The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • One person’s nightmare is another person’s reality. Sometimes the two realms are connected in mysterious ways. Roger Ballen is certainly the great master of showing us the seemingly absurd that impinges on the everyday, and here we have another, even more complex journey into Ballen’s universe. This time there is... Continue Reading →
Review by Paul Anderson • Imagine approaching the rim of the Grand Canyon on a bright sunny day, and watching the stunning natural scenery unfold in front of you. In Thomas Kellner’s new photo book, The Big Picture, you can expect a similar experience as you unfold his massive panorama of the Grand Canyon, made up... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 25th Issue •We are now well into Spring and patiently waiting for Summer to enjoy the holidays as investigated by Ken Rosenthal's Days On the Mountains. Fingers crossed that this summer might be similar to our distant memories, unlike this past pandemic-haunted summer. We hope that one of the books we reviewed this past month will provide a tease... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Some artists are of their time. Others, like Swiss photographer René Groebli, transcend time. From the 1940s through the new millennium, he assembled a diverse and innovative body of work, often at odds with the conventions and expectations of the moment. The Magic Eye is the first retrospective look at the... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp • Among the many poetically posed, yet ambiguously explained, concepts found in the writings of the German essayist and cultural critic Walter Benjamin, one of the most provocative is that of the “optical unconscious.” Introduced in his 1931 essay “A Small History of Photography,” Benjamin compares photography “with its devices of... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Three street photographers and their three unique perspectives and shared interests; they came together in 2019 at the International Video Art Festival of Camagüey and this photographic book project resulted from that meeting and their time wandering the streets of Camagüey, a city on the island of Cuba. The book’s title, Camagüey, Camagüey, Camagüey subtlety... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • From time to time we wonder what life is all about. Special moments and places can intensify such musings, for instance, when we are looking at a wonder of nature, such as a giant gorge cut into a wild landscape – like a giant throat ready to consume us –... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • A densely packed urban environment can overwhelm the senses. The noisy buzz of activity, the jostling sea of humanity amidst a vast variety of aromas permeating the air. Can a single image effectively distill this urban chaos for a viewer? As an ardent street photographer, Ellen Friedlander found that one documentary style... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Here’s a question you may not have considered until now: What’s the connection between the social conventions of human gestures and the storing and reemergence of images, both in our minds as well as on film and analog photographic paper? Anja Manfredi has been the director of the Friedl Kubelka... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Phony patriotism. Vilifying the opposition. Demonizing outsiders. Sound familiar? The days of Making America Great Again may be over, at least for now, but the problem is international. Perhaps nowhere is the rise of nationalism, populism, and authoritarianism more of an issue than in Hungary under the regime of Viktor Orbán.... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 