Aperture Magazine

[Gary R. Smith]

I've reported on four previous issues, so here's a post on: Summer 2025 (rec'd 14 JUN 2025)



Some time ago I subscribed to aperture magazine without ever having seen an issue. I think I have 2 issues left on my subscription where they have cost me $15.50 (USD) per issue.

I won't be renewing.

The current issue runs some 152 pages. As before, the magazine is high quality and the photographs are well printed on a high grade, medium weight, semi-gloss paper.

Unfortunately, I've been underwhelmed by the editorial content.



After scanning the above TOC and the entire magazine it is unlikely that I'll bother reading any of it.

The inside of the back cover has a nice, full-page, color advertisement for the Fujifilm GFX100RF. Even if I wanted to, I don't believe that I could buy one here in the USA. I'm not sure that I could even get an X100VI at this point. I cut this from the Fuji Rumors web site:



Some have commented on these posts in the past, please continue to do so if it floats your boat. In any case, it's likely that there will only be two more of these from me for WINTER 2025 and SPRING 2026.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I just rec's another issue today and I'm not sure if anyone cares about these magazine posts or not. 40 replies in 18 months but 3k views. I guess after I've had a chance to digest the current issue, I'll post something.

 

[Pete Askew]

Please do. As a previous subscriber I find it interesting to see what they are publishing.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I've reported on five previous issues, so here's a post on: Fall 2025 (rec'd 2 SEPT 2025).

​

In the past I've been generally disappointed in my decision to subscribe and while there have been bits in this current issue that I've found interesting my overall opinion remains the same. The above cover image was photographed by Heeseung Chung in 2020.

I have tried to provide some context to my reviews by including a TOC image that provides enough detail for anyone wanting a better feel for the entire issue. As noted on the bottom of the cover this particular issue focuses on photographers of Seoul, Korea.

As I read pages 11 - 29 (the first pages with editorial content) I realized that there was material here of interest.

I found Stephen Shore's column: NOTEBOOK on issues with the color red enlightening. It opens with a quote from William Eggleston:

"I knew that red was the most difficult color to work with."​

He comments that negative film has the largest color space. Transparency film has the next largest color space and digital has a smaller color space than either film. He illustrates this with a photograph of red catsup bottles and points out that colors outside the gamut are represented by the closest color within gamut. This explains why an area of red might look flat or featureless.

Unlike popular photography magazines of the past to which I had subscribed, I could never figure out what aperture was supposed to be. It states its mission on page 6 (with all of the editors, subscription and publishing information) as:


I also discovered that aperture was given early support by Minor White whom I have recently discovered and who has ties to Portland and Oregon (where I live).

The magazine is printed in Turkey on good stock and the photography is reproduced beautifully. Actual advertisements seem limited to the first and last few pages so once you are absorbed in an article, you're not distracted.

I suspect my next issue will be my last and I'll likely not renew.

Some have commented on these posts in the past, please continue to do so if it floats your boat. In any case, it's likely that there will only be one more of these from me for SPRING 2026.

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks, Gary. I subscribed for a few years and still have the magazines. It sounds like the quality is still there, as well as the diversity. I always enjoyed looking through the magazine although I found I only read an occasional article properly. I’m not entirely certain now why I stopped my subscription, but I think it might have been that I found its scope a bit too wide.

Why will use stop subscribing?

 

[Gary R. Smith]

Why will you stop subscribing?

I don't feel the magazine is consistently interesting.

For example: I love 35mmc however some of the articles are often sports focused and I have no interest in sports. Despite trying to always reply to articles, I rarely reply to a sports article. Recently there was an article there about a photographer from Poland. Poland isn't Portland and I have just discovered Minor White (who spent time in both Portland and Oregon). I'm much more interested when there is a local angle.

This issue is focused on Seoul and there's nothing there to interest me (at this point in life).

I've typically not been able to get enthusiastic about the bulk of the magazine in the last two years and it is on the expensive side for a magazine where I only read/enjoy 15%.

 

[Pete Askew]

I suspect that my reason as well. I used to subscribe to the British Journal of Photography, but have give up now due to much the same reasons.

In contrast a year or so ago I joined the Scottish Society for the History of Photography, even though I live in the South of England / Germany, and subscribe to "Studies in Photography”. It is always interesting, especially as I like old / alternative processes.

https://studiesinphotography.com/

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I think any publication with which you share a local affinity is more attractive than one that purports to be important.

aperture has a long history and its association early on with Minor White gives it more credibility now that I realize he was part of it. Even so, old publications like Stieglitz's "Camera Work" still feel more relevant (to me) than the current editorial bent of aperture.

Thanks for the link, it looks like I'll need to take some time to explore there.