The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Wayne Swanson • Every city has one — that neighborhood “everybody” knows to stay away from. It’s too rough, or too hostile, or too unsafe, or just too different in some way or another. For Arnhem, a medium-sized Dutch city near the eastern border with Germany, that neighborhood is Rijnwijk. This insular 100-year-old... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Inspired by the early work of Eugene Atget, the sublime gardens of the French emperors became the subject of Christine Riedell’s first self-published monograph. These expansive “gardens”, which are almost the size of a National park here in the United States, are located in the general region around Paris. Her subjects... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Madhu John • In essence, this book is an autobiography of an artist, a dedicated teacher and a studiously creative photographer tracing a rich eventful journey through a wide variety of striking images and illuminating prose. In this age of the ubiquitous camera wielded by every mother, son and daughter, why, you... 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 →
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 Wayne Swanson • Are you fluent in photography? Not f-stops and apertures. Not representational or abstract, fine art or documentary. Not Ansel or Robert Adams. Rather, do you understand the visual language of photography? For the late Nathan Lyons (1930 – 2016), the world was “a vast repertoire of signs that await being... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • “Let’s go for a walk.” That might sound like a pleasant invitation, but in the Spain of dictator Francisco Franco, it was often a chilling euphemism for a death sentence. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and its aftermath, armed bands would round up people, take them to a remote... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • What is a museum? One brief definition is offered by Wikipedia; an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Then what is an imaginary museum? This is the subject of Julia Borissova’s recent photobook Nautilus. Borissova’s urban setting for... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • As a college student in the early 1980s, I had my first opportunity to visit the beachfront area of Atlantic City, the coastal town in New Jersey that inspired the board game MONOPOLY. Being from California, I was familiar with West Coast beach scenes that included palm trees and attractive... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The foil embossed book cover with undulating lines of the type font appears as though it is shimmering in the humid heat provides a hint as to what lies within. The third image in Arturo Soto’s photobook, In the Heat, is a wonderful sublime urban landscape photograph of Panama that... Continue Reading →
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