DieNacht – #8 – PhotoBook Journal

I had the opportunity to review a recent edition (#8) of DieNacht magazine, a nice compact magazine out of Trier, Germany with the accompanying text in both English and German (Deutsch). The magazine is issued twice a year by the tireless efforts of Calin Kruse, who is all things rolled into one; publisher, designer, layout and what have you.

Although the magazine has a strong emphasis on photography, it is not entirely limited to publishing that artistic genre. It is a perfect bound magazine, like a POD stiffcover book, printed in four-color. I found the selection of work to be broad, diverse and intriguing. With a magazine, unlike a photobook, you are provided with a tease about a body of work, but in the case with DieNacht I think enough is provided to help make a decision whether to investigate the photographer/artist if you want to learn more.

The one weakness if I had to find one, is that the intent is to create a German/English magazine, but the translations are uneven, such as missing the English translation of some captions. Or providing a quoted text in French, but not providing either a German or English translation of the quote. Some of the articles were in German with the English translation provided at the end of the book, but page references for the translated text are missing, thus creating a bit of a disruption in the flow of understanding the context while madly thumbing though the book seeking the related translations.

Nevertheless the magazine is interesting and stimulating, recommended.

Also note, DieNacht has an on-line book store with a broad variety of available photographic magazine and ArtZines.