The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Paul Anderson • In 1971, singer-songwriter Steve Goodman penned the song “City of New Orleans,” which poetically captures a ride on the Illinois Central Railroad southbound out of Chicago. Wrapped up in the lyrics are images of Americana and the local landscape as the train “Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.” Much... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • None of us can escape the process of getting older. Lucky are those who have a granddaughter like Aleksandra Żalińska who can document that process in a sensitive manner and at the same time narrate details about a special personal bond that transcends the generations. We can recall the well-known... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • The first photograph in Nicholas Pollack's book, Meadow, is captioned “Empty lot, Kearny, New Jersey, 2017.” Although it displays an ostensibly vacant lot devoid of people or cars, it brims with subtle content. This photograph serves as a fitting prelude to Pollack’s overarching theme: there’s always more than meets the... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • As a resident of a town that presents us with plenty of ocean views, I have a special affinity for the moments of twilight, the time between sunset and dusk. The variously nuanced moods presented by a combination of nature, especially the sun and environmental strata, can at times lead... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The categories of genders and gender-related behaviors and preferences are not as binary as some would have us believe. According to Western psychology, we all have both male and female sides; either side can predominate or be more pronounced at times in individuals. The same is true of a variety... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When a photographer’s viewpoint and methodology are totally in tune with the subject matter and with the tenor of the times, we have a degree of synchronicity that makes the viewer’s experience unforgettable. Such is the case with Simon Vansteenwinckel’s Wuhan Radiography. The first thing we notice when we receive... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • I think we would all agree that war is an ugly matter, driven by megalomaniacs – men who have a vast taste for power and control. The cost exacted on individuals and groups on all sides of warfare is always horrendous. Unfortunately, such is currently the case in Ukraine, and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Peter Hujar was a photographer who chronicled the cultural scene of New York City in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also known for his magical ways in photographing animals, as well as for his focus on what was then called ‘figure studies.’ He seemed unwilling or unable to play... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Lucky are those who have a group of friends from their childhood that they can still count on way into their later years as adults. And they are even more fortunate if they have a talented photographer whose astute observations keep track of things over all that time. Naturally, such... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • New Bern, North Carolina, is certainly an interesting town of some 30,000 people. Named after Bern, Switzerland, it was founded in 1710 by an ancestor of the photographer. Both cities share the same bear figure as a coat of arms, with the American version lacking one anatomical detail. The internet... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 