''Camera Owner'' (1964-1968) was a bi-monthly British hobbyist photography magazine founded in 1964. In 1968 it evolved into ''

Creative Camera ''Creative Camera'' (also known as "CC") was a British monthly/bi-monthly magazine devoted to fine art photography and documentary photography. The successor to the very different (hobbyist) magazine '' Camera Owner'' (which had started in 1964), ' ...

'', a monthly magazine of fine art and documentary photography, which in turn, in 2000, became ''DPICT'' before its publication ceased in 2001.

History

When ''Camera Owner'' was launched in 1964 from 27

Whitfield Street Whitfield Street is a street in the London Borough of Camden that runs from Warren Street in the north to Windmill Street in the south. The street is crossed by Grafton Way, Maple Street, Howland Street, Wayland Street, and Goodge Street. Whitfi ...

, London, edited by Alec Fry ARPS previously of ''

Amateur Photographer ''Amateur Photographer'' is a British photography magazine, published weekly by Kelsey Media. The magazine provides articles on equipment reviews, photographic technique, and profiles of professional photographers. About the magazine ''Ama ...

'' magazine, it offered pictorial 'how-to' articles for an audience ranging from the keen

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

to the dabbler with no interest in technical

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...

; it was subtitled ‘The Teach-Yourself Photo Monthly’. From Issue #8 of February 1965

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n photographer

Jürgen Schadeberg Jürgen Schadeberg (18 March 1931Jürgen Schadeberg
South African History Online2 ...

, picture editor of the influential ''

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

'' magazine in the 1950s, took over as picture editor, exercising a stronger design and a bolder use of pictures. By Issue #10, in April 1965, Fry moved on to establish Polysales Progress mail order firm, and Schadeberg took on the editorship.

Reorientation

In July 1965,

Bill Jay William Jay (12 August 1940 – 10 May 2009) was a photographer, writer on and advocate of photography, curator, magazine and picture editor, lecturer, public speaker and mentor. He was the first editor of "the immensely influential magazine" ''Cr ...

Val Williams, 'Crowned with Thorns: Creative Camera 1965-1978'. In ''Creative Camera'' No.321, April–May 1993 had contributed two articles to the magazine and by December of the same year he took over as Editor. His aim was to promote British photography as a serious art form to rival the U.S. ''

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

'' and Norman Hall's ''Photography,'' and the Swiss Romeo Martinez' ''

Camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...

''. He instituted book reviews in 1966 (for example, of

John Szarkowski Thaddeus John Szarkowski (December 18, 1925 – July 7, 2007) was an American photographer, curator, historian, and critic. From 1962 to 1991 Szarkowski was the director of photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Early life and ca ...

's ''The Photographer's Eye'', July 1967) and interviews (including with

Aaron Siskind Aaron Siskind (December 4, 1903 – February 8, 1991) was an American photographer whose work focuses on the details of things, presented as flat surfaces to create a new image independent of the original subject. He was closely involved with, if ...

and

David Douglas Duncan David Douglas Duncan (January 23, 1916 – June 7, 2018) was an American photojournalist, known for his dramatic combat photographs, as well as for his extensive domestic photography of Pablo Picasso and his wife Jacqueline. Childhood and educat ...

). Magazine content emphasised the

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

of photography over technique, and Jay encouraged his readers to initiate 'postal circles' by circulating a boxed print by mail to a group for feedback. Colin Osman, himself a keen photographer, historian and collector of photography, and owner of Coo Press, a publishing house with a long and lucrative history of racing pigeon publications, bought the failing ''Camera Owner'' from the publishers Davpet Ltd. for £1 in 1966. Jay remained as editor and continued to change the style of the magazine, so that it attracted more serious readers and contributors, amongst them young British photographers like

David Hurn David Hurn (born 21 July 1934) is a British documentary photographer and member of Magnum Photos. Life and work Hurn was born on 21 July 1934 in Redhill, Surrey, England. He was raised in Cardiff, Wales. Because of his dyslexia he joined the sc ...

and

Tony Ray-Jones Tony Ray-Jones (7 June 1941 – 13 March 1972) was an English photographer. Life Born Holroyd Anthony Ray-Jones in Wells, Somerset, he was the youngest son of Raymond Ray-Jones (1886–1942), a painter and etcher who died when Tony was ...

Reformation

Jay gradually transformed the ‘hobbyist’ ''Camera Owner'' during 1967, wth the word ‘Creative’, in a smaller font, being placed above the title ‘Camera Owner’, and ‘Owner’ reduced, by December, to a smaller font so that ‘Creative Camera’ dominated the masthead. With the reorientation of content that Jay had introduced, the journal finally became ''Creative Camera'' alone in February 1968, continuing with that title through more than 30 years of publication.Brittain, David (1999). Creative camera : thirty years of writing. Manchester University Press. .

References

{{Reflist 1964 establishments in the United Kingdom 1968 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1964 Magazines disestablished in 1968 Magazines published in London Photography in the United Kingdom Photography magazines

History

Reorientation

Reformation

See also

References