Copyright Thodoris Tzalavras 2010 published by Book ex Machina Thodoris Tzalavras’s photobook titled Nicosia in Dark and White is a haunting story about an abandoned place, a place that represents a victim. It is a place where time seems to have stopped, yet obvious that nature continues to takes its course reclaiming the man-built structures and... Continue Reading →
James Clancy – Sudgelande
Copyright James Clancy 2012 published by Bohland & Schremmer Verlag, Berlin As in James Clancy previous photobook, Border Country, he investigates a man-built place that has been abandoned and subsequently being reclaimed. He documents those things which constitute traces of past memories to narrate a metaphoric story about change and preservation. His subject for Sudgelande... Continue Reading →
Feature #275 & some changes
With the publication of my commentary on Gina Genis's photobook, I have reached an interesting milestone. This is the 275th photobook commentary I have published on this blog. I think if I knew that I would be reaching this goal when I stated this blog in 2008, that could have been intimidating enough that I... Continue Reading →
Gina Genis – Everybody and Their Mother
Gina Genis copyright 2013 self-published Gina Genis has decided to take on a photographic odyssey, to photograph everyone in the small village of Idyllwild which is perched up in the mountains overlooking the Los Angeles basin. She has determined that to be entirely inclusive of this community, it will take her perhaps 14 years and... Continue Reading →
Nicolas Hosteing – MATADOR
Copyright Nicolas Hosting 2012 Published by Etudes Books; number 3 in a series. Nicolas Hosteing has assembled a complex photobook to explore the concept of fiction and as a result, raised essential similar questions as to what is reality. The book’s title, Matador, immediate creates images of the Spanish bullfighter killing a bull. The bullfighter... Continue Reading →
Michal Chelbin – Sailboats and Swans
Copyright 2012 Michal Chelbin, published by Twin Palms Publishers This book is a collection of portraits of inmates who are being held in various prisons located in the Soviet Union, six in the Ukraine, one in Russia. The three kinds of prisons Chelbin photographed for this project were for men, women and boys. As such,... Continue Reading →
Lise Sarfati – She
Copyright 2012 Lise Sarfati published by Twin Palms Publishers A few years ago while in Paris I made a visit to one of my favorite used photobook stores on the rue de L’anceinne Comedie and while talking with the owner, Clement, I asked his recommendations for French photobooks which might be under the radar. One of the... Continue Reading →
Brian Griffin – Business as Usual
Copyright 2013 Brian Griffin published by Editions Bessard At first, the cover image was vexing; why an individual might be photographed with his head “cut-off”? Then serendipity in the timing of my recent review of the Tall Poppy Syndrome by Amy Stein and Stacy Arezou Mehrfar. This individual represents a successful business leader, thus he is a... Continue Reading →
Amy Stein & Stacy Arezou Mehrfar – Tall Poppy Syndrome
Copyright 2012 Stein & Mehrfar, published by DECODE The photobook Tall Poppy Syndrome by Amy Stein and Stacy Arezou Mehrfar utilizes metaphors to narrate their joint investigation of a subtle cultural trait in Australia. In Australia, as in some of the other regions of British cultural influence, the Tall Poppy Syndrome is a term to... Continue Reading →
Bernhard Fuchs – Roads and Paths
Copyright Bernhard Fuchs 2009 published by Koenig Books In Bernhard Fuchs Roads and Paths, the vacant roads and byways of a rural region of Austria create lyrical metaphors for various aspects of life’s journey. Fuchs creates a sense of ambiguity at the moment of exposure; whereas the viewer is not certain if they are looking... Continue Reading →