Since I was soooo busy with finishing Pine Lake, my artist book, I neglected to provide some updates on other events such as Le PhotobookFest which will be occurring this coming weekend in conjunction with Paris Photo. The Le PhotobookFest will be at a different venue, L'Ancienne Imprimerie/Picture Tank, 19 rue Bisson 75020 Paris, than the... Continue Reading →
Photobook Reviews
Photograph copyright Jane Alt For the past couple of months I have been pretty self-absorbed in getting my own artist photobook Pine Lake published. While developing the book dummy, I did not anticipate how much band width would be consumed in producing the 25 copies of this hand made book. Essentially my last photobook review... Continue Reading →
Abe Frajndlich – Penelope’s Hungry Eyes
copyright Abe Frajndlich 2011 (cover - Cindy Sherman) published by Schirmer/Mosel This book is a compilation of artist portraits of individuals rarely seen, mainly because Abe Frajndlich’s subjects are the photographers who stand behind the camera, not in front of the lens. This particular photobook is very interesting for me as a photographer, especially as... Continue Reading →
Paul Schiek – Dead Men Don’t Look Like Me
Copyright Paul Schiek 2012 published by TBW Books Paul Schiek has constructed an interesting photobook based on found “mug shots”, an interesting selection of vernacular photographs collected by Mike Brodie at an abandoned Georgia prison. These identification head shots have isolated from their context as prisoner information, thus in a similar vein to Chris Crites... Continue Reading →
Jane Fulton Alt – The Burn
Copyright 2013 Jane Fulton Alt published by Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg Berlin Upon initially viewing the color photographs of Jane Fulton Alt’s aptly title photobook “The Burn”, I was feeling more than a bit conflicted. First, her photographs are poetic, surreal, mysterious as well as lyrical. As aptly stated by Deborah Gribbon in her essay, “Alt... Continue Reading →
Andreas Seibert – The Colors of Growth
photographs copyright Andreas Seibert 2013 published by Lars Muller Publishers The opening color photographs of Andreas Seibert’s The Colors of Growth, China’s Huai River appear lyrical, what may seem a documentary of a beautiful place for peaceful contemplation. Then the landscape, portraits and captions rapidly transforms into a haunting narrative of a huge ecological disaster... Continue Reading →
Jacquie Maria Wessels – Cityscapes & Birdmen
copyright Jacquie Maria Wessels 2010 published by Voetnoot Publishing (Amersterdam) There are two really large genres in photography; one of which is the landscape (an investigation of where) and the other portraiture (an investigation of who). Of growing interest to me is where these two intersect, which is the case in both title and content... Continue Reading →
Jerry Spagnoli – American Dreaming
Copyright Jerry Spanoli 2012 published by Steidl Jerry Spanoli’s second photobook “American Dreaming” is a cryptic, layered and complex book, which in the wake of the recent NSA operational leaks from Edward Snowden, this book now appears almost prophetic. The subject of Spanoli’s book is the years of the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm), although... Continue Reading →
Thodoris Tzalavras – Nicosia in Dark and White
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 →