The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Wayne Swanson • “Let’s go for a walk.” That might sound like a pleasant invitation, but in the Spain of dictator Francisco Franco, it was often a chilling euphemism for a death sentence. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and its aftermath, armed bands would round up people, take them to a remote... Continue Reading →
Review by Dan Johns and Douglas Stockdale • What transpires after one’s earthly passing? The earthly body ceases to function, but what of one’s spirit, essence, soul or other attributes attributed by various religions and faiths regarding the inner person? This is the concept behind Caleb Cain Marcus’s A Brief Moment After Death that visualizes what... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The Kris Graves Projects Lost series (currently Lost II, set of 20 books with slipcase) are regional investigations each by a photographer who calls it home; the book series is complementary and expanded on by the broader collective; how do you define a region (place), what does it really tell a... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook is a delightful symphony, a cinematic kaleidoscope, and all of that to present a dynamic portrait of a city. Eamonn Doyle has his roots in photography and painting, as well as in music creation and production, and this certainly has greatly enhanced this special work, which combines his... Continue Reading →
Martin Toft, Te Ahi Kā (2018) We have just passed by our second month as a magazine and launched Issue #2, which might also be considered a (newsletter-summary of what we have published this past month. As a subscriber, you get each book review hot off the press. As a new contemporary photobook magazine (yes, our... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • “. . . we went up to Mangapapapa to establish a place of wānanga for the river and it's many connections through whakapapa.” That neatly sums up Te Ahi Kā: The Fires of Occupation by photographer Martin Toft. But it takes quite a journey up the Whanganui River on the north... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • What is a museum? One brief definition is offered by Wikipedia; an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Then what is an imaginary museum? This is the subject of Julia Borissova’s recent photobook Nautilus. Borissova’s urban setting for... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook was more than ten years in the making, and it is an engrossing experience for the viewers as well. Pixy and Moro are a young couple somewhat less predictably matched, if one goes by social expectations – she is five years older than he is; she is of... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • As a college student in the early 1980s, I had my first opportunity to visit the beachfront area of Atlantic City, the coastal town in New Jersey that inspired the board game MONOPOLY. Being from California, I was familiar with West Coast beach scenes that included palm trees and attractive... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The foil embossed book cover with undulating lines of the type font appears as though it is shimmering in the humid heat provides a hint as to what lies within. The third image in Arturo Soto’s photobook, In the Heat, is a wonderful sublime urban landscape photograph of Panama that... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 