The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
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 Gerhard Clausing • How to portray a city through its residents? The city of Berlin is certainly one of the most diverse places in the world. Combining the former West and East sections, it is now an even more expanded center of culture and cultures. The citizens’ well-known directness and swagger, sometimes referred... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • How do you effectively illustrate the follies of WAR? No matter how many times some of us advocate brain over brawn, war seems to be an ever-present specter, and this past week was certainly a glaring example. Perhaps such aggressive behavior is a remnant of the ancient male warrior who... Continue Reading →
Interview by Douglas Stockdale • Louie Palu: born Toronto, Canada and resides between Toronto & Washington DC Introduction: I have been following Louie Palu’s photographic career for what seems ages as his break-out book project Cage Call, the riveting photographs he made in the Canadian mines, resulted in his Photolucida Critical Mass book publication which was... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our Ninth Issue! • We hope you had a wonderful holiday season, which for some of you, may still not be over just yet. We think that the holidays are a great time to find new photobooks or spend time with recent book purchases. As we do each year, we share our annual... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When I look at this photobook, the old Phil Ochs song as rendered by Joan Baez goes through my head: “There but for fortune go you or I …” (check it out on YouTube). At the end of another fairly difficult year, looking at one’s reflection, at what might have... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • When Never Again Repeats Itself: If ever there was a singular book that exemplifies the meaning of “Photo Evidence” (FotoEvidence), this essential publication documenting the tragic plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees certainly must be that book. So beautiful are the images and so heavy is the topic; this new collection of... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Working in a very technical area for my day-job I have become very familiar with on-the-job training, educational manuals, and health & safety bulletins that stress environmental awareness. I will admit that it was not until reading Louie Palu’s A Field Guide to Asbestos did the immense danger of asbestos really... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • “A magnum opus project spanning 14 years, UPSTATE GIRLS documents’ the troubles and triumphs of a group of friends and their extended families in upstate New York.” For many years now, I have indulged in two great passions. One is photography, the other is what I jokingly refer to as... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In a 1953 episode of the very dated and otherwise questionable American TV series Amos and Andy, the character Kingfish is shown pretending to be a French teacher, incongruously using a poster of the old German-American entertainment/nostalgia “Schnitzelbank” song. He tries to convince his ‘student’ that it is the finest... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 