The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In some respects, Germans believe in equal opportunity – they give credit to their parents for country and language: Vaterland is ‘fatherland’ and Muttersprache means ‘mother tongue.’ As history has shown, however, the term Vaterland carries a heavy burden, as it is associated with the sins and atrocities of the... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 24th Issue •Wow. It has been two years since we changed our book review format and had not anticipated all of the pending social, economic and health changes we would need to weather. Fortunately the COVID vaccines are here and are quickly being implemented in the United States as many become fully vaccinated (like me).... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Thana Faroq is not only a successful exiled woman from Yemen who found a new home in the Netherlands, she is also an excellent storyteller who uses her considerable photojournalistic talents to present us with a captivating account of the travails of age-old sojourns, once again taking place in our... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Depending on your point of view, the fine art and fashion photography of Juergen Teller is either “iconic” and “idiosyncratic” on the one hand, or “amateurish” and “ugly” on the other. So it should be no surprise that his approach to photographing architecture would be a bit out of the... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Sleep. A period of time that is an opportunity to refresh oneself and then to start a new day. During that time asleep, we may also dream, perhaps something delightful occurs or this evolves into a frightening experience. Frequently what is recalled upon wakening is a series of odd and mysterious... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The word vale can have a number of meanings. It can imply a farewell, a letting go of things that perhaps are unattainable or forever lost. Or, it can be a valley, a hidden place between hills or mountains that may not be so easy to get to or to... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • The cover of Mark Gill’s photobook The Airborne Toxic Event shows a solitary figure crossing an intersection dressed in a red, full-length hooded jacket wearing a mask, carrying a couple of tote bags and, oddly, wearing open-toed sandals. The man in red, as it turns out, is also the only... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Who was Bill Brandt? The simple answer is that he was one of the foremost 20thCentury British photographers. Yet he preferred to stay somewhere in the dark shadows of his work, and he remains a bit of a mystery today, almost 40 years after his death. During a career spanning... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Is ‘normal’ boring, is ‘unorthodox’ exciting? And what are YOUR definitions and expectations? In a way we are all performance artists. We present ourselves to the rest of the world in many forms and guises. To represent our style, to express particular personal meanings or beliefs and rituals – to... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Small towns, villages, rural areas – the ‘provinces’ – are the backbone of any country, and they always cover large areas. So it is in Poland, and the Dędeks, Jacenty and Kasia, spent more than six years capturing life as it was found there. Naturally, the result is a weighty... Continue Reading →
