The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Copyright Chris Coekin 2011 published by Walkout Books The background story on the industrial setting for Chris Coekin’s The Altogeher is a UK factory that began manufacturing copper wire over one hundred and fifty years ago in 1834. Recently the factory was shut down in conjunction with the laying-off of all the employees. Coekin has... Continue Reading →
photographs copyright 2012 Ron Jude, published by MACK On the surface, this photobook is Ron Jude’s narrative about the work and identity of an animal trapper near Lick Creek, Somewhere in the Western United States. The story that slowly emerges is an investigation into cultural and environmental change and the resulting conflict between old traditions... Continue Reading →
Copyright Charlotte Dumas 2011 published by FantomBooks The animal portrait photographs by Charlotte Dumas for her photobook Al Lavoro! (At Work!) are of dogs at their places of “work." The book investigates how might “work” be defined for an animal, as surely we can speculate that these dogs might not define this “work” in the... Continue Reading →
Copyright Christian Patterson 2011 published by MACK This photobook is Christian Patterson’s retelling of the murder spree of a psychopath, Charles Starkweather, and his young girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, that occurred in late 1958 and early 1959. As elegantly described by Luc Sante “(Patterson) followed Starkweather and Fugate’s trail, visiting all the places where they... Continue Reading →
Copyright Michal Chelbin 2010 published by Twin Palms Publishers Wrestling is a sport requiring intense exertion with direct and intimate contact between two opponents. This is not the wrestling entertainment common to late night television, but an athletic sport that harkens back to the first Olympic Games conducted in Greece. Two individuals grapple together, each... Continue Reading →
Copyright Pieter Hugo 2011 published by Prestel Verlag Pieter Hugo observes and photographs workers toiling in debris fields for the recycling of technology trash. I read this as an elegant ecological criticism of the one of many underlying issues that surrounds technology; the dizzying pace of obsolensces. The toxic nature of the technology discards has... Continue Reading →
copyright Kendall Messick 2010 published by Princeton Architectual Press Over a period of years Kendall Messick employed a documentary style to photograph the life of a retired movie projectionist; Gordon Brinckle (1915 – 2007). This is also an investigation into personal identity, when one becomes so consumed with their profession work, that they re-create a similar workplace at home.... Continue Reading →
Copyright Andy Freeberg 2009 published by photolucida This is an investigation about women who are docents and guardians of artworks, whose job is to provide mute testimony as to the importance of the adjacent art works. There is universality to this project in which the actual location, even thought these art museums are located the... Continue Reading →
Copyright Nina Poppe 2011 published by Kehrer Verlag Nina Poppe spent time on the coast of Japan investigating the commercial work of Japanese women who “free dive” in the pursuit of abalone, a type of sea-snail. These abalone hunters, known as “ama-san”, the majority of which are women, typify an aging Japanese profession. They dive... Continue Reading →
Copyright Lina Pallotta 1999 self-published Piedras Negras (Black Stone) is a Mexican border town situated adjacent to Texas and Southwest of San Antonio. Similar to other border towns, Piedras Negras has an economic zone called a maquiladoras, where manufacturing operations are performed for U.S. companies. The Maquiladoras exist to take advantage of the lower wages paid to Mexican workers... Continue Reading →
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