The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Melanie Chapman • Let’s be honest, many of us are tired of the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to travel again, to socialize with friends and move freely through crowded spaces. We want to feel less scared about the future, to care for our sick, and be able to... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • An excellent portrait is one that transcends time and place and is able to reach us with eternal human truths. This is a difficult task, since many individuals wear their outer appearance and their facial expressions like masks that are difficult for photographers to penetrate. In the case of people... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • How might we ‘see’ the unseen, whether it is too microscopic to discern, moving too rapidly to distinguish or in the case of the root structure of trees and vegetation, buried out of sight? Likewise, how might we imagine something as indiscernible as moisture and water moving within a root structure... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Having recently reviewed the contemporary street photography of Allen Wheatcroft, Body Language, and also having heard about the controversy surrounding the work of Butturini, I was certainly curious to take a closer look at this photobook as well. The book is marked “Edited by Martin Parr” on the cover, and... Continue Reading →
Review by Paul Anderson • This photobook is full of mystery and angst, encompassing a very eclectic mix of ideas and images. Its essays and associated images address societal disconnect, fatal flaws, personal fears, wonder and mystery, and alternative or imagined views. Boville has gathered some very personal bodies of work and presented them in... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • One error in judgment, a lifetime of suffering … In this book, the courageous Hannah Kozak allows us to share her struggles with her mother who left her first husband and five children, including Hannah, for an abusive drinker who in a final blow caused her permanent injury, including brain... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp • I have long found the images of Vera Lutter among the most challenging and thought-provoking in contemporary photography. Lutter’s work is that rare combination of visually beautiful (sublime would be a better word), conceptually challenging (“good to think with,” to use Claude Levi-Strauss’ phrase) and continually surprising (perhaps odd, given the... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Planning a photobook and assembling all the images needed to tell your story is a process that can take years. Unless you’re Lukas Birk, who did it all in one day. Birk is an Austrian photographer, archivist, and publisher. He has travelled the world producing complex books and curatorial projects in... Continue Reading →
Review by Madhu Joseph John • Art book critics generally use criteria such as contents and caliber of images, layout, production niceties, such as quality of paper, design, and above all, the originality of the subject matter to analyze books they wish to review. In House Music, a photobook by Charles Rozier, many of these... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 16th Issue •Maybe one of the few bright spots during a pandemic is that there is a lot more time at home getting comfy and reading books. Nevertheless, the socio-economic issues continue to grow, especially in the United States, with the pandemic death rate continuing at an awful pace. All without any federal government leadership... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 