The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · It is December 9, 2025 and it is my first time in Japan. As a photobook collector, I head to Jimbocho, the well-known neighborhood for books (I actually revisited on December 18 too). Most of what I find on the shelves as I peruse the stores are Japanese novels.... Continue Reading →
Review by Matt Schneider · “Inhabitants of the industrialized world have become hunter-gatherers of material goods—we seek, we find, we acquire. Our possessions reveal who we are and tell stories of our aspirations, our nostalgia, our past; each piece is a fragment of the identity we wish to project or preserve.” - David Ricci (p.... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · “Fifty years from now, they won’t believe this shit.” * There are lots of photobooks about interesting, even important subjects. But there are few, such as Doy Gorton’s White South, about vitally relevant subjects. Gorton’s photos are a viewing experience that you want your kids to have. The book documents... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · The range of the willow oak tree species includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Washington, DC area of the United States. It also extends to Florida and Texas. The species (Quercus phello) is most often found in environments where there is some year-round moisture. As it is a deciduous tree,... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian O’Neill · Alleghania: A Central Appalachian Folklore Anthology is Michael O. Snyder’s first major monograph, published in 2025 by The Bitter Southerner (press based in Athens, Georgia). The book is a culmination of a larger 13-year effort called “The Mountain Folk Project,” which began as a collaboration between Snyder and folklorist Dr.... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · You can think of Robert Dunn’s Tokyo Cool as a challenge to solve, with different kinds of puzzle pieces that fit together. It is about Tokyo, but it isn’t just about Tokyo. It is also about using a camera to create blurred rectangles of liquid color, pattern, and movement, mostly... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · Simultaneously with the expansion of the universe of image-text photobooks, so too have we seen a rise in research-oriented photographic projects in which the photograph is not left to stand on merits apparently internal to it. In this second modality, the photographs and the larger sequence within which the... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · An unflinching, comprehensive exploration of the current situation of women in Afghanistan, No Woman’s Land is an important book. It reminds us that while we take our personal possibilities for granted, women and girls in Afghanistan are treated barely better than slaves. Along with mutually reinforcing images and texts, the... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Rich-Joseph Facun’s 1804 examines Athens, Ohio, an Appalachian town whose economic and cultural life is closely tied to Ohio University. Rather than constructing a conventional documentary narrative, Facun structures the book through a carefully paced sequence of portraits, architectural observations, and quiet still-life fragments. As the images accumulate, the photographs... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · To write or not to write, that is the question photographers ask when assembling their projects into books. What do you say to accompany your photographs? What needs to be said that the photographs do not already say? Will the viewer understand what you are doing if you do not... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 