Yes, it is that time of year again – “Best-of List Time” – and time for us to present our list of interesting photobooks for the past year. As in past years, the books spotlighted feature exemplary form and content, design and photography, vision and execution.
Our all-volunteer editorial team has done their best to share noteworthy photobooks with you this past year. Our team is Paul Anderson, Brian Arnold, Melanie Chapman, Gerhard Clausing, Lee Halvorsen, Steve Harp, Hans Hickerson, Brian O’Neill, Matt Schneider, Douglas Stockdale, and Rudy Vega. We encourage you to browse the many reviews we published during the past year.
These twelve books represent a range of contemporary photography, and our team is proud to honor the photographers Ed Kashi, Nick Brandt, Elliot Ross, Amy Horowitz, Donna Tramontozzi, Nicolay Bakharev, Hannah Altman, Kevin Cooley, Pia-Paulina Guilmoth, Rian Dundon, Alan Gignoux, and Brian O’Neill. The book reviews are linked below.
Please remember to support the authors and publishers with your book purchases whenever you can.
Thanks to all our readers around the world as well as to the authors and publishers for your continuing interest and loyalty. Have a peaceful and healthy holiday season along with our best wishes for 2026!
Hans Hickerson, Editor, for the Editorial Team
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Here are this year’s selections, in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names:
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Hannah Altman – We Will Return to You
“Altman has a knack for creating multi-layered photographs that combine elements from the inherited stories with ideas from celebrations, rituals, and beliefs to create impulses for new and unexpected meanings and interpretations.”
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Nicolay Bakharev – Cheryomushki
“… a photographer of humble origins but with incredible insight, revealed in thoughtful, simple, and engaging pictures of a surprising moment in time.”
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Nick Brandt – The Echo of Our Voices
“Human fragility and defiance are both evident in these magnificent arrangements.”
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Kevin Cooley – The Wizard of Awe
“A happy marriage of book design, storytelling, and photography, it elevates the photobook conversation to a level higher than anything I have seen in a long time.”
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“Packaged like a high-end fashion magazine but edited like a zine, it shows what can go right when photos and form fuse into a book.”
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Alan Gignoux – Russian Rustbelt
“A social and urban landscape that reflects the combined effects of the long-term failure of Soviet central planning.”
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Pia-Paulina Guilmoth – Flowers Drink in the River
“Dense and telling.”
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Amy Horowitz – A Walk in the Park?
“..rich with diversity and young people discovering themselves and adulthood in today’s world.”
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“It gathers images from his more than 45 years as a photojournalist into one powerful collection that is as emotional as it is informative.”
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Brian O’Neill – A Desert Transect
“A Desert Transect … attempts to unpack everyday life and mobility in Phoenix through a combination of photography and ethnographic observation on the city’s monorail system.”
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“Remembrance, ephemerality and transitions are what come to mind when looking through this beautifully executed photography book…”
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Donna Tramontozzi – Long Rememberings of Goodbyes
A poetic meditation confronting the memories of loved ones who left all too soon.
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Articles and photographs published in the PhotoBook Journal may not be reproduced without the permission of the PhotoBook Journal staff and the photographer(s). All images, texts, and designs are copyright of the authors and publishers.
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