The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Hans Hickerson · Ismail Ferdous’ Sea Beach echoes Martin Parr’s seaside photographs. Both photographers have an alert eye for human forms and foibles, zeroing in and isolating telling details, with Ferdous favoring more straight-on views and Parr wittier, busier compositions. But you will never imagine you are looking at a Martin Parr book... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Looking at photobooks from well-established publishers can be disappointing. You often see safe editorial choices – large formats, cloth covers, premium printing, bankable names, portfolios laid out one picture to a spread and surrounded by expanses of white paper, and not much in the way of innovative form or content.... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega · Andrew Ward’s Sofas, Los Angeles is more than just a photobook—it’s a witty, poignant, and visually rich love letter to Los Angeles, told through the discarded sofas that populate its streets. This cloth-bound volume spans 280 pages, of which 260 are devoted to lush, color photographs, and with each plate... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen · On February 24, 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its neighbor and former ally. Byron Smith was there and for the rest of that year he immersed himself and his camera into the lives and the deaths and the hopes of the Ukrainian community. His mostly black and white... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • Between June 1972 and July 1973, Japanese street photographer Daido Moriyama produced the first five issues of his own magazine Kiroku (Record). In 2008, Moriyama resumed publication of Record with issue 6, and in 2017, Japanese cultural specialist Mark Holborn edited the first thirty issues of the photographer’s personal publication... Continue Reading →
Due to the immense number of new photobook publications, we felt the need to change how we accept book submissions. We are now asking you (Artist, Author, Photographer, Publisher, Publicist) to submit your photobook submission request directly to a book reviewer who is most aligned with your publication. Please submit to only one reviewer, otherwise... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson • Photography is a surprising medium. You think that everything has been done already, that you have seen it all, and – surprise – along comes something original. Who knew? Maybe it has been done before, but Adam Thorman’s photobook Creatures Found was a new one for me. What Thorman has... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson • Some photobooks document social, political, and cultural projects photographers undertake in their desire to do something beneficial and worthwhile, and the process and structure involved in such projects can in turn organize and shape the work of the photographer. French photographer Céline Levain was involved with female prisoners in two... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson • In Maria Elisa Ferraris’ Aqua we witness the wild, terrible, awesome, raw, relentless power of water. In 34 spectacular photographs it rises, falls, lifts, pushes, pounds, churns, heaves, hammers, roils, boils, breaks, surges, slams, crashes, smashes, thunders, roars, and rages. It comes at you and doesn’t stop. The images in... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson • Part of the fun of reviewing photobooks is getting under the hood and taking a book apart to see what makes it work. Sergey Bykov’s photobook After Us is a good candidate for a closer look, as it resists easy analysis. Or rather there is an obvious reading but then... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 