The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Douglas Stockdale • While reading one of John Steinbeck’s many novels did you at one time attempt to visualize his Salinas Valley landscape that was seriously impacted by the pervasive drought conditions of the 1930’s? Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother may have come quickly to mind or perhaps the Dust Bowl photographs of Arthur Rothstein... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Ah, street art and graffiti — the color, the raw energy, the in-your-face graphics. They are such inviting targets for photographers. But how do you make them your own? Photographer Bill Wishner succeeds by going beyond mere documentation to turn them into collaborations. Wishner spent seven years traveling to cities... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 23rd Issue •We have a diverse range of book reviews this month: biographies of photo legends, reflections on the act of photography, an artist book and a new zine collection.Looking ahead: In conjunction with Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP), I will be leading a virtual (Zoom) Book Development Workshop over four days (two consecutive weekends), March 13... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • I will need to admit up front, I have been a long-term fan of the book artist Julia Borissova and was very intrigued with announcement that she was reimagining her artist books in a new Zine Collection. She has assembled the first five of her Zine Collections as a group... Continue Reading →
Review by Paul Anderson • Deep purples and blacks, satiny reds, rich oranges- the night photography of Hanoi by Wouter Vanhees treats the reader to a rich range of colors that he finds in his well-composed urban night scenes. His is a unique look at a big city. The photographs are austere, lonely, and haunting. Some... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Americans have always exercised their right to demonstrate and protest, and the peaceful public expression of a multitude of opinions has always been the basis of a healthy democracy. After all, governments always implement a series of compromises, and the majority will usually stand behind major decisions, but it is... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Antarctica, the South Pole, a forlorn, and icy desolated location that is not on very many individual’s list as an idea of place to vacation with the family. Julia Borissova takes on the subject of this hostile and unfamiliar environment, called the White Blonde by polar explorers, in a dreamy and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • How do you decipher the unfamiliar and the unknown? What cues from your past can be applied to new, unfamiliar shapes and textures, seemingly incomprehensible, yet eerily demanding your attention? Do you need to design your own new personal visual system or “language” to deal with such new information that... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a Saul Leiter photograph? The soothing atmosphere, the soft, light and, most of all, the gentle painterly color palette of a pioneer in color street photography. As Yumiko Izu discovered, Leiter not only shot such images, he did indeed live in them. The... Continue Reading →
Review by Darin Boville • When I was a young man I labored through the book On Photography, by Susan Sontag. I was a subscriber to the New York Review of Books, though not during the early 1970s when the chapters in this book were initially published as separate essays. I was also a subscriber to MIT’s... Continue Reading →
