The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Douglas Stockdale • This is a collective body of work by the husband and wife team of Deanna and Ed Templeton that investigates their upper middle class Southern California neighborhood. Their Huntington Beach (HB) neighborhood is also not far from my residence/studio in Orange County and appears somewhat similar, except for their... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Lorena Turner provides an emotional complex personal narrative in her self-published photobook A Habit of Self Deceit. She reveals her lasting emotional trauma sustained during her youth from her alcoholic mother and now after many years, the futility to obtain reconciliation due to her mother’s steady memory decline as a... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Scot Sothern has an extensive record photographing and publishing provocative portraits and scenes. In an interview published in Vice (UK) in 2012, he stated in connection with his book featuring prostitutes, “I hope the book makes the viewer pause and think about the implications of the work; the fucked-up-ness people... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • For better or worse. The marriage vows which can only hint at future possibilities. We are all usually happy about the “better“ events and there is not much to complain about. It’s the “worse” events and conditions that are an unknown and can become ominous. What defines “worse” is also... Continue Reading →
Review by Kristin Dittrich • "The places where life works – that is not where we photographed," comments Ute and Werner Mahler, one of the most famous living artist photographer couple in Germany. Over a period of three years, they travelled to more than 100 small towns to take portraits of young people, architecture, and... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • Having recently attended a panel discussion on the topic of Photo-books, this reviewer was reminded of the value of having access to a photographer’s work within reach, available to visit and revisit whenever the mood occurs. To hold a book in one’s hands, to turn the pages at the pace... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Food. For some a real love - hate relationship. For others it's just basic fuel to keep the carbon bio-mass moving that day. It's a complex subject with volumes written about it each year; from describing the preparation of complex epicurean delights to the many ways to manage a diet... Continue Reading →
The Panel: Khodr Cherri, Aline Smithson, Douglas Stockdale, Dotan Saguy, and Richard S. Chow - Photo © Gerhard Clausing In spite of inclement weather (Southern California is experiencing an above-average wet winter), there was a full house at this very useful photobook panel discussion moderated by Richard S. Chow during the Focus programming this... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • For anyone who has ever visited Venice Beach in Southern California, comparisons to New York City’s Coney Island might not seem much of a conceptual stretch. Both are famous urban beachscapes that have been luring tourists from around the world for decades, both are celebrated more for the colorful locals... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook is a 40-year retrospective of the work of the distinguished photographer Dawoud Bey, who is also a well-received Professor of Art at Columbia College in Chicago. Others before him have contributed perspectives on some of the same US communities, especially James Van Der Zee, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks,... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 