I just wanted to provide a very quick update on the ongoing crowd-sourcing discussion about the Future of PhotoBooks being moderated by Miki Johnson on the Resolve blog, in which I provided my thoughts about The Future of PhotoBooks. I have provided a follow-up on The PhotoBook for the Innovative PhotoBooks for 2009 that I reviewed. To date on the... Continue Reading →
August Sander – Face of Our Time
Copyright of the Estate of August Sander, 2003 courtesy Schirmer Mosel Verlag In 1929 August Sander (1876 – 1964), a German portrait photographer published his first book Antlitz der Zeit (Face of Our Time) by Kurt Wolff Verlag with an essay by the German writer Alfred Doblin. This famous book was re-issued by Schirmer Mosel... Continue Reading →
Riitta Paivalainen – Imaginary Meetings
Copyright Riitta Paivalainen, 2009 courtesy Kehrer Verlag In Imaginary Meetings, the eight year retrospective of the young Finnish photographer Riitta Paivalainen, I have found some very delightful and thoughtful conceptual photographs. This book is an accumulation of a number of projects that Paivalainen has created, building on a similar theme utilizing similar subjects, advancing her ideas... Continue Reading →
Jim Goldberg – Open See
Copyright Jim Goldberg 2009 courtesy Steidl Reviewing Jim Goldberg’s photobook Open See, published this year by Steidl, it may be initially a stretch to think of this body of work coming from the Magnum photographic agency as a photojournalist project. In more than one way it is difficult to think of this body of... Continue Reading →
Harry Cock – Omstreken
Copyright Harry Cock 2006, courtesy Stichting Fotografie Noorderlicht Omstreken (Environs) is the title for the twenty-five year retrospective of Dutch photojournalist Harry Cock. The Dutch word is used to indicate the area and localities that are surrounding you, a fitting description of the territory for Cock’s focus. Similar to Gunnar Smoliansky who photographed his local Swedish surroundings for the... Continue Reading →
Stefan Heyne – The Noise
Photographs copyright of Stefan Heyne 2009, courtesy of Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg The title of Stefan Heyne’s recent photobook “The Noise; The Exposure of the Uncertain” is perplexing. The three accompanying essays that have translated from the original German to English only provide a little assistance. In an attempt to understand the accompanying photographs, I am digressing... Continue Reading →
Recommended PhotoBooks in 2009
I have been thinking about my list of Best PhotoBooks for 2009, and I am in sort of a quandary. The implication is that this list would be for the books that were published in 2009, but the fact is that many interesting books published in 2008 took a while before I could acquire them. And I have... Continue Reading →
Innovative photobook designs this year
Copyright Todd Oldham, Bedrock City, 2008, courtesy AMMO books I have been thinking about Joerg Colberg's post about a lack of "cutting edge" photobooks, while I am working on my list of best photobooks in 2009. Joerg states "...there isn't much of a variety in photo books...the format itself is so conservative". I think that for... Continue Reading →
Hisashi Shimizu – Portraits of Silence
Copyright Hisashi Shimizu 2009, courtesy photo-eye & Kodansha On the surface, the subjects of Hisashi Shimizu’s book Portraits of Silence are soldiers who perished during the Iraq conflict, indirect portraits developed from the perspective of the soldier’s parents. But Portraits of Silence is also about the desire to maintain the memory of a beloved, and... Continue Reading →
Christopher Thomas – New York Sleeps
Copyright Christopher Thomas 2009, courtesy of Prestel Verlag When I recently shared my thoughts about the future of photobooks when looking out another 10 years, I can not imagine at the moment an electronic version that would be capable of simulating the feel of a wonderful photobook lying in my hands. Christopher Thomas’s recent book... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 