Review by Douglas Stockdale • This is not the usual photobook investigating the Southern California surf culture. As evident on the book’s interesting slipcover, a folded double-sided surf poster, that Gabriella Angotti-Jones subjects for I Just Want to Surf are not the usual bunch of ‘tan’ blonde beach dudes. In fact they are not even dudes, but a... Continue Reading →
Nick Brandt – The Day May Break. Chapter Two
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Environmental destruction and climate change certainly constitute a universal problem. Resources are limited, and both humans and other creatures have their needs to fulfill. Nick Brandt is an artist with a big heart and an even bigger conscience, and in his work, he calls attention to these disturbing global trends.... Continue Reading →
Thurstan Redding – Kids of Cosplay
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Cosplay is a fun activity. You take your innermost thoughts out to be seen in public, as you embody, through your costume and makeup, a fictional character you admire, showing yourself as your personal hero or heroine to everyone out there. These personalized and externalized emotions can be seen at... Continue Reading →
Stephen L. Starkman – The Proximity of Mortality
Review by Douglas Stockdale · We will all face the inevitable mortal event with most of us having an uncertain timeline, while it is life changing to be informed that this event will occur within a short period of time. After that type of alarming news, there is a need to deal with a narrow window... Continue Reading →
Charles Fréger – Aam Aastha: Indian Devotions
Review by Gerhard Clausing • I know from my experience with students acting out various drama roles on the stage, in a foreign language even, that the most effective performances take place when the role is totally internalized and performed not just from the mind but also from the heart. It is at that moment... Continue Reading →
Emily White – High Water
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Emily White utilizes large format photographic equipment in conjunction with alternative photographic technics to investigate an urban and its bordering natural landscapes. There is an undercurrent of mystery, as though something is being haunted, in the dark moody body of work that White exhibited in her first solo show with Candela... Continue Reading →
Tema Stauffer – Southern Fiction
Review by Melanie Chapman • “Impressions of the Past, and what Remains.” At a certain time in the afternoon of late winter, the sun shines through my front window and fills the living room with long strands of a honey yellow glow. The sounds of children playing across the street subside as families reconvene to share... Continue Reading →
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s Third Biennial Reva & David Logan Photo Book Symposium
Article by Debe Arlook and Douglas Stockdale with photographs by Debe Arlook, Douglas Stockdale, Katie Rodriguez and Barry Schwartz • We were honored with the opportunity to participate in the University of California Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism's Third Biennial Reva & David Logan Photo Book Symposium on Saturday April 15th. The event was developed... Continue Reading →
Fryd Frydendahl – Salad Days: Portraits 2012-2022
Review by Gerhard Clausing • I really love portraits that are mysterious and different. Fryd Frydendahl has definitely succeeded in consistently producing such unorthodox portraits over a ten-year period that fit the bill, and then some. This photobook gives us insights into her method. If you look at the front cover above, you find one... Continue Reading →
Andreas Herzau & Holger Noltze – Bamberg Diary #1, #2, #3
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Bamberg is a Franconian town in Bavaria with a substantial history going back at least 1,000 years. I was able to visit Bamberg this past summer; the juxtaposition of ancient traditions and contemporary approaches are a delight to experience. Part of that culture is a distinguished Symphony Orchestra that is... Continue Reading →