The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Copyright Pierre Bessard 2009 courtesy of the artist When I received the note from Pierre Bessard regarding his "Corporate" photobook, I was intrigued that his subject was an industrial landscape of a specific facility in China. I was even more impressed with this photobook after I unwrapped it. This was not only a very handsome linen wrapped hardcover book, but... Continue Reading →
Copyright Ed Ruscha 2008 published by Steidl I have been aware of Ed Rucha’s self-published photographic books for many, many years, but due to very small production runs and subsequent rarity, these books have been very elusive. It was a pleasure to find this retrospective catalog providing a broad selection of the interior images from... Continue Reading →
Copyright Robert Kalman, 2009 self-published, courtesy of the artist The legality of who can marry or co-habitat with whom is an ongoing issue that can find its roots in China’s Tang dynasty in 836 AD and at one time or another in India, France, Israel, Malaysia, Spain, Germany and the United States . The issue... Continue Reading →
Copyright Benoit Grimalt 2009, courtesy Les Editons Poursuite How do you try to connect with someone whom you have never met, only recently learned about and who is already deceased. This is a person with whom you will never meet and subsequently not have a personal relationship with? Yet your curiosity is whetted enough that... Continue Reading →
Copyright Greg Friedler, (1970 - 2015) 2008 courtesy W.W. Norton & Co. Friedler’s fourth book in his Naked series is Naked Las Vegas. Earlier Friedler had published Naked New York, Naked Los Angeles, and Naked London. His three preceding books are photographed in black and white while Friedler thought that photographing in color was very... Continue Reading →
From Flying Pictures by Daniel Gordon, 2009 published by powerHouse Books Daedalus with his son Icarus had to flee Crete and the solution to their problem was the wings that Daedalus fashioned to allow them to safely fly to freedom. Nevertheless, Daedalus had to admonish his son Icarus to not fly too close to the sun,... Continue Reading →
Copyright Lewis Koch 2009 courtesy Lewis Koch & Borderland Books The subtitle to Lewis Koch’s Touchless Automatic Wonder is “Found text photographs from the real world”. There is no doubt that Koch is attuned to the abundant text that we swim through on a daily basis, to notice those juxtapositions that naturally occur, or with... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Inside the window is a beautiful wedding dress, but this simple window is framed by a neutral toned cinderblock and wood wall with an exposed adjacent electrical box. The surrounding ground is a patchwork of grass and dirt, with a barren tree lurking on the edges of the fame. This... Continue Reading →
Copyright of Per Englund, 2009 courtesy of Per Englund and Dokument Press Per Englund spent a couple of summers photographing Cape Town, South Africa and his photobook Life Geos On provides an investigation of the urban cultural landscape paired with a gritty introspection of the social scene. The book’s subtitle Snapshots from Cape Town, infers... Continue Reading →
Copyright Hiroshi Watanabe 2010, courtesy Hiroshi Watanabe and Toesi-sha Publishing On first viewing of Hiroshi Watanabe’s Love Point I find his studio portraits beautiful and aesthetically wonderful with a mysterious charm. Watanabe’s photographic studio portraits appear somehow familiar. The black & white photographs are formal and stylistically similar to his previously published work; Kabuki Players (actors in costume), Noh... Continue Reading →
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