Review by Melanie Chapman • Escape is on the minds of many people these days, now that we are in various stages of “Stay at Home” efforts to reduce the spread of a global pandemic. As warmer weather approaches, fantasies of trips to the beach have been curtailed by a reality that few could have... Continue Reading →
Fabio Ponzio – East of Nowhere
Review by Steve Harp • It’s more than a little unsettling to characterize a book which can be described - in the words of its creator - as a “succession of dark days” as lovely. But that’s the first word that comes to mind in looking through Fabio Ponzio’s East of Nowhere. There is a... Continue Reading →
Jodie Hulden – Left Behind
Review by Wayne Swanson • Bodie, that 19th-century gold rush ghost town in the California hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, has been a theme park for photographers for years. Everyone from Ansel Adams down to Mom, Dad, and the kids with their point-and-shoots has captured the picturesque “arrested decay” of what is now... Continue Reading →
Jacob Loewentheil – The Psychological Portrait: Marcel Sternberger’s Revelations in Photography
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Once in a while one makes a truly surprising discovery: the work of Marcel Sternberger certainly fits that category. Iconic portraits of 20th century luminaries, depictions that were relatively unknown for many decades, have now been unearthed from his archive, thanks to the work of Jacob and Stephan Loewentheil of... Continue Reading →
Ralph Eugene Meatyard – Stages For Being
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The late Ralph Eugene (Gene) Meatyard, 1925 – 1972, was an optician whose personal artistic quest has had an extended impact on contemporary photography. In 1972, at the time of Meatyard’s passing, my personal interest in the creative aspects of photography were just beginning to take shape. At that time,... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal – Issue #13
Welcome to our 13th Issue; We continue our quarantine mode during the days of COVID-19. This month we have another diverse selection of photobooks, ranging from Australia conceptual landscapes, the genre of the nude, one painted and the other investigating athleticism, as well as two narratives on the concept of dust, WWII reimagined, and a conceptual contemplation... Continue Reading →
Jonathan Blaustein – Extinction Party
Review by Wayne Swanson • Anyone who has put in time on the portfolio review circuit has probably encountered Jonathan Blaustein. He’s that rather intense reviewer with the moustache and goatee who is never at a loss for words, and always quick with a thumbs up or down on your work. He’s also the guy you... Continue Reading →
David Pace & Stephen Wirtz – Images in Transition
Review by Paul Anderson • Images in Transition, Wirephotos 1938 - 1945 presents artistic interpretations of wartime wirephotos from the second world war. Wirephoto technology was used to transmit black and white photographs from the war-front back to media centers, in this case located in the United States. Stephen Wirtz collected these wirephotos, and at the... Continue Reading →
Steve McCurry – Animals
Review by Gerhard Clausing • We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. – Immanuel Kant • Everyone photographs animals, but very few do it well. While we can capture cute expressions of our pets, to understand and depict our fellow creatures from a more comprehensive perspective and with all... Continue Reading →
Florian Schwarz – A Handful of Dust
Review by Wayne Swanson • German photographer Florian Schwarz takes on the entire universe in his new book A Handful of Dust. Schwarz spent four years traveling to observatories in some of the most remote places on Earth. These observatories, operated by the Las Cumbres Observatory Foundation (LOC) in Santa Barbara, span the globe to allow... Continue Reading →