Copyright Dan Nelken, 2008, courtesy Kehrer Verlag Dan Nelken’s Till the Cows Come Home, is a culmination of nine years photographing county fairs in the rural NorthEast region of the United States. His project evolved into creating moving portraits of the farming participants, especially the youth and the animals that they raised. Not shown are... Continue Reading →
Jerry Burchfield – Primal Images
Copyright Jerry Burchfield, 2004 courtesy Laguna Wilderness Press I am very fascinated by the photographic prints created by Jerry Burchfield (1949 - 2009) for his two recent books, Primal Images: 100 Lumen Prints of the Amazonia Flora, published in 2004 by Laguna Wilderness Press and subsequently Understory, published this year (2009) also by Laguna Wilderness Press. Burchfield... Continue Reading →
Debra Bloomfield – Still
Copyright Debra Bloomfield, 2008 courtesy Chronicle Books The subject of Debra Bloomfields latest book, Still, published in 2008 by Chronicle Books, is a series of oceanscapes; composed of part ocean and part sky with a horizon somewhere in between. Which is also to say that she treads softly on the edge of sentimentality and cliché.... Continue Reading →
Candida Höfer – Libraries
Copyright 2005, Candida Höfer courtesy Schrimer/Mosel Verlag I like libraries. I like the smell of books; old leather covers or the fresh ink recently laid on new sheets. I like to wonder along the library isles among the towering columns of books, getting lost physically and in thought. And I am a photobook collector with a... Continue Reading →
Recent International Book Awards – June 2009
I am getting caught up on other book publishing news and I want to pass along two recent international book awards. The Europena Publishers Award went to Klavdij Sluban, a French photographer, and the Award guarantees that his project 'East to East' will now be published in book form. So we look forward to seeing it probably sometime... Continue Reading →
David Maisel – Library of Dust
Photographs copyright of David Maisel courtesy of Chronicle Books As a designer, principally developing sterile barrier systems for medical products, it was jarring for me to see David Maisel’s photographs from his recent book, Library of Dust. Seeing containers in these deplorable conditions is the stuff of nightmares for me. So I see his photographic content in a... Continue Reading →
Darius Himes – Photography.Book.Now
I had an opportunity recently to discuss with Darius Himes, co-founder and editor of Radius Books, about his role as lead judge for Blurb's Photography.Book.Now contest. The deadline for entries is July 16, 2009. DS Darius, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to discuss your involvement with Blurb's Photography.Book.Now competition. This is your... Continue Reading →
Roger Ballen – Boarding House
Copyright Roger Ballen, 2008, courtesy Phaidon Press For most of the photobooks I review, they usually are stand alone books, but I feel that Roger Ballen's recent book Boarding House needs to be placed into a larger perspective. Specifically to the content of his two previous books, Shadow Chamber, published in 2005 and Outland, published in 2001, both by Phaidon Press. Otherwise, it feels... Continue Reading →
The PhotoBook on Facebook
At the urging of Andy Adams of Flak Photo, I am experimenting with Facebook and I now have a fan page set up here for The PhotoBook. To be honest, I am not sure how this will work out, but I am willing to give it a try. As you might guess, I have not been a Facebook user... Continue Reading →
Graciela Iturbide – El Bano de Frida Kahlo
Copyright Garciela Iturbide, 2008 courtesy ROSEGALLERY This an interesting little book, perhaps two books within one set of covers, a fictional story, complemented by a related photographic body of work. The fictional story is written by Mario Bellatin, titled Demerol, Without Expiration Date and is about the "recent" artistic work being completed by Frida Kahlo. Except of course that Kahlo... Continue Reading →