I agree.
It's very easy for anyone to set themselves up as an "expert" and start posting "tutorials" on YouTube, and there is some shocking stuff on there.
On the other hand, there is also some really good stuff there too, and I think, recently, I've learned far more from YouTube and manufacturer videos, than I've ever learned from a magazine.
Most mags in recent years seemed to come with their own video cover disk anyway.
How can you tell if a mag, or the person writing for it, is "decent" and trustworthy?
Exactly.Because the publisher continues to pay them for their content. The editor continues to commission them and their content is vetted proor to publication by the publishing system.
Let's turn the question around: How can you tell if a 'free information service' (blogger, you toober, whatever source) is 'decent and trustworthy'? Who is vetting their output?
I see it in the motor industry. Re-reading articles from the older days - up to the 1990s, the journalists were a lot more informed and would discuss technical features in some depth.
Then the Clarkson Top Gear era started...
I enjoyed reading Kevin MacDonnell's articles in "Photography". He was able to move smoothly from outrageous anecdotes to quite serious discussions on technical subjects. I don't recall any other writer on photography who had such a breadth of experience nor such a pleasant writing style that communicated his enthusiasm so well.A successful magazine has a portfolio of writers, ranging from the stuffy technical types, to the more entertaining fluffy types.
Re-reading articles from the older days - up to the 1990s, the journalists were a lot more informed and would discuss technical features in some depth.
That was a great magazine, founded by Keith Wilson. He left, and as I recall, it didn't last too long after that. Outdoor Photographer, thankfully, lasted a lot longer but has been disappearing down the path of repetition for a while - ie running out of new locations/viewpoints.
Outdoor Phtographer probably didn’t help themselves with the fact that their locations were almost invariably the Highlands of Scotland, Lake District or Wales or articles about a pro’s six months in the Kalahari. There were no locations within in Cambridgeshire in any copy I ever looked at, with the best will in the world if you can’t find locations that are viable to visit what’s the point of buying it?
PP Editor has turned up at AP to do the appraisals...Pity that PP has bitten the dust and the pile of crap that is Amateur Photography survives
Magazine publisher Bauer, is closing a number of its titles, among them is Practical Photography.
The magazine, established in 1959, will publish its final issue in July.
If you have an annual subscription it might be worth doing a bit of research wrt a partial refund.
Personally I haven't read a photography magazine for 40 years (altho' I did very infrequently flip through a copy of BJP at college in the mid 80s); however it was Victor Blackman's column in Amateur Photographer during the late 1970s that inspired my pursuit of a career in press photography.
Outdoor Phtographer probably didn’t help themselves with the fact that their locations were almost invariably the Highlands of Scotland, Lake District or Wales or articles about a pro’s six months in the Kalahari. There were no locations within in Cambridgeshire in any copy I ever looked at, with the best will in the world if you can’t find locations that are viable to visit what’s the point of buying it?
I was aware the main location was a readers i didn’t realise the extras were. I did once email Outdoor Photography and didn’t get a reply, even one to suggest sending a location in!The locations are sent in by readers, this is your chance to put Cambridgeshire on the map!
It's actually quite an awkward part of the country to reach and it usually takes me 23 hours or so to get there if I take my car.
I was aware the main location was a readers i didn’t realise the extras were. I did once email Outdoor Photography and didn’t get a reply, even one to suggest sending a location in!