From: "Tomoko Yamamoto" <tomokoy@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: OT: Photo Magazine Contents
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 16:40:03 -0400
Welcome to the Olympus list, Mike Johnston!
I propose to have some discussions on the desirable contents and trends in photo
magazines while we have you around on the list.
While I did buy a copy of your magazine in D.C. on Monday, I recently made a
decision to s*ubscrib*e to one of the several Japanese photo magazines. The
reason is that Japanese photo magazines have much more to offer. Besides the
Japanese magazines, the web sites of which are shown below, and some American
photo magazines, I am familiar with two British magazines and one Canadian
magazine, all of which I can buy at newsstand in Baltimore.
"Cameraman" is a magazine which was started in 1978 aimed at young beginners to
introduce techniques and principles of photography and photo equipment. Its
readers now encompasses advanced amateurs. As you can see from its cover, they
feature a lot of photos of teens' idols on the cover as well as inside. I
picked up this magazine without knowing much about its contents in March just
because it was new to me and some middle-age man was buying a copy at a camera
store in Japan. They use very informal styles of speech in its monthly featured
photo technique lessons. 500Yen & 250 pages in B5 (7x10 inches or 182x257mm)
Since my niece (a recent college graduate, now working for a company which
prepares fashion-related articles on contract to magazine publishers) became
interested in photography and started using her father's Nikkomat, I showed this
magazine to her and her 19-year-old sister. They were identifying young models
shown in the magazine. The magazine was obviously using those faces familiar to
that age group. Yet its serious contents were interesting enough for me. I
might note that its publisher is Motor Magazine.
http://www3.mediagalaxy.co.jp/MCUBE/fastp/cr.html
I have never seen this magazine, "CAPA". It is frequently mentioned in
fj.rec.photo. It, too, features a female model on its cover. The publisher is
publisher of books to school-age children up to high school (?), which are
mostly educational.
http://www.gakken.co.jp/capa/
The following magazine is called "Photo Technique". I have never looked at this
magazine before, but judging from the table of contents, the magazine must have
advanced amateurs in mind: one article on darkroom techniques and another on
digital darkroom. The main features this month are tips on improving one's
photography and an introduction to the medium format. I might note that the
price of the magazine is twice that of the first two. Its publisher specializes
in photography and related topics. B5 at 1,020Yen (5% tax inc.)
http://www.genkosha.co.jp/pt/
The next two are well-established major photo magazines in Japan.
Nippon Camera is published by Nippon Camera Company, a publisher of photography
and camera books. This magazine and Asahi Camera have a lot of ads by used
camera shops (mailorder as well, but most of these stores have store fronts
because that is the way they started out since mail-order type sales are
relatively recent). Unlike Pop Photo, the ads Do Not Dominate the pages. Both
of these magazines are thick 350-380 pages in B5 (7"x10") and priced at 800Yen.
http://www.nippon-camera.com/
http://opendoors.asahi-np.co.jp/span/camera/
"Asahi Camera", which is published by Asahi Shimbun Company, is the magazine I
decided to s*ubscrib*e. This is like a photo magazine published by the like of
the New York Times. This magazine and "Nippon Camera" both feature the
portfolios' of professional photographers, some well-known ones as well as
lesser-known pros. Most of the Japanese magazines have monthly and annual photo
contests. Readers send in their best shots every month to compete with others.
These are shown with reviewers' comments and technical data.
One of the features in "Nippon Camera" is a summer photo project at home: the
pinhole camera. They must have adult readers who are parents.
One other common feature in Japanese photo magazines is monthly (all of the
magazines here are monthlies) listing of photo exhibits all over Japan.
I am afraid that American photo magazines are too specialized. As such, they
might have a hard time surviving the coming digital revolution. They had better
capture young readers also.
I hope that Mike and others (particularly those in the U.K. and Germany) would
comment.
Tomoko Yamamoto
mailto:tomokoy@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.charm.net/~tomokoy/
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