The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
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 →
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 →
Review by Steve Harp • Gary Green’s monograph The River is Moving/The Blackbird Must be Flying (L’Artiere, 2020) is a beautiful and delicate object. Measuring 6 ½” by 9 ½”, enclosed between plain white softcovers, the book features a perfect binding with visible spine. In this exposed Smythe style of binding, the spine remains uncovered, leaving open the folded... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • I am frequently asked by participants in my creative book workshops about how to resolve a complex project in which they cannot determine how to choose and focus on just one aspect. I now have a brilliant solution in the recently self-published Gstettn by Regina Anzenberger; create a multitude of books in which... Continue Reading →
Front Cover, Blue Bar Rear cover, Blue Bar Review by Douglas Stockdale • The humidity and occasional fog derived by the proximity of a river can create beautifully dreamlike conditions or provide a mysterious backdrop for a creepy event. Between these these two polar opposites is a low-contrast environment that elicits a kind of gloominess,... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • From time to time we wonder what life is all about. Special moments and places can intensify such musings, for instance, when we are looking at a wonder of nature, such as a giant gorge cut into a wild landscape – like a giant throat ready to consume us –... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • While reading one of John Steinbeck’s many novels did you at one time attempt to visualize his Salinas Valley landscape that was seriously impacted by the pervasive drought conditions of the 1930’s? Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother may have come quickly to mind or perhaps the Dust Bowl photographs of Arthur Rothstein... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Stones, rocks, and mountains come in endless sizes and shapes and are composed of a variety of materials. They are the building blocks of the earth, its very foundation. Leave it to Claudia den Boer, an innovative photographer with a sense of place, to photograph these “stonescapes” and to work... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Regina Anzenberger’s Roots & Bonds is a self-published book that appears to be a mash-up of Paul Caponigro photographs and Abstract Expressionism artwork while reading like we are peeking into an artist’s private sketch book. Even more so when we find images with her hand-written notes in the margins of the... 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 →
