Review by Gerhard Clausing • I once wrote an essay comparing learning a new language being similar to moving to a new town, a journey to get to know some new paths to achieving reasonable goals. As an outsider coming to a new place, there is always much to learn and take in, and to... Continue Reading →
Adel Souto – Ad Removal as Modern Art
Review by Steve Harp • My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Percy Bysse Shelley, Ozymandias The first word that comes to mind to describe Adel... Continue Reading →
Michael von Graffenried – OUR TOWN
Review by Gerhard Clausing • New Bern, North Carolina, is certainly an interesting town of some 30,000 people. Named after Bern, Switzerland, it was founded in 1710 by an ancestor of the photographer. Both cities share the same bear figure as a coat of arms, with the American version lacking one anatomical detail. The internet... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal – Issue #30
Every year the Fall release of photobooks by publishers is a big event. They want to have their books ready for the holidays and itching to get on somebody's Top Ten book list for the year. With the COVID-19 pandemic this Fall's release is already a bit irregular. Boxes of books are on ships sitting in a port waiting... Continue Reading →
Friedlander First Fifty
Review by Darin Boville • Redmond O'Hanlon's basic writing strategy is to put himself in some remote and dangerous place and to write about how he overcame obstacle after obstacle to his very survival and found his way back. This is a strategy that will be familiar to many artists. Bill Bryson thinks the world of... Continue Reading →
Ugo La Pietra – Viaggio sul Reno 1974
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In these pandemic times, when some consider cruises and cruise ships risky leisure activities because of the sequestered environment participants are subject to (which, by the way, can also be an asset if viruses are absent because nothing new is introduced during the trip), it is heartening to see a... Continue Reading →
Emanuel Cederqvist – The Ditch
Review by Douglas Stockdale • War, conflict and then its aftermath can create terrible consequences for man-kind. But what if what occurs afterward is benign and seemingly without any drama? Could this justify the conflict or afford one the opportunity to ignore or look away? This appears to be the indirect question raised by Emanuel Cederqvist’s... Continue Reading →
Brian Rose – Monument Avenue (Corrected)
Review by Melanie Chapman • Timing is everything, as is perspective. This is true in photography as well as in life. Recently, the imposingly large statue of Robert E. Lee, the Civil War general who represented the racist past of the American south, was finally dismantled in just over an hour, after having dominated a residential... Continue Reading →
Nick Prideaux – 008
Review by Paul Anderson • In his work, Nick Prideaux investigates the quiet moments of life, working to illuminate the "delicate stillness" within them. He employs a Zen-like photographic style, providing a relaxing respite from this weary world. Prideaux’s images are simple and well composed, often containing either a single person or a glimpse of an... Continue Reading →
Duane Michals – The Idiots Delight – Plaisirs Ridicules
Review by Douglas Stockdale • It may not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Duane Michals extensive photographic career spanning 50+ years that he is visual storyteller with a wicked sense of humor. His latest photobook of visual puns, The Idiots Delight - Plaisirs Ridicules, is a brilliant concept and complemented by an... Continue Reading →