The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Hans Hickerson · One way to decide if a photobook is successful is if it gives you the experience of a different time and place, if it immerses you in its world – just like with a novel or film. Michael Rababy’s american bachelor works like that. Open it and go on a... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · As a rule of thumb, photobooks are interesting in inverse proportion to the amount of white space surrounding the photographs. The more white space – the more the photos adhere to a fine print aesthetic – the more the book typically functions as a themed album and the less it... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · In Passenger photographer Rian Dundon offers a master class in high-impact mayhem as he assembles an edgy, take-no-prisoners, in-your-face collection of visual facts that riffs on people, places, forms, and feelings, including a generous serving of spleen. Dundon is a passenger both literally and figuratively. He takes us with him... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega · Puking Rainbows, Past and Future is a captivating collaborative project by Sean Lotman and his son Tennbo, blending the boundaries between photobook and artist book. Encased in a cardboard slipcover adorned with Sharpie doodles and Instax prints—featuring individual portraits of the duo on the front and back—each copy is a... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · If you have never been to a portfolio review and are curious, Both Sides of the Table: Photography Portfolio Do's and Don'ts will be your go-to resource for perspectives and information. It is chock full of useful ideas and advice. The book is organized into three main parts. Reviewees are... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen · This photo book is delightful and fun…a trip back in time at the author’s side where we meet the author’s father, his mother and look through the eyes of a 22-year-old artist at the world around him. Hickerson brings to life 105 black & white images from 1978-1979…a significant time... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Good things come in small packages. Grenades come in small packages too, and you can compare Richard Zybert’s 1981 photobook Notebook on Time to a small explosive charge. Notebook on Time is the story of Zybert coming to terms with his dysfunctional family and in particular with the legacy of... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen · The Black Box book is multimedia art…the book itself, the images, and the text. In the Afterword, Joanna Howard writes, “Black Box marries personal memoir with artistic retrospective of such a rich career.” The style of the book, the intimacy of the images, and the reality of the storyteller’s words... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega · Ulf Lundin’s Pictures of a Family first premiered as an exhibition in 1997. Fast forward to 2024, and Pictures of a Family is realized as a photo book. Consisting of 124 pages, of which 66 are photographs (64 color and 2 black and white), it’s an interesting look at photography... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega · Mark Alice Durant’s Summer of the White Fox, and After is a deeply personal and reflective memoir that interweaves themes of nature, illness, loss, and the passage of time. Written during a tumultuous period in Durant’s life, the book follows his encounters with a mysterious white fox, a severe health... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 