The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Hans Hickerson · It is amazing how fast we have put COVID behind us. It seems like light-years ago today, but we were still emerging from it only three years ago in July of 2022, the date of the last entry in Beth Galton’s photobook COVID Diary. COVID changed everything, but you can... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp · I was a bit apprehensive about writing a review of Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House. While I’ve only seen one of Jarman’s films (Wittgenstein, 1993), I’ve become increasing interested in Jarman’s output as an artist. Not only a feature film director (11 released between 1976 – 1993), Jarman was also... Continue Reading →
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 →
PhotoBook Journal 