The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Wayne Swanson • While it’s officially spring on the calendar, snow is making its last stand in many places around the world. But what if it were the last stand ever? In places like the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, that tiny European country surrounded by Belgium, Germany, and France, climate change is quickly making... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • When offered the opportunity to review Magnum’s new collection of Street Photography, I was giddy with anticipation. As a fan of spontaneous and un-posed imagery, I looked forward to revisiting classic examples of street photography from founding/early Magnum members such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliot Erwitt, and then tracing their... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • The allure of air travel seems a distant memory in our current era of long lines, invasive security checks, and packed flights. Yet airports, when considered through the eyes of a photographer rather than a harried traveler, can be captivating places. Longtime Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert is drawn to them. “The... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • When one picks up this new photobook by Liam Wong and starts to peruse its pages, one immediately recognizes it to be unique and out of the ordinary. The project disrupts the traditional photobook paradigm with its liberal use of colored pages to host images, while the text portions throughout... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Traditional family photo albums and internet visuals of families are commonplace, often full of clichés and mostly of use only to those appearing in the photographs and possibly their closest relatives and friends. On the other hand, to see family members and friends professionally observed in formal portraits, with full... Continue Reading →
Book review by Steve Harp • Good Days Quiet, Robert Frank’s final book – or the final book he would have made editorial contribution to – continues the series of books published by Steidl “organizing” Frank’s archives in the twilight of his career. Subtitled “memories from Robert” the book alternates photographs (interior and exterior) of... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In our age of ubiquitous selfies and “mixed media” it is refreshing to review the work of an artist who is truly a pioneer in the area of visual self-evaluation with artistic purposes. With a strong background in painting, a fearless approach to self-assessment, and a love for language, Bea... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp • Each photograph in Christian Michael Filardo’s Gerontion is a puzzle, a mystery, an enigma. Gerontion takes its title from a poem of the same name by T. S. Eliot, first published in 1920. The poem is the monologue by an elderly (“gerontic”) man expressing his thoughts on Europe after the First World... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 11th issue • Happy Valentine’s month, and here are some of the books we love. We have another diverse photobook edition for your enjoyment. We welcome Lodoe-Laura Haines-Wangda as a guest contributor who reviewed Zora Murff’s photobook, which was selected as the winner of the Independently Published category for the Lucie Foundation... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Mélaina cholé in the ancient Hippocratic medical approach to the body represented black bile, one of the “humors” or vital bodily fluids, generated by the archetype of the earth, a fluid that was thought to cause problems when in excess. One can indeed observe that when things go wrong and... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 