The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Lee Halvorsen • Breathtaking! Stunning! Immersive! And that’s just the cover. This art object, the book itself, the printed pages, the images, the text…their fusion; this book is one for the generations. The volume is large, 12.5” x 15” but the size isn’t awkward or intimidating…rather, it’s striking and compelling, a wonder in... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • Captivating! Exotic! Breathtaking! Yes, this book is all of that, but those words understate the exquisite view into nature’s beauty Thomas has wrapped into these pages. The reader experiences relationships among people, horses, eagles, and the land. This isn’t a book about an exciting apex predator or a beautiful but... Continue Reading →
Review by Matt Schneider · What does limestone have to do with the history, development, and politics of Malta? Apparently quite a lot, as this is the undergirding (and extremely) compelling question at the center of Marcin Piekałkiewicz photobook, Built on Sand. Perhaps as you would expect, Built on Sand opens with images of crystal... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Bear with me as I begin with a digression. Have you lain awake at night pondering the mysteries of Roland Barthes’ “punctum?” I haven’t, and I usually find analytics unhelpful to my practice of photography. But I thought about the term again recently and wondered what AI would do with... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • Jerusalem is a city like no other…traditions, faiths, races, separation, strife, love, hate, all living, loving and lasting together for 5,000 years. Gabay describes these city attributes as “layers” where places and people share the same space, sometimes the same frame and in that "captured in the camera" moment lives... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • I was gifted this book by the author and PBJ editor, Hans Hickerson who expressly did NOT want a review, only for me to enjoy his journey down this tortured and touching trip down memory lane. The vibrant colors of the small book’s cover capturing a computer screen were familiar and... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • This fascinating book blends striking photography with human sociology, using the metaphor of a two-way mirror to reflect a Europe beyond postcards—and the people at its margins looking back. It is puzzling, yes, but undeniably compelling. In Yesilyurt’s opening manifesto, he makes clear that his aim is not to present... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • A gripping tale of friendship and a hidden land is preserved in this story with stunning images from Cuba some thirty years ago. DeStefano traveled to Cuba in 1993, 1996 and again in 1998, during Cuba’s “Special Period” where everything for Cuba’s common person was hard to get…food, gasoline, currency,... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • This book is a collection of magical, imaginative moments in what must have been a difficult, almost grieving time for the artist and her father. Her father, mostly “invisible” in the book, was leaving his Amsterdam apartment of thirty years because the building had been sold. He was downsizing and... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · A photographer working outside the mainstream has advantages and challenges. The challenges include not being networked as an insider and sustaining belief in yourself when you are unknown. Among the advantages is the enormous benefit of seeing with fresh eyes, along with the ability to follow your own path without... Continue Reading →
