Pretentious and Plodding

Aperture is THE premier photographic magazine today... which is to say it embodies all the fashionable cliches and pretentions of the contemprary post-modern scene.

Out of focus shots? Ragged borders? All here. Family snapshots reinterpreted as high art? We got 'em. Egocentric self-portraits by the dozen? Step right up.

The "art" in Aperture is uniformly artless, deadly dull, and devoid of any human feeling. But that's what the critics are selling these days.

Joyless Art

This magazine is full of ART (sound of trumpets here). The photographs are unfailingly serious, moody, joyless affairs. There is no room in its pages for smiles, love, or happiness.

As an example, the 50 year retrospective in 2002 had at least three photographs (all technically excellent) of bodies and one of an amputated foot (also technically excellent). Tucked in one corner of one montage was the only smiling face in the entire two issues of the retrospective.

So, if you like your art dark and depressing, subscribe. I'm looking for something a bit brighter.

ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY AT ITS BEST AND A COLLECTIBLE

Aperture has one of the most outstanding reputations for bringing its readers the best in artistic photography. I own several editions of the publication which are put up in areas where they will be kept cool and dry because the magazine is so highly collectible. Some editions on auction have netted hundreds of dollars. And Aperture covers a wide array of subjects, from mailboxes out on country roads, to architecture, from rare plants, to bizarre special effects, Aperture brings you photography you'll want to look at again and again and again. You'll get photographs from some of the world's most renowned photographers, and you'll get them on pages so pristine, you'd think you were viewing them at a gallery. If you want a magazine that gives you "The All" in photography, Aperture has it. Oh, and one more note, from time to time Aperture offers its customers the opportunity to purchase rare collectibles, many of which are autographed by the photographers.