The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • As we know from Shakespeare, “all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” The ‘merely’ is to remind us that even the most powerful political actors, who can affect our lives greatly between their entrances and exits, are all subject to final curtains. We also... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • After moving to Southern California and adapting to the zone system for my natural black and white landscape photography, Imogen Cunningham as a result of her affiliation with the West Coast Group f/64 was already legendary. She was well known for her botanicals, nudes, and portraits, as well as a... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • The deprivation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic knows no bounds. Consider the plight of the Los Angeles jet set. Boutiques on Rodeo Drive shuttered. Beverly Hills Hotel and Chateau Marmont deserted. Even their jets at LAX grounded and shrink-wrapped for freshness until the crisis is over. Those are the scenes... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The cover photograph of a book can provide a visual hint of what is yet to come. A vexing book title can add mystery and intrigue. What appears to be an 1800s wet-plate collodion photograph of a woman holding a banner in front of a painted tableaux seems to falter... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • “Beautiful, interesting… and sometimes cruel.” If Robert Frank had played in a punk rock band, how would that have influenced his work? What kind of images would he have made? Luckily, we have Tatsuo Suzuki’s new photobook Friction/Tokyo Street to answer that question. Wow. What an exciting book! One cannot... Continue Reading →
Vail, Winter, Fallen Branch copyright 2018 Douglas Stockdale The holidays are upon us with Hanukkah beginning on sundown this evening. Shortly thereafter and quickly approaching are Christmas Eve and Day, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and finally New Years Eve to end 2020. What a year it's been and it ain’t over yet. Then we enjoy New Year’s Day to start 2021 with renewed... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • My wife’s opinion about this book is that it “brilliantly captures the spirit of California and should be on every coffee table.” Well, there you have it, I thought, why do a whole book review? But I know what our dedicated audience expects and what our editorial policy requires, so... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • There’s nothing to see here. Yet photographer, artist, and photobook publisher Andy Burgess presents a captivating collection of images that remind us of what once was. Signs of Nothing delivers just what the title says — images of empty signs that once beckoned us to stores, motels, gas stations, restaurants,... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The title of this magnificently photographed and beautifully printed photobook is drawn from a poem by Yeats that claims that while humans are afraid of death and look forward to an afterlife, non-human creatures do neither, i.e., the supposition is that ‘animals’ do not dread death nor hope for something... Continue Reading →
Kathleen Y. Clark - The White House China Welcome to our 20th and our annual Interesting Books for 2020 Issue •This month is the big reveal of our annual list of Interesting Artist and Photographic Books for 2020. This is not intended to be a list of “Best” books or inclusive of all that was published this year. Rather, we considered whether the concept, photographic... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 