to see

equipment ads/reviews etc this is the wrong place. Its about

photographs and it is much better than the UK mag you mention

at that aspect. e-mail bnwmag@aol.com though I buy it in

Borders here in UK.

 

There is a good subscription only UK mag called Mono ; again

image orientated though with more of a technique slant. Again

published six times a year but only by subscription- they take

cards. Web www.arempublishing.co.uk Must confess a little

bias here- they say they'll run a feature on my monochrome work

in the autumn.

[everitt]

I agree about B&W, it is a great magazine for B&W pics.. with many features

from legends such as Salgado etc. as well as from lesser known people.

Aperture is also a great magazine, with both color and B&W images. Dump

that Pop Photo crap! Most gear orientated magazines are nothing but

cheerleaders for the newest gear without any critical analysis. The gear mags

are fluff anyways.. much better info can be found on the net for free, as long as

you take everything with a grain of salt.

[titrisol]

There is a magazine called BW enthusiast or similar I think from Australia.

Very hard to find here in NC (USA) but everytime I've found it is great.

 

The link is:

 

http://www.blackandwhitemag.com/

[dean_williams]

I get The Black & White Enthusiast (AUS) and Black & White Photography (GB) and enjoy them both. The Austrailian mag is a bit thin (in volume) and thin on the ground, too, but interesting. The GB mag is my favorite, and includes most of what you are asking for in your post. The American B&W mag has little to do with the act of photography or any of its processes. It is more of a showcase for the art(s). You will learn little about photographric techniques from it, but may enjoy the aesthetics aspect. Check out the British mag first. Keep and eye out for the Australian and pick it up when you see it.

 

Dean

[conrad_hoffman]

Definitely dump those subscriptions, except maybe American Photo. Agree with the above. If you have a Borders or Barnes & Noble, go there and check out the magazine section. They usually have quite a variety of US and other publications. Have a look at Lenswork and the more art related magazines. They should have B&W as well. On top of that, try a subscription to Photo.net! Easily worth a dozen subscriptions to Pop Photo ;-)

[frank.schifano]

I can't comment about any of the B&W magazines mentioned so far in this thread. I have dumped Pop Photo years ago though and never looked back. They'll have you believing that you can't possibly make a good photo without the lastest whiz-bang, mega-bucks gadget if you let them. Better you should read this and a bunch of other sites on the net. Personally, I could care less about the latest auto-everything image forming computers out there. Give me my old Crown Graphic with a dozen sheets of film, or my old Mamiya TLR's and a few rolls of Tri-X and I'll come back with at least one good photo.

[rich815]

I too dumped Pop Photo, Outdoor Photography, Petersen's Photo Crap and those other advertisements posing as magazines years ago. The British mag Black & White Photography is fantastic and I've been a subscriber by mail here in San Francisco for almost three years now. Good balance of reader's images, professional articles, the occasional review, Mike Johnson, good stuff on both traditional and digital darkroom techniques and nary a BS "review" to be found. Well written too. Their customer service is great as well, very friendly emails and once when I put in a change of address too late they sent an extra issue for free just in case I missed one in the move. Fabulous! Well worth the price for overseas delivery and the quality. The US-published B&W I subscribed to for a year but I found it too artsy fartsy, hoity-toity and a bit snobbish. Plus I thought much of the stuff in there passing for "art" was rubbish. Nice quality paper though. Consider also the expensive but beautiful magazine LensWork.

[ken_wolfe]

Does anyone have the contact information for the British B&W Photography magazine? I tried to find it online and struck out.

 

Thanks.

[stevierose]

<a href="http://www.thegmcgroup.com/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.pl?

usr=51F7267761&rnd=8665771&rrc=N&affl=&cip=&act=&aff=&pg=prod&ref=1003BW&

cat=Photography&catstr=HOME:Photography">Here it is</a>

[vincent_jacques]

Against the current, I am considering not to renew my subs to B&W photography (the UK mag).

I subscribed last year.

I find the print quality to be appaling. The quality of the pictures not of high interest (very subjective of course) or high quality. Just average. The vast majority of the pictures seem to be sepia toned...guess it is the editor's favourite.

On the tech side of things, not much interestng happening either. Hardly anything "newish" techniques, seems that it is always the same 2 photographers detailing printing technique for specific images, again, very basic stuff, bit of burn here, bit of dodge there... Mostly grainy 35mm negs.

Not seen a word on high end digital printing (Piezo or MIS) or serious BW scanning methods...

 

I do appreciate the concept and courage to launch such a mag these days (I think it is 2-3 year old) but was really disappointed.

 

I do prefer photo-technique because of the quality of their technical articles or Ag (subs only) which is a good mix of pictures and technique.

 

My advise would be to get hold of one issue before subscribing...

[roman_sonnleitner1]

My sentiments about B & W Photography magazine (UK):

Covers all the topics you mention; readers galleries & features vary widely in quality, but of course, tastes are different; product reviews are so-so, but ther's not a lot of those, fortunately; technical articles by the magazine staff are interesting, but a bit repetitive and basic - no advanced techniques, and once you have read about 10 issues, you know all their tricks; most intersting are articles by guest authors (like currently lith-printer Tim Rudman); there is the occasional digital pseudo-B&W article in there, but fortunately it is rare; I usually browse through the mag at a big bookstore, and only get it if there is a really outstanding article in there.

[chris_waller]

There's also a magazine called 'Mono' published bi-monthly and available by subscription. Visit www.amphot.co.uk for details. 'Ag' is an excellent publication for the serious monochrome photographer but other than these there is a dearth of good photographic journals in Britain.

[waring_clive]

A magazine called The Black and White Enthusiast has been in publication for 6 years and just relaunched as Silvershotz. It contains in depth articles on black and white printing,alternative printing and black and white digital printing. Nice folios from photographers around the world. Check out all their back issues and collectors set on www.blackandwhitemag.com