The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Douglas Stockdale • A densely packed urban environment can overwhelm the senses. The noisy buzz of activity, the jostling sea of humanity amidst a vast variety of aromas permeating the air. Can a single image effectively distill this urban chaos for a viewer? As an ardent street photographer, Ellen Friedlander found that one documentary style... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Here’s a question you may not have considered until now: What’s the connection between the social conventions of human gestures and the storing and reemergence of images, both in our minds as well as on film and analog photographic paper? Anja Manfredi has been the director of the Friedl Kubelka... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Phony patriotism. Vilifying the opposition. Demonizing outsiders. Sound familiar? The days of Making America Great Again may be over, at least for now, but the problem is international. Perhaps nowhere is the rise of nationalism, populism, and authoritarianism more of an issue than in Hungary under the regime of Viktor Orbán.... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In some respects, Germans believe in equal opportunity – they give credit to their parents for country and language: Vaterland is ‘fatherland’ and Muttersprache means ‘mother tongue.’ As history has shown, however, the term Vaterland carries a heavy burden, as it is associated with the sins and atrocities of the... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 24th Issue •Wow. It has been two years since we changed our book review format and had not anticipated all of the pending social, economic and health changes we would need to weather. Fortunately the COVID vaccines are here and are quickly being implemented in the United States as many become fully vaccinated (like me).... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Thana Faroq is not only a successful exiled woman from Yemen who found a new home in the Netherlands, she is also an excellent storyteller who uses her considerable photojournalistic talents to present us with a captivating account of the travails of age-old sojourns, once again taking place in our... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Depending on your point of view, the fine art and fashion photography of Juergen Teller is either “iconic” and “idiosyncratic” on the one hand, or “amateurish” and “ugly” on the other. So it should be no surprise that his approach to photographing architecture would be a bit out of the... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Sleep. A period of time that is an opportunity to refresh oneself and then to start a new day. During that time asleep, we may also dream, perhaps something delightful occurs or this evolves into a frightening experience. Frequently what is recalled upon wakening is a series of odd and mysterious... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The word vale can have a number of meanings. It can imply a farewell, a letting go of things that perhaps are unattainable or forever lost. Or, it can be a valley, a hidden place between hills or mountains that may not be so easy to get to or to... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • The cover of Mark Gill’s photobook The Airborne Toxic Event shows a solitary figure crossing an intersection dressed in a red, full-length hooded jacket wearing a mask, carrying a couple of tote bags and, oddly, wearing open-toed sandals. The man in red, as it turns out, is also the only... Continue Reading →
