The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Steve Harp • When I was younger and traveled more frequently, some of my favorite places to photograph in foreign countries were grocery stores. The items on the shelves - daily staples of life - were recognizable but different: packaging, the numbering units for pricing and size, the product names. They were uncanny in the sense... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This large and colorful collection of images represents a fruitful intersection of fashion photography and fine art. Tim Walker is a joyful interpreter of contemporary culture; he intensifies interpretations of reality with surrealistic elements inspired by folklore and a creative and vivid imagination, resulting in a collection of scenes that... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Stacy Mehrfar’s dark book, The Moon Belongs to Everyone, recently published by GOST Books is unsettlingly, and I believe deservedly so. Even the book’s title is a bit vexing, a generalization for all mankind but hints at moonlight and things that might go bump in the night. That night with its limited visibility... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • We all know Cuba as that land of classic but disintegrating American cars, Fidel Castro, cigar-making and smoking, the evils of communism, classic but crumbling architecture, and béisbol. Yet all of these stereotypes are centered on the nation’s few urban centers. In reality, 85% of Cuba is rural. “Cuba was from its dawn... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Spending time with this photobook has some consequences, in spite of the title, which is probably somewhat facetious. What is street photography? What are the implications of observing a photographer’s street observations? And perhaps even more important, what is the photographer’s intent, and what is the viewer’s response to all... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The 2018 dreamy lyrics of ‘When the Ocean Drinks the Sky’ from Lord Huron’s song ‘When the Night is Over’ has inspired a number of artists, most recently when appropriated by Stephanie Duprie Routh’s first photobook. Her modification of the lyrics, changing the 'When', signifying time, to 'Where', is to change the... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 31st Issue • We are in the midst of the Fall releases and there is still some logistical chaos here in the U.S., with some publisher (& author/photographer) angst. Regretfully all of this is probably going to lead to some price increases for photobooks (actually all books of every kind and sort). For October we... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Lucky are those who have a group of friends from their childhood that they can still count on way into their later years as adults. And they are even more fortunate if they have a talented photographer whose astute observations keep track of things over all that time. Naturally, such... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • This small booklet, aka a zine, is the third of a series published by the Societe Jersiasise Photographic Archive, under the Editions Emile imprint, that investigates their photographic collection, founded by Emile F. Guiton focused on the Channel island of Jersey. For context, Jersey is located in the English Channel between... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • This photobook is an interesting unbound catalog as a follow-up of the exhibition of the same name that occurred at FOTODOK, Utrecht, Netherlands, from November 2020 through February 2021. An exhibition that became more complicated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This publication also calls into question as to what is an... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 