The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Douglas Stockdale • I may not be a relationship expert, but I highly suspect that stating the reason for another person to stay in a relationship is that otherwise if they left all of the plants would die may not be the most enticing of rationales. The book’s title appears to be a retrospective... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 34th Issue • This is our first Issue for 2022 that includes a review of Ken Light's Course of the Empire and Peter Puklus's The Hero Mother. How to Build a House, both of which are featured in our Interesting Artist and Photobooks for 2021. Please enjoy Douglas StockdaleSenior Editor ____ Books featured in January 2022: Ken Light - Course of the Empire Perhaps... Continue Reading →
Reviewed by Steve Harp • North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) seems in many ways as distant and inaccessible – to Americans, at least – as the moon. And like the moon, I have long had a kind of ambivalent desire to experience it first-hand. A desire, that is, as long as it is unlikely. Should... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 32nd Issue • As the month of November draws to a close, we begin our holiday season with the start of Hanukkah and our staff picks for our list of "Interesting Artist and PhotoBooks for 2021." I think that this list is diverse as ever and it is not meant to be the "Best" photobooks for the year (although many... Continue Reading →
Every year the Fall release of photobooks by publishers is a big event. They want to have their books ready for the holidays and itching to get on somebody's Top Ten book list for the year. With the COVID-19 pandemic this Fall's release is already a bit irregular. Boxes of books are on ships sitting in a port waiting... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • Catherine Opie epitomizes what it means to be a prolific artist as Phaidon’s recent release, Catherine Opie aptly showcases. It is a handsome hardcover book of 338 pages of which 300 are of images, including 6 gatefolds. Additionally, there is an introductory essay, and three additional essays serving as lead-ins to the chapters,... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Earlier this year, we lost a photographic artist with a truly unique vision when Paula Riff succumbed to cancer. Yet this diminutive Los Angeles artist with an outsized personality left us with a beautiful gift, finished just months before her death. Paula Riff: works on paper, like the artist herself, is... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • This book is part retrospective with an autobiography about the early phase of Neil Folberg’s long photographic career, and part portfolio for early unpublished body of work. As an interesting combination of biography and portfolio, it is front-loaded with his personal reflections on his career change to photography while studying at... Continue Reading →
Front Cover, Blue Bar Rear cover, Blue Bar Review by Douglas Stockdale • The humidity and occasional fog derived by the proximity of a river can create beautifully dreamlike conditions or provide a mysterious backdrop for a creepy event. Between these these two polar opposites is a low-contrast environment that elicits a kind of gloominess,... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • With its familiar yellow-and-black color scheme and blocky cover design, A Small Guide to Homeownership appears to be just another addition to the shelves of “For-Dummies” how-to books. And with a table of contents featuring chapters that progress from “Home Sweet Home: Still the Best Investment You Will Ever Make” to “Protecting Yourself... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 