What to do with ALL those magazines

Ahhh magazine subscriptions. I have tons of them. There is a place
that I found that (by filling out a small survey) you get tons of
magazine susbcriptions for free. In the past year I have received,
Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, W, Spin, Maxim, entertainment weekly and tons
more. Not to sound weird, but I typically only care about the photos
in these mags. I love their use of photos and the inspiration I get
from some of the portraits in the ads is awesome. It helps me to find
what clients I want to work for based on the style that they like AND
helps me to start stepping it up a few more notches to have a
selection of images like this in my portfolio so my chances of being
hire next are better.
I do, however read most photo mags front to back. Unfortunately I have
to pay for my photo mags like American Photo, PDN, Digital Photo Pro,
etc. These are a wealth of knowledge and constant training in new
techniques, what's happening in the industry, business ideas, etc.

So what happens when you start receiving all these mags and don't have
tons of time to read them let alone look at the pictures?

Take a day and start cutting.

For the non-photo related mags, I will simply flip through all the ads
and pull out the pages I like. For double truck images, Icarefully
take both pages and tape them together. I generated three types of
themes for MY definition (create your own). Trust me I didn't take
time to create such smart defitnitions. Just what made sense to me at
the time.
One is standard portraits - These are maybe for the lighting and nice
poses, body posture, etc.
Two is Action portraits - I call action portraits. These may be very
heavy photoshop techniques or use of lots of props (fire, water,
action, etc).
Three is Glamour portraits - I would consider these larger than life
portraits. Like Travolta standing in front of an old plane. Simply
lit, but Very well done.
Fourth is Sexy or Couple portraits - These miht involve the intimacy
between two people, the attitude in lighting and the creation of a
moment in front of the camera. Like an Advertorial.

Of course there are elements of the images in each category that can
fit into the other category. IT ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE. Just pick shit
that makes you happy and that you would love to do.

Then create yourself a type of scrap book to where you can go to for
inspiration from time to time. Make a list of all the clients the
photos where shot for and MARKET TO THEM!!!

As for the photo mags. That is tougher. Many of these issue are like
art books to me. I fall in love with so many of the photos in there
and many of the articles are awesome for inspiration as well. What I
do with this is quickly go through and grab the articles that stuck
with me and can be great for reference. For instance, I ALWAYS read
the (r)evolution section in Digital Photo Pro by John Paul Caponigro.
That guy is a true Scient-artist. He is very detailed in the
technology, but an extremely well accomplished artists as well.
Then the same technique with the photos, but I will start to instead
collect the names of the photographers and see what they are doing.
Like Howard Schatz who always seems to have something being examined
and written about.

Don't do this and you will soon find yourself in a mess of mags that
you actually paid for and will eventually through away.
Of course there is one mag I never through away, National Geographic.
I have every issue since 1974 (my birth) and before.