I remember several specific times in my photographic life, times when something changed, sometimes for the good, sometimes not.
One time I tend to see as a negative, but really it is just a time, not good or bad, was the very last edition of Camera and Darkroom magazine.
It snuck up on me, I think also the makers of the publication as a whole, because the magazine is normal, even publishing parts of series and I only remember which edition it was, short of going through the whole of my collection and proving it, because of the black cover, something that may have been a last minute rebellion to the decision.
The new owners of the publication, decided there was no need for it in their portfolio, so one minute a healthy and functioning organism, the next, gone, but not forgotten*.
I think there may have been a little note in the shrink wrap, possibly just a notification through the supplier, but either way, the end was here and it was a little sobering.
Another interesting article about printer Michael Karman, by Gordon Parks a favourite blogger now also out of the scene. Interesting how much perceptions have changed.
The articles were the usual. Good writing, in-depth stuff with an educated eye. The one that rankled, was the unfinished one about the inability to focus properly with modern enlarger devices and proof of such. This was by Ctein a recognised master printer, so no small thing. Being unfinished, I did think it may have been a cruel joke, but the reality is it was as innocent as all the rest. I was drifting away from darkroom work anyway, so the timing was irrelevant.
The cover image “Lella, Bretagne 1947” is haunting and a favourite, soured a little by its use as deliverer of bad news, but stunning none the less. I find the near perfect rendering of the woman in the background even more compelling than the main subject and what a revelation in this era of dramatic sharp-soft transitions.
Sobering to think this woman just survived the German occupation, WW2 and will still have to face a decade of hardship.
Times change and things come and go, but I think I was always a little disappointed the publication, always my favourite, just went. It actually changed the hold these had on me, a slight shifting of loyalties from “monthly words from on high” to a more coffee table art or technical book dynamic.
I guess maybe because individual publications are complete in their own right, not at the whim of long term support. I have always been suspicious of relying on anything long term, a product of mixed, but decent upbringing, but some thing I did hold onto.
This seems to have manifested itself into an obsessive need to collect something when I commit to it, just in case (of what?), something I am aware off, but still prefer to do than not.
*They still sell for a decent amount on eBay and there looks to be a Facebook page CameraanddarkroomRenn, by Tom Harrop the original creator.