The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Wayne Swanson • This photobook is complete garbage. Garbage containers, garbage pickers, garbage. Even the front and back covers are garbage — recycled cardboard. Why garbage? Garbage is much more than just what we throw away. It’s a web of social, cultural, political, and economic considerations. The main interest of Henrik Malmström, a Finnish photographer... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • A dream in which a deceased father speaks words of inspiration to his daughter, who, now inspired visits a snowy village in which her father was born and lived long ago in the north of Japan. Upon her arrival she is confronted by an ancient performance of Zaido, said to be... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • On the eastern side of England was a vast marshland, a region known as the Fens, which was eventually conquered by a combination of technology and determined English will. Once properly drained, it became an abundantly fertile farmland - England’s extensive vegetable garden. This flat lowland does not easily endear... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • Let’s be honest, many of us are tired of the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to travel again, to socialize with friends and move freely through crowded spaces. We want to feel less scared about the future, to care for our sick, and be able to... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp • I have long found the images of Vera Lutter among the most challenging and thought-provoking in contemporary photography. Lutter’s work is that rare combination of visually beautiful (sublime would be a better word), conceptually challenging (“good to think with,” to use Claude Levi-Strauss’ phrase) and continually surprising (perhaps odd, given the... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Planning a photobook and assembling all the images needed to tell your story is a process that can take years. Unless you’re Lukas Birk, who did it all in one day. Birk is an Austrian photographer, archivist, and publisher. He has travelled the world producing complex books and curatorial projects in... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • What might imminent danger look like? Will something look so out of place or potentially evil that this might provide the necessary visual clues to warn us to become diligent, alert and stay cautious? Would there be something such as a dark stain on the land with something suspicious emanating... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Ah, summer at the sea shore. Endless beaches and bronzing bodies in the sand. Resort hotels and cocktails with little umbrellas in them. Tourists everywhere, reveling in their escape from the day-to-day. Now consider off-season. Beaches and resort hotels empty, streets deserted, tourists banished to their day-to-day. Photographer Fabien Fourcaud explores... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp • Where are we? In looking through Sebastian Rogowski’s 2020 self-published monograph, Suicidal Birds, I was taken, strangely enough, back to my youth and to my fascination with the 1968 science-fiction film Planet of the Apes. Rogowski’s opening three images—particularly the second, which could almost be a still from the film—recalled for... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Is trying to explain Garry Winogrand’s photographs an interesting challenge or a fool’s errand? After all, Winogrand repeatedly rebuffed attempts to philosophize about his work with statements like “You’re talking about meaning. I want to talk about the pictures.” Nevertheless, Geoff Dyer gives it a shot in this big book of... Continue Reading →
