Review by Douglas Stockdale • Working in a very technical area for my day-job I have become very familiar with on-the-job training, educational manuals, and health & safety bulletins that stress environmental awareness. I will admit that it was not until reading Louie Palu’s A Field Guide to Asbestos did the immense danger of asbestos really... Continue Reading →
Maria Thereza Alves – Recipes for Survival
Review by Wayne Swanson • Let us now praise Maria Thereza Alves. Over the past four decades, this Brazilian-born artist, social activist, and documentarian has established an international reputation as a champion for social justice. In 1983, however, she was just a 21-year-old junior studying photography at Cooper Union in New York City who decided... Continue Reading →
Steve Dzerigian – Trail of Stones
Guest review by Madhu John • In essence, this book is an autobiography of an artist, a dedicated teacher and a studiously creative photographer tracing a rich eventful journey through a wide variety of striking images and illuminating prose. In this age of the ubiquitous camera wielded by every mother, son and daughter, why, you... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal – Issue #4
Welcome to our Fourth Issue • Ah, the summer months are really here and time for holidays and vacations. The temperature has finally become a little hotter here in Southern California, getting past our May-Gray and June-Gloom, the endless days of overcast grayness with the accompanying cooler temperatures, and this year even some rain showers... Continue Reading →
Brenda Ann Kenneally – UPSTATE GIRLS
Review by Melanie Chapman • “A magnum opus project spanning 14 years, UPSTATE GIRLS documents’ the troubles and triumphs of a group of friends and their extended families in upstate New York.” For many years now, I have indulged in two great passions. One is photography, the other is what I jokingly refer to as... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal interview – Elizabeth Avedon
Elizabeth Avedon, a conversation with Douglas Stockdale • Elizabeth Avedon, independent curator / photo book and exhibition designer, including the retrospective exhibition and books: “Avedon: 1949–1979” for the Metropolitan Museum of Art; “Avedon: In the American West” for the Amon Carter Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. ___________________________ I... Continue Reading →
Nathan Lyons – In Pursuit of Magic
Review by Wayne Swanson • Are you fluent in photography? Not f-stops and apertures. Not representational or abstract, fine art or documentary. Not Ansel or Robert Adams. Rather, do you understand the visual language of photography? For the late Nathan Lyons (1930 – 2016), the world was “a vast repertoire of signs that await being... Continue Reading →
Albarran Cabrera – Remembering the Future
Review by Douglas Stockdale • In their introduction the Albarran Cabrera partnership expand on the premise of mankind’s thinking about our inability to accurately recall past memory as a potential way to consider future memories. As humans we are unique in our ability to plan ahead and that the forward-thinking process is probably as flawed... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal – Issue #3
For June, Issue #3, we feature a broad spectrum of photobooks: photo-documentary, conflict aftermath, introspective look at what is home, conceptual investigations and artistic interpretations. I suspect that there is something for just about everyone as we attempt to examine a cross-current of contemporary photographic books available today. Our NEWS article is highlighting a new left coast... Continue Reading →
Karianne Bueno – Doug’s Cabin
Review by Wayne Swanson • It’s not easy to find Doug’s cabin. Or Doug himself, for that matter. Doug lives deep in the rainforest at the remote northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. He’s the proprietor of the San Josef Heritage Park and Campground, a grand name for a struggling collection of primitive campsites. He’s a... Continue Reading →