The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Studying cultures is like conducting philological detective work with a palimpsest manuscript from the Middle Ages. New phenomena arise and mostly wipe out evidence from the past. So it is with the American cultural studies in this project by Rich-Joseph Facun. The original indigenous cultures of Ohio seem to have... Continue Reading →
Another year has gone by, so it’s time for us to present you with our new list of interesting photobooks. Our selections feature intriguing photographic content, brilliant project concepts, and excellent book designs that support the artist/photographer’s intent in conjunction with spot-on production qualities; the books that are the most interesting have a delightful combination... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman · A working class hero is something to be... They hurt you at home and they hit you at schoolThey hate you if you're clever, and they despise a foolTill you're so f**king crazy, you can't follow their rules… (*lyrics and music by John Lennon) If ever there were a soundtrack to accompany... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Ben Brody understands the chaos, absurdity, and surrealism of war. He was a combat photographer covering the United States’ involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, which resulted in his acclaimed photobook Attention Servicemember (reviewed here). His new book is an epilogue to that one, and a fitting way to sum up United States’ ill begotten... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Revisiting a place you have seen before is always full of many surprises. My wife and I have been to Athens a number of times and find the experience always exhilaratingly different; alas, as one would expect, even our relatives there are never quite the same as on the previous... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • In the spring of 1975, a budding photographer from Cheyenne, Wyoming, just 21 years old, checked in to a single-room occupancy hotel in Hollywood. During her three-month stay there she created portraits of her fellow residents that launched what would be a long and successful career. “All I had to do was... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • At times some of us feel a certain nostalgia and want to go back to our youth. We long to be boys or girls again, thinking that things were simpler in our youth. We imagine that life was more innocent and more harmonious than what we now face as adults.... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • What moment can be more appropriate than a major holiday to write about a book of 50+ years of photographs documenting the happenings at an iconic American mecca for folks living out their holiday fantasies? The beach and entertainment areas known as Coney Island are located at the southwestern tip of... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The tide comes in, the tide goes out We are on this earth temporarily And then, we are no more. Only the sirens, muses and heroes remain in liminal space. How does one elegize a dear friend? What might one write about a fellow writer? What could be the possible images... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The categories of genders and gender-related behaviors and preferences are not as binary as some would have us believe. According to Western psychology, we all have both male and female sides; either side can predominate or be more pronounced at times in individuals. The same is true of a variety... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 