The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Copyright Mona Kuhn 2011 published by Steidl I think that Mona Kuhn’s new photobook, Bordeaux Series, and her fourth with the publisher Steidl, may be her best to date. Each book has the nude as one as one her principal subjects, but in this book she intertwines the nude portraits of individuals with another theme to raise unanswerable and... Continue Reading →
Copyright James Clancy 2011 Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg Berlin My first impression is that Clancy’s narrative is a darker version of John Gossage’s early photobook The Pond. Similar to Gossage, Clancy is taking us on an imaginary journey, although somewhat grounded in the (non) reality of the photographs, using found landscapes rendered in black and white... Continue Reading →
Copyright Mauro Fiorese & Keith Carter 2008 Edizioni Siz Collaborations are interesting situations that can be a bit unpredictable as to the results, but in this case for this commission by the Palace of Monaco, both Carter and Fiorese were previous collaborators in 2001 for their photobook Two Spirits. With these two creative spirits working... Continue Reading →
Copyright Hiroshi Watanabe 2008 published by Mado-sha Co. Ltd With the recent the passing of Kim Jong II and the changes to the family leadership in North Korea I am motivated by an opportunity to review an earlier photobook by Hiroshi Watanabe who was allowed “access” to travel and photograph within North Korea in 2007. Hiroshi states,... Continue Reading →
Mitch Epstein 2009 copyright courtesy Steidl I think one of the better photographed and designed photobooks to shed light on the complexities and the enormity of the environmental, economic, political and social issues of the production and consumption of energy is Mitch Epstein’s American Power, published in 2009 by Steidl. In reading Edward Burtynsky’s Oil,... Continue Reading →
First, if you by chance you happen across this post looking for another list of "Best PhotoBooks of 2011," you might not recall reading my "Best of 2010" photobook post, which can be found here. Essentially after compiling a "Best of" list in 2009, as expected of someone who reviews photobooks, I was less than satisfied with my own... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • My first impression of Harvey Benge’s photobook All of the Places I’ve ever Known was that this book is meant to be autobiographical. It is also a statement of the obvious: that you cannot take a photograph of a place unless you have been to that place. Cheeky. Benge has self-published numerous photobooks and in... Continue Reading →
Just a brief update on Claxton Projects, a photobook review site run by the clever Tom Claxton. He has moved his photobook commentaries to a new site after the wonderful attributes (slide shows) that was initially provided by Tumblr were discontinued and probably stated best by Tom: My main attraction with the Tumblr format was the slide-show... Continue Reading →
Copyright Eva Koleva Timothy 2010 courtesy of the photographer What I often find when a book combines a large amount of text in conjunction with photographs, it seems that either the text or the photographs seems to dominate. In some cases there is delicate balance between the two, which I now have come to understand... Continue Reading →
Copyright Bertil Nilsson 2011 published by Canalside Books When I attend a circus performance with my family, I find that I rapidly become very overwhelmed by the brilliant and dazzling colors of the performers clothes, sets and background, the high energy of the performances and the very intense lighting that commands my attention. The performances... Continue Reading →
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