We are pleased that six reviews dealing with photography and our relationship with our environment are featured as a part of Ann Mitchell’s Showcase, THINKING ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, just published: https://www.thinkingaboutphotography.com/photobook-environment "Whether they journey to the world’s last truly wild places - or the wild spaces found outside their door, all these projects celebrate and honor... Continue Reading →
Zach Callahan – Exhaust
Review by Hans Hickerson · Looking at Zach Callahan’s photobook Exhaust, the three words that occurred to me were simple, focused, and convincing. Let me explain the simple part first. There are 36 color photographs, one to a page spread. Ten or so are portraits where the subject is engaging the photographer directly, and in... Continue Reading →
Jordanna Kalman – Index 2014-2024
Review by Brian Arnold · “Know yourself not your role, it’s hellishly hard.” Shere Hite When Shere Hite applied for a doctoral program at Columbia University, she wanted to study with acclaimed scholar Jacques Barzun. She was inspired by the elder scholar’s approach to history and was eager to learn from him. Unfortunately,... Continue Reading →
Wouter Vanhees – Against the Tide
Review by Hans Hickerson · Photobooks never cease to surprise me. The book is a versatile medium that can become so many things. Belgian photographer Wouter Vanhees’ Against the Tide goes down its own path, and the best way I can describe it is to say that it reads like a film-noir-inspired storyboard for a... Continue Reading →
Hans Hickerson – PhotoBook Journal Editor
Hans Hickerson, current Co-Editor of the PhotoBook Journal, will take over the helm of the magazine from retiring Editor Gerhard (Gerry) Clausing, who will stay on in a less-active role. Hickerson says that he looks forward to continuing the current mission of the PhotoBook Journal as established by founder and Editor Emeritus, Douglas Stockdale. Hans... Continue Reading →
Rian Dundon: Protest City
Review by Hans Hickerson · Having reviewed Rian Dundon’s recent photobook Passenger, I was curious to see his other books. I managed to get my hands on Changsha (2012, 2017) documenting his years in China, in black and white, full of movement, and trending dark and impressionistic, but this review is about another of Dundon’s... Continue Reading →
Beth Galton – COVID Diary
Review by Hans Hickerson · It is amazing how fast we have put COVID behind us. It seems like light-years ago today, but we were still emerging from it only three years ago in July of 2022, the date of the last entry in Beth Galton’s photobook COVID Diary. COVID changed everything, but you can... Continue Reading →
Gilbert McCarragher – Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House
Review by Steve Harp · I was a bit apprehensive about writing a review of Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House. While I’ve only seen one of Jarman’s films (Wittgenstein, 1993), I’ve become increasing interested in Jarman’s output as an artist. Not only a feature film director (11 released between 1976 – 1993), Jarman was also... Continue Reading →
Michael Rababy – american bachelor
Review by Hans Hickerson · One way to decide if a photobook is successful is if it gives you the experience of a different time and place, if it immerses you in its world – just like with a novel or film. Michael Rababy’s american bachelor works like that. Open it and go on a... Continue Reading →
Sophia Cutino – Diaries of a Wet Bird
Review by Lee Halvorsen · Cutino’s opening poem provides a deep philosophical foundation for experiencing her book and images. She looks at her images as artifacts of her life, describing the making, collecting, viewing. and presenting them as existential taxidermy, preserving each memory as an object, a moment preserved beyond its “expiration date.” She invites... Continue Reading →