Clear Nude Magazine
September 29th, 2014
Back in February the editor of Clear Nude magazine, Allicette Torres, sent me an e-mail asking me to review her new magazine here on the blog. She sent me a link to allow me to view the magazine without paying for it. I looked on line and was very impressed. So impressed that I decided I wanted to look at the printed version before I did the review.
I ordered the printed magazine from Amazon. Unfortunately it arrived at about the time I was leaving to attend the memorial service for my mother-in-law. In all that activity the magazine was pushed aside and I forgot about doing the review.
I was reminded of it last week when another e-mail arrived from Ms Torres thanking me for my contribution to the current issue of the magazine. This came as a surprise to me, but I soon learned that my favorite model, Brooke Lynne, had sent one of my photos of her to the magazine to be used to illustrate an interview with her as the featured model of the issue. You can read a bit more about that in the previous post here.
So, here’s my view on this magazine:
As I said, I was quite impressed at the first issue on line. However the printed copy was a bit of a let down. The reproduction was not all that great, mostly, I think, because of the low quality paper it is printed on. There’s nothing to indicate who is doing the printing, but I suspect it is printed by Amazon. I was also bothered by the many photos printed across the gutter in a way that pretty much ruined the photos because the subject was lost in the gutter.
The third issue, which I just received from Amazon, is better. The paper quality is still a problem and hurts the quality of the photos, but it appears they learned the lesson about the gutter and stopped ruining photos by printing them across the gutter. That’s good news.
But still, I think the on-line version of the magazine is a much better viewing experience. And that’s from an old guy who still likes to hold a printed publication in his hands to look at it. But, the quality of the photos is simply much, much better viewed on a screen. I’m sure higher quality paper would fix that problem, but it may not be an option for their distribution method. So it goes.
I talk about print quality first because, after all, that is a major consideration for any publication that is about photographs. And that is primarily what Clear Nude is about.
But, there’s more to Clear Nude than the (not quite) pretty pictures. There are some serious attempts at writing about the genre of nude photography. And it’s obvious that the editors are open to a wide range of opinions and approaches to the subject. I applaud them for that, even though I have to say that at least one essay in the current issue angered me. But that’s a good thing. It’s wonderful to have a publication out there where divergent views of nude photography can be expressed, even if some of them are wrong. 😉
But I do recommend the magazine to your attention. I suggest, unless you really want to hold a printed product in your hands, that you just stick with the on line version of the magazine. You can buy it at their website here. The digital issue costs only $5.99. That’s quite a bargain for a quality product like this. As I write this Amazon is offering a discount on the regular price for the printed version. You can just click on either of the covers above to go to the Amazon page to place an order if you want the printed version.
Ms Torres and her staff are doing something good and important with Clear Nude magazine. I hope you’ll help support their efforts.
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