View Camera is one of those publications you support because it represents a long standing community passionate about large format photography. It is not the slickest production, but what it is missing in polish it makes up for in original content. Most of the industry rags create content to sell stuff, often the wares of their advertisers. Most of the articles feel like you are talking to the photographer next door.
Lens Culture is an online magazine that reflects a world view of photography, art and media. It celebrates a wide variety of styles explored with a variety of senses. Their written, pictorial, audio and video is an assemblage of thoughtful multimedia that creates an intimate experience with featured work. It has fast become one of my sites of inspiration.
The March/April 2010 issue of View Camera features the New Orleans Photo Alliance 4×5 Photography Contest, including work from Laura Bennett, Susanna Gaunt, Michael Gordon, Charles Mintz and Euphus Ruth. Of particular interest is Laura Bennett’s work capturing her children sharing what appears to be profound emotion. Her use of multiple exposures amplifies their darkness reminding me of eerie Japanese horror films, which use coarsely spliced footage to instill a sense of helplessness and surprise. It is a wonderfully set of intimate portraits that play with the viewer.
March/April 2010 View Camera Magazine Cover
Currently on display at Lens Culture is the work of Laurence Demaison in a series titled, Moving performances, still photographs. When you learn that Demaison’s images are not a result of digital craft you will spend hours trying to unravel the technique. While some are clearly time exposures, others explore bubbles as natural lenses, distorting and repeating grand perspective, while others yet confound you entirely. The imagery exhibits like “natural” mediums with the focus on line, value, scale and repetition. It is an inspiring collection of work challenging the notion that a photograph captures but a moment in time.
April/May homepage of lens culture