At last, I got around my lazyness and cancelled Outdoor Photographer magazine subscription. I was not getting anything from it for years (except seeing some NPNers photos being featured, but I see those here anyway) - this magazine became really mediocore (I wish GR still writing his columns) and had virtually zero real content. Even most of the photos published were not anything special, technical and other articles way too geared for the beginners. Only thing that was mildly interesting was the advertisements from the manufacturers and see what's coming up in the market. But that alone does not justify the subscription - I can get those from million other places on the net.
It's too bad that we dont have a nationally published good nature photography magazine - the print publishing world is so corrupt that we will never have one here in US. I am sure that real creative people tried and failed. Thank god that we have internet now
The sad fact of life is that editorial content of magazines is dictated by their ad departments. The point of most articles is to pump their advertisers. You'll never see a bad product review. And there are lots more beginners than advanced photographers.
Destination mags are the worst. Writer's deadlines are 12 months in advance of publication. And starting about 9 months before publication date our business gets flooded with promotions from the ad department:
"Exciting news! Our July 2010 issue features Kodiak, Alaska. Take advantage of these special ad rates to reach our 39,248 subscribers and 103,488 newstand buyers! Don't be left out!!!"
And over the next three months we get ever more numerous and ever more strident ad solicitations.
Pimping comes to mind.
Posted by Jim DeWitt on October 8, 2009 at 1:27 PM
I find the print edition of Nature's Best still useful, but agree with Arnab and Hank on most print versions of outdoor photo magazines. In fairness to publishers, it's hard times in the traditional printed magazine industry. They're squeezed by the economy, the internet and shifts in readers. But a substantial part of their problems seems to be that they are incompetent jackasses, too.
When I contrast the editors of some of the destination magazines Hank alludes to - one in particular, I suspect - with NPN's own Richard Bernabe, well, Richard looks pretty wonderful.
I'll echo all what you say about OP arnab. But must admit I kinda grew up with it (photographically spoken - especially columns by GR) so it makes me feel sad a bit - on the other hand I did not buy or read one in the past 3 yrs.
btw. Natures Best has faded to only 2 numbers per anno...! (and these are mainly filled with photo-comp photos which cost zero money. print quality is far superior to OP, though.
Europe, I must say, is a completely different stoty, so many countries which all have their national nature/photography magazines. most/many are quite ok, too.
they all struggle in these times but some are not only after the ad-money but do also have competent editors (who do not push their own agenda... ) who are given quite some freedom to create the magazines. deadlines are often only 3-4 months ahead, sometimes as short as 4 weeks!
print numbers are lower of course than from an US national magazine, running between 50000 and maybe 150000.
so - yes - OP is kinda dead (especially with the upcoming generation, I'm afraid), but hopefully some other mags will come along. the high, high standard of nature photography in the US just screams for one.
georg
I was actually thinking what Floris said, in a sense, before I read his post. For me personally, this site has proven far more valuable than OP or any other photography magazine. [I admit, I browsed it for a while before joining several weeks ago.] Maybe that's due in large part to a decline in quality in OP, etc., but I think the volume of techniques (field, post-processing, etc.) shared here, the ability to review large amounts of great work, and the interactive nature of the galleries and forums all offer things that no magazine -- however good -- could ever match. And I don't have to read about Elizabeth Carmel every 18 months . . . no knock on her, but OP has profiled her twice in the last three years I believe. [Just had to get that off my chest.]
Posted by John Tobias on October 8, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Sense OP has been brought up, anyone care to comment on the current issues last photo showing hundreds of morpho butterflies in California, when they are native to Central and South America? If there are populations in California I would like to know. I have e-mailed both the photographer and OP editors but so far have not received any response.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on October 8, 2009 at 6:50 PM
If I remember correctly...
Many years ago, when this site first started, there was an informal print edition of this site. It was a more of a newsletter than a true magazine, but I suspect printing costs and editorial time killed it.
"Many years ago, when this site first started, there was an informal print edition of this site. It was a more of a newsletter than a true magazine"
Yes, there was. If I remember correctly it was called "Shoot the Light" or something similar. I think I receiveed one, or maybe, two issues of it. I believe this was around mid-2002.
OP is just trying to survive. They are playing it "safe" with non-critical reviews and articles about basic outdoor photography geared towards beginners (almost all of those articles promote some piece of equipment sold by an advertiser).
The main issue that bothers me is that they just ignore the young, up-incoming photographers that are pushing the envelope like Marc or Floris. They usually just publish the same old timers, often work that was taken ten or twenty years ago and topics that have been worked to death. They feel obligated to keep these guys in the loop because they have been involved in the magazine for as long as it has been published. That is why NPN is so popular, if you want to get noticed, you need to create new, exciting work!
A magazine can survive and thrive by publishing inspiring work, instead of depending on ads or contests to pay the bills, Lenswork is a prime example.
Carl
www.photographalaska.com
Posted by Brent Murphy on October 15, 2009 at 1:02 PM
I finally let my OP subscription run out last month, after about 7 years. It seemed to me that it really went downhill in the last 2 years or so. I rarely find anything interesting to read in there any more. But I've really become a fan of Rangefinder, and will continue to enjoy that every month. (And it's free!)
Agreed on the Rangefinder! PDN can be interesting too, if your mind runs to the business/commercial trends.
Posted by Bret Edge on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 AM
I still subscribe to OP and Pop Photo though I'm really not sure why. I do find an occasional article to enjoy and/or learn from, and I do like reading about the latest and greatest gear. I have to agree that most of the content in both magazines is less than educational and only mildly interesting.
A new magazine I've really come to enjoy is JPG Mag. It's not all nature but they do feature some killer images from virtual nobodies. No big names, no egos or attitudes - just really good work. I also like PDN and have learned a few things about business from their articles.
Discussion
14 repliesIt's too bad that we dont have a nationally published good nature photography magazine - the print publishing world is so corrupt that we will never have one here in US. I am sure that real creative people tried and failed. Thank god that we have internet now
Destination mags are the worst. Writer's deadlines are 12 months in advance of publication. And starting about 9 months before publication date our business gets flooded with promotions from the ad department:
"Exciting news! Our July 2010 issue features Kodiak, Alaska. Take advantage of these special ad rates to reach our 39,248 subscribers and 103,488 newstand buyers! Don't be left out!!!"
And over the next three months we get ever more numerous and ever more strident ad solicitations.
Pimping comes to mind.
When I contrast the editors of some of the destination magazines Hank alludes to - one in particular, I suspect - with NPN's own Richard Bernabe, well, Richard looks pretty wonderful.
btw. Natures Best has faded to only 2 numbers per anno...! (and these are mainly filled with photo-comp photos which cost zero money. print quality is far superior to OP, though.
Europe, I must say, is a completely different stoty, so many countries which all have their national nature/photography magazines. most/many are quite ok, too.
they all struggle in these times but some are not only after the ad-money but do also have competent editors (who do not push their own agenda...
print numbers are lower of course than from an US national magazine, running between 50000 and maybe 150000.
so - yes - OP is kinda dead (especially with the upcoming generation, I'm afraid), but hopefully some other mags will come along. the high, high standard of nature photography in the US just screams for one.
georg
NPN print edition?....
Many years ago, when this site first started, there was an informal print edition of this site. It was a more of a newsletter than a true magazine, but I suspect printing costs and editorial time killed it.
A quick show of hands for who recalls this!
Yes, there was. If I remember correctly it was called "Shoot the Light" or something similar. I think I receiveed one, or maybe, two issues of it. I believe this was around mid-2002.
-P
The main issue that bothers me is that they just ignore the young, up-incoming photographers that are pushing the envelope like Marc or Floris. They usually just publish the same old timers, often work that was taken ten or twenty years ago and topics that have been worked to death. They feel obligated to keep these guys in the loop because they have been involved in the magazine for as long as it has been published. That is why NPN is so popular, if you want to get noticed, you need to create new, exciting work!
A magazine can survive and thrive by publishing inspiring work, instead of depending on ads or contests to pay the bills, Lenswork is a prime example.
Carl
www.photographalaska.com
A new magazine I've really come to enjoy is JPG Mag. It's not all nature but they do feature some killer images from virtual nobodies. No big names, no egos or attitudes - just really good work. I also like PDN and have learned a few things about business from their articles.