The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · The concepts of both space and place are widely used in our vernacular. Both are also often used in photographic projects drawing on the documentary and landscape traditions of the field. However, while the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, the distinctions between the two are instructive when deployed analytically... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook is the fourth volume of Nick Brandt’s epic series The Day May Break, and presents its most urgent and intimate chapter yet. Brandt turns his focus toward one of the most extreme settings of climate and humanitarian crisis: the arid deserts of Jordan, where displaced Syrian families navigate... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Photography is a medium, a tool. There are many ways to use it, and you do not have to be interested in pursuing photography’s traditional concerns to use it effectively. Charlotte Dumas’ photobook A Terra is a good example of this. She uses photographs to explore and present a topic... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Spending extended time somewhere, getting to know the locals, participating in the community and earning its trust is a tried-and-true approach to completing a photography project and turning it into a book. Nadia Sablin’s Years Like Water is a particularly successful example of this. Like similar books, hers connects us... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · On the one hand, many people define cities as the sum of their innovative minds, cultural milieu, and the enterprising spirit that seems to emanate from a place. Another line of insight into the nature of cities concerns the interpretation of their becoming. As historians and cultural geographers have... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian Arnold · Pres-tige /pre ste(d)ZH Noun Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something based on perception of their achievements or qualities John Cutter, one of the principal characters in Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film The Prestige, tells us there are three basic acts composing any magic trick. The first is called... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian F. O’Neill North North South is Iranian American photographer Ayda Gragossian’s first major monograph, published in July of 2025 by London based GOST books. In it, Gragossian takes the viewer on a walk through the back alleys and side streets on a kind of tour of Los Angeles. While the 52 images... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When you first hold this large loose-leaf book project in your hands, the sheer impact of its size and its images is overwhelming. We get that same feeling when we are overwhelmed by incessant appeals on all our “entertainment” media which are our constant companions – on phones, television, etc.... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Julia Mejnertsen’s HUN explores nature, hunting, and the mother / daughter relationship. They are interconnected in the book because Mejnertsen’s mother is an avid hunter. Interestingly, Mejnertsen’s mother appears blind to the moral dilemma of killing animals, including a threatened species such as the African elephant. For her mother, discovering... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Time travel is possible via photos, at least time travel of the mental sort. Photographs from a specific time and place are still there, frozen where and when they were made. With a little imagination you can enter their world, especially when they are packaged as thoughtfully as those in... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 