The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Douglas Stockdale • A mysterious and ambiguous narrative with dark hints of surrealism, which in some ways appears that I am attempting to describe a fine bottle of wine. Perhaps I am. In Harvey Benge’s introduction, he states that this smaller body of work is an extraction from a trade book intended... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Harvey Benge’s The Month Before Trump is a collection of photographs made in the United States, specifically San Francisco and New York in October 2016, the month before the presidential elections. As a New Zealander who spends equal time between Auckland and Paris, he provides a sophisticated outsider’s eye which... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The concept for this series of photo books was developed by Harvey Benge, who subsequently acted as the project Editor. Essentially the ten selected photographers would produce a photobook based on the photographs of a specific day; June 21, 2010. Other than that, no rules. The resulting photobooks were Jessica Backhaus’s... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • I think that the concept for this book is best stated by Benge: These photographs follow my recent four part series AS IT IS? Here I continue to question the nature and substance of the things I see and the idea of ITness itself. Copyright Harvey Benge 2011 courtesy of the... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • My first impression of Harvey Benge’s photobook All of the Places I’ve ever Known was that this book is meant to be autobiographical. It is also a statement of the obvious: that you cannot take a photograph of a place unless you have been to that place. Cheeky. Benge has self-published numerous photobooks and in... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • At first reading, Havery Benge’s self-published Eat Me, is a photobook that documents the results of cooking peaches as a family treat. It even includes the recipe for cooking the peaches. In typical Benge style, there is a minimum of text to provide guidance as to what you are viewing.... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • I recently received another self-published photobook by the prolific photographer and photobook publisher, Havery Benge, titled Sri Lanka Diary, February 2011. This book is the latest in his “Diary” series and results from his recent visit to Sri Lanka earlier this year. The color photographs appear to be detailed and created in documentary in style,... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Harvey Benge’s latest self published photobook (perhaps termed a zine) Birds is brief, elegant and subtly philosophical. Benge provides a brief background story for this slim narrative; that the photographs were made on one day from the deck of a ferry near Auckland Harbour and the photographs were made on the afternoon... Continue Reading →
By Douglas Stockdale • Memory is a very tricky thing. Sometimes it just seems that the things that you want to forget are somehow stuck between your eyebrows regardless of what you attempt to do to forget them. Other times, there are those memories you cherish and never want to lose, and the more you... Continue Reading →
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