| The Return Of Theory (In Colour) Photography Magazines In The 1990's |
 |
| In her introduction to the 1997 book The Camerawork Essays, Jessica Evans argues that during the late 1970's and 80's the photography magazines Camerawork and Ten 8 functioned as a forum for the 'critical and contextual study of photography'. Publishing influential image and text essays by writers such as Jo Spence, Victor Burgin, John Taylor and Roberta McGrath, the development of these magazines paralleled attempts during the 1980's to establish a formal critical photographic theory applying a combination of (amongst other things) semiotics and psychoanalysis to gallery and popular photography. By the early 1990's both Camerawork and, latterly, Ten 8 had folded. Writing in 1997, Evans perceives a gap in photographic magazines, |
|
| 'Photographic theory has lacked prominence and visibility in the last few years. The demise of Ten 8 is pertinent here, as it was the only high-profile publication addressing specific aspects of photographic production and consumption ... In the world of photographic magazines for example, photography has been displaced into the category of fine art and criticism. Thus Portfolio and Creative Camera have established a primarily "fine-art photography" constituency.' |
|
| Portfolio was first published in 1988 chiefly to publicize the exhibitions at Edinburgh's Portfolio photography gallery and highlight photography produced in Scotland. It soon expanded its pages and its remit, eventually attracting work from around the world. In 1994 it transformed into the opulent 'catalogue of contemporary British photography' that it remains today. As Evans points out, Portfolio presents its work in a 'fine-art' tradition; large white spaces around lavishly printed images. Texts dedicated to the major artists (never referred to as photographers) and a selection of reviews appear at the back of the publication. |
|
| Coincidentally the latest issue of Creative Camera includes a piece by its editor David Brittain on the writing which appeared in the magazine during the 80's. Brittain identifies a period beginning in the early part of that decade when the mainly formalist discussion of photography that was previously prevalent in Creative Camera was joined by more in depth pieces by many of the writers associated with Camerawork and Ten 8. However these writers still found themselves colliding against the 'old school' and by the end of the decade articles applying the photographic theory that Evans talks about were rare. |
|
| But perhaps the situation has changed again even since Evans wrote her introduction in 1997. The late-90's has a very different photographic culture to the 80's, when magazines such as Ten 8 and Camerawork (with it's gallery counterpart) seemed to present a united front of critically informed, earnest photography against the Right. Much of the text and images disseminated via the magazines at the time still echo through the photographic production of the 90's. Yet what those magazines failed to account for, on the whole, was the sheer pleasure of images. The arguments presented in their black and white pages provided a necessary coda to the formalist purism that preceded them, but there seemed little joy in the actual photographs. |
|
| These days Portfolio certainly allows for such pleasure, but without descending into simple formalism. It's short essays promote a more informed reading of the work of individual artists. An editorial by David Brittain in the Creative Camera relaunch issue of October/November 1994 expresses similar aims claiming, 'what we offer anyone interested in photography is more than challenging images; above all it's the context needed to make sense of them'. In the last few years this has truly begun to happen. The essays and images in Creative Camera articles now cut across the work of many different artists and photographers, and often many different mediums too in the areas of both art and popular culture. It may seem superficial, but this change could perhaps be measured by the increasing number of footnotes found beneath Creative Camera's essays. Articles do not stand alone, but are positioned within a (tangled) web of visual culture and theory. |
|
| One reason this is happening can be found in the writers that Creative Camera now commonly uses. Joanna Lowry and David Green for example have contributed numerous pieces in recent years. Both Lowry and Green also write for periodicals such as Contemporary Visual Arts and have a background both in photographic theory and more general visual theory. Most issues of Creative Camera are themed and often these themes involve a crossover between genres; photography and film, photography and digital work, and so on. One recent issue used a Glenn Brown painting on its cover instead of a photograph; not long before a cover image by Ben Judd resembling low budget soft porn caused a minor scandal. How much the stencilled logo of the magazine stamped on the cover allows painting and pornography to become recontextualised is a debatable point; and Creative Camera also functions as a space for such debates, addressed within its editorials, articles, reviews and letters. |
|
| Uniquely among the art photography magazines here Creative Camera features a letters page which reappeared this year after a long hiatus. In recent issues letters have been published from such diverse locations as Holland, Liverpool and Macedonia. The magazine's news pages report on events worldwide and its exhibitions listings extends to including shows in Portugal, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Arizona, among many others. Artists featured in one recent issue come from the Ukraine, France, America and England. The impression created is of a magazine which draws in new work from across the world and presents it to a similarly disseminated audience. |
|
| It is hard to gauge precisely who David Brittain's 'anyone interested in photography' that reads magazines such as Creative Camera, Portfolio and Source are. I would be very interested to know who you are, for example, reading this piece. Clearly Brittain is casting his net wide and it will be fascinating to see the results of the current Creative Camera project, where readers have been invited to send in photographs of themselves to appear in an exhibition and website; although this may only show us the type of people who enter these kind of projects. More usefully we might consider the escalation in photographic degree courses that occurred in Britain during the 70's and 80's. Every year many more students will discover magazines such as Portfolio and Creative Camera. Some of these students will also be taught the kind of photographic theory that was promoted in Camerawork and Ten 8 and will be looking for magazines that continue to use that language. This audience simply did not exist twenty years ago. |
|
| The letters page of Creative Camera seems to indicate that many curators too follow such periodicals. The news pages tell of shifts within the management of galleries that would only be of interest to such a minority. So while a young artist whose work appears in these magazines may not find a huge audience, they may just find the right one. Unless they want to make money of course. A much wider audience buys magazines such as The British Journal of Photography and Amateur Photographer as well as the fashion and lifestyle journals Dazed & Confused and The Face. Of these the long-running British Journal of Photography has oscillated (often from page to page) between tips and art; being both a technical trade journal and a window for student work and gallery photography. However, since the recent departure of editor Reuel Golden the gallery work has all but disappeared. Equally ancient Amateur Photographer continues as a magazine for the camera club member described in its title whose work, apart from snapshots, still constitutes the mainstream of photographic production. |
|
| Arguably, a greater crossover exists between Dazed & Confused, The Face and art photography than between art photography periodicals and the technical magazines. On some occasions artists such as Inez Van Lamsveerde have had innovative and subversive fashion work published in The Face first, only later migrating to the pages of Creative Camera. Dazed & Confused remains a venue for new photography, presented both within its fashion pages and advertisements, and as work within its own right. Often it is hard to tell these areas apart. Creative Camera too sometimes displays this aspect; on an initial flick through one article can flow into the next. But perhaps this neatly reflects its blurring of boundaries. |
|
| Creative Camera shares a designer, Phil Bicker, with Dazed & Confused. Not long ago it shared part of an image too. A photograph from a series on suicide by Nick Waplington, whose pictures have often appeared in both periodicals, was deemed unsuitable for publication by 'a large newsagents' chain'. Most of the photograph was reproduced in Creative Camera, with a final section printed on a card slipped into the pages of that month's Dazed & Confused. Put them together and you got the whole picture. Perhaps this was primarily a gimmick to increase the readership of both magazines; although Creative Camera surely had more to gain in this respect (we might wonder who buys Creative Camera from 'a large newsagents' chain'), Dazed & Confused may also have acquired some additional prestige by linking itself directly with an art photography magazine. Whatever the case, the project suggests an affinity between the two periodicals. While there is a long tradition of such connections in photography, it is hard to imagine Camerawork engaging in a similar project. |
|
| The two magazines also share sponsorship. Both have their photographs processed courtesy of London's Metro Imaging. Creative Camera is funded by the Arts Council of England. A brief glimpse at Dazed & Confused reveals that around one third of the magazine's 150-plus pages are given over to advertising, whereas there are almost none in Creative Camera and Portfolio (funded now not just by the Arts Council of England, but of Scotland too). The funding from the Arts Councils is important. It allows non-commercial work to exist in a form where it is relatively uninterrupted by advertisements confusing its messages. |
|
| Another magazine provides an even clearer example of the positive results of such support. Insight is published by Photoworks, the South East Arts photography organisation. Distributed free to galleries, museums, libraries and individuals in the South East Arts region (West and East Sussex and Kent), Insight functions in part to promote Photoworks commissions. The magazine combines full colour photographs with accompanying text and comes with a listings guide to photography exhibitions and events in the South East. It also announces competitions and commissions to photographers in the region. Insight therefore both motivates and displays the resulting work. Its funding from South East Arts, Kent County Council and East Sussex County Council is justified by its interaction with the public who fund it. |
|
| Two years ago Insight, like Source, was a thinner monochrome shadow of its current self. The writing found in Insight has become increasingly complex (Joanna Lowry has recently contributed). The photographs preserve a high degree of intelligence and experimentation, yet they are balanced within the context of accessible writing and presented in simply designed layouts. The editor, designer and writers of Insight clearly maintain an awareness that the magazine may be idly picked up and casually flicked through by people who are more likely to be in front of the camera than behind it. |
|
| In the last few years photography magazines in Britain and Ireland seem to have had an increasing influence on each other. While Portfolio has continued to present work in a high quality format, giving priority to the consideration of images, Creative Camera has forged connections with other media and increased the critical depth of its articles and reviews. Dispelling links with its formalist past Creative Camera is now more about creativity than cameras. Newer magazines such as Source and Insight have followed their lead and now commission lengthier essays coupled with colour photograp/hs. Connections also continue to be made outside of photography; with fashion and lifestyle magazines for example. This serves to recontextualise and expand the type of photography discussed; continuing in some respects the project begun by Camerawork and Ten 8. The critical theory that Jessica Evans argued was missing from photography magazines in the mid-90's has returned in a different and more colourful form. |
|
| Stephen Bull |
