The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Wayne Swanson • Now playing at a bookstore near you is a behind-the-scenes look at the spectacle of moviemaking, filmed in epic widescreen black and white. Jeff Bridges: Pictures, Volume Two, by an accomplished photographer who also happens to be an actor of some acclaim, is a welcome sequel to Bridges’ 2003 book about... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In 1992 an intriguing book with the title The Reconfigured Eye was published by MIT Press. In our current age of “fakery,” and especially in hindsight, the subtitle of that book is even more intriguing: “Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era.” The point of that book was that the digital... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • Considering that photographer Rohina Hoffman’s day job is as a neurologist studying what goes on in a person’s mind, it should come as no surprise that her first monograph she would focus on what comes out of a person’s head. Specifically, what grows out of a person’s scalp, and how... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This ambitious project by Madhu Joseph John raises some challenging questions: Who are we, and where does our journey take us? Are our differences in appearance, age, location, preferences and our levels of experience really so important that we will allow them to be used as a basis for dividing... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Abendlied (Evening Song) is a project that is very personal, yet has universal meaning. The concept seems simple: as we gradually take leave of our parents we have memories of events and feelings from long ago; things come back to remind us of what we experienced with them in the... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Big Sur is one of the iconic places of the California Dream. This rugged stretch of coastline between Carmel and San Simeon along equally iconic Highway 1 is known for many things. It’s an idyllic showcase of natural beauty . . . Muse to the likes of Henry Miller and... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Dia Yunzhi Wang • As a female photographer, I would always have the desire to document the moments that I let ‘myself’ out. I’d be hopping up and down on empty streets with arms waving high, shaking my body like a disco-maniac when the playlist shuffles to a love dance song and... 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 →
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 →
