The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
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 →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Depictions of nudity have a long history, going back in painting for many centuries, and in photography to its beginnings as well. The reception of such works, which often could also be considered fine art, always depended on the circumstances and perceived artistic intent. If the context was a religious... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook was more than ten years in the making, and it is an engrossing experience for the viewers as well. Pixy and Moro are a young couple somewhat less predictably matched, if one goes by social expectations – she is five years older than he is; she is of... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When you first look at the cover of this photobook, a number of unusual features immediately become apparent: The cloth binding is a glorious purple, the color of royal and religious accoutrements. The edges of the pages are graced with glorious gold-leaf, historically the mark of a very important book.... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • For better or worse. The marriage vows which can only hint at future possibilities. We are all usually happy about the “better“ events and there is not much to complain about. It’s the “worse” events and conditions that are an unknown and can become ominous. What defines “worse” is also... Continue Reading →
Review by Kristin Dittrich • "The places where life works – that is not where we photographed," comments Ute and Werner Mahler, one of the most famous living artist photographer couple in Germany. Over a period of three years, they travelled to more than 100 small towns to take portraits of young people, architecture, and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook is a 40-year retrospective of the work of the distinguished photographer Dawoud Bey, who is also a well-received Professor of Art at Columbia College in Chicago. Others before him have contributed perspectives on some of the same US communities, especially James Van Der Zee, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks,... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Every once in a while we see a photobook that hits all the right spots. In Tundra Kids, Ikuru Kuwajima, a multicultural photographer – born in Japan, studied in the United States, and now lives in Russia – has successfully created a book that shows us a minority at the... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • It is a pleasure to start 2019 with the presentation of such an attractive large-format photobook. Louis Jay, who worked as a commercial photographer for many years, has returned to his early love of photographing on the street, without succumbing to the clichés of street photography, but supplying streetscapes that... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 