The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Steve Harp • It’s more than a little unsettling to characterize a book which can be described - in the words of its creator - as a “succession of dark days” as lovely. But that’s the first word that comes to mind in looking through Fabio Ponzio’s East of Nowhere. There is a... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Bodie, that 19th-century gold rush ghost town in the California hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, has been a theme park for photographers for years. Everyone from Ansel Adams down to Mom, Dad, and the kids with their point-and-shoots has captured the picturesque “arrested decay” of what is now... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • German photographer Florian Schwarz takes on the entire universe in his new book A Handful of Dust. Schwarz spent four years traveling to observatories in some of the most remote places on Earth. These observatories, operated by the Las Cumbres Observatory Foundation (LOC) in Santa Barbara, span the globe to allow... Continue Reading →
Review by Madhu Joseph John • They say that the American South is a land in transition what with the incursions of globalization and the migrations of diverse populations. Some of us might be familiar with images of the “new South” depicted by artists such as Eugene Richards, Mitch Epstein, Tommy Kha and Shane Lavalette. Perhaps... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • While it’s officially spring on the calendar, snow is making its last stand in many places around the world. But what if it were the last stand ever? In places like the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, that tiny European country surrounded by Belgium, Germany, and France, climate change is quickly making... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • The allure of air travel seems a distant memory in our current era of long lines, invasive security checks, and packed flights. Yet airports, when considered through the eyes of a photographer rather than a harried traveler, can be captivating places. Longtime Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert is drawn to them. “The... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • America the beautiful. The American Dream. America First! From a vantage point here in the United States of America, these phrases carry specific geographic, social, and political meanings. But from the broader perspective of The Americas, they merely represent one of many parochial views. The Edge of Knowing confronts these narrow... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • The daily surrealism of war is a subject that has inspired some fine literary and artistic works. Ben Brody’s photobook deserves a place among them. Attention Servicemember is a wry look at the war machine, the way images are used to shape and undermine perception, and the lasting personal impact war has... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • Sometimes words fail, and in the case of reviewing Michael Crouser’s photobook Mountain Ranch, this is a good thing. A handsome collection of over 100 black and white photographs documenting the daily lives of cattle ranchers in Northwestern Colorado, Mountain Ranch is a contemporary book with a classical feel, of an... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Is it a blessing or a curse? The double edged sword of the vast Oil Sands of Alberta Canada is a major economic boon to the region in conjunction with an ecological disaster that appears to be related to chronic health issues for those who live and work in the... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 