Photobooks, zines, reviewed, etc...

It’s been a while since I updated this site.

Things have changed. Work has become more demanding of my time. My family life and other activities have occupied more and more of my free time. My disposable income, previously used to buy books, has diminished.

Whilst I long to continue writing about books, I am struggling to find the time to track down and obtain enough titles to provide a steady stream of content. When I do find books, it’s rare that I can afford enough to keep this site updated as frequently as I did last year.

There are other sites which are able to keep up to date with new photo book releases.

You could check out One year of books (now in its second year!?) which appears to be run by a couple with more resources to manage their project than I can provide for mine.

Little Brown Mushroom’s recently received section lists many more titles than I could hope to obtain.

Finally, The Independent Photobook provides probably the most comprehensive catalogue of independently published photography books online.

I hope that one day, in the not too distant future, I will be able to resume posting to this blog. In the meantime I will leave it online as a catalogue of the titles I’ve bought and reviewed, and I hope that many others will read through it and find what I have written to be useful.

Most of all, thank you for supporting this blog in its life so far, and please keep supporting independent artists.

Cheers,

Phil.

Thomas Albdorf

From the website:

The Velvet Cell Books is an independent publisher of limited edition photography books based in London, UK. Founded in 2010, our goal is to promote the virtues of urban photography and to make art available to everyone.

Thomas Albdorf’s book is a wonderful example of what can be achieved by independent publishers. Although just 16 pages long, it contains a great series of images taken at night in what, interestingly, is a mixture of urban and rural environments.

My particular favourite is the pair of ‘Hotel’ images - I could look at those for hours and it would be great to see them even bigger. There is a certain feeling of isolation in all the photographs. The photograph is always outside or finds the road ahead blocked, and there isn’t another person to be seen in any of the photos.

Personally I’m not a fan of the ‘Objects’ series, but that’s personal taste and others may feel differently about these.

Given that this is the first book published by The Velvet Cell Books, it certainly sets the bar high for subsequent publications.

http://www.thevelvetcell.com/albdorfbook.html

We are blind people made of colors - Emma Llensa

and

Do not break in two - Lúa Ocaña

Atem Books, an independent publisher based in Spain sent over a couple of titles recently. Their books had already caught my eye with the goregously muted colours used on the cover of several titles so I was excited about receiving these.

The subtle colour palette is evident throughout We are blind people made of colors as the artist takes us on a journey through coastlines covered in intrieging rock formations and structures. The choice of colours and deliberate use of film lends a dream like quality to all the images. This suits the dream like landscapes we encounter in this book just perfectly.

This book also comes with an original print tucked inside the front cover - very nice.

Do not break in two is a series of black and white images, often in which two photographs have been overlaid to form one. Just past the centre there is an excellent series of quadtychs which in the wrong hands could have steered dangerously close to art school ‘studies of the human body’. Lúa’s approach is, happily, far removed from this.

Atem Books has an array of similarly excellent titles to choose from in their online store. I’m looking forward to future releases from this publisher.

Neuperlach Zentrum - Thomas Wieland

Thomas was kind enough to send me a copy of his book, Neuperlach Zentrum to have a look at. Before I received it I told him that it looked like my kind of thing from the photos on his site, and I’m pleased to say that the book lived up to my expectations.

His website states:

Founded on the periphery of Munich in 1967, Neuperlach is one of the big urban
settlements of post-war Germany. The aim of its initiators was not only to provide
housing for 80,000 inhabitants but to create a place for a new attitude towards urban life. The book explores this ambitious experiment in urban planning.

It’s fair to say that this experiment was not a huge success. As often happens when humans live close together in somewhat forced communities the city was soon plagued by crime and other problems. Perhaps this is due to our curious animal-like obsession with needing a space or territory over which we can exert control? Or perhaps it’s simply what happens when too many people live too close to each other.

Either way, Thomas offers a wonderful perspective of the town, showcasing intriguing architectural elements in such a way that we immediately see why problems arose.The printing is good with very vibrant colours where needed.

Copies are still available from his online shop. Don’t miss this one.

Emmett - Ron Jude

As I get older I find myself reflecting on my youth more and more. When I look back at the the time I spent growing up in the 80’s, I always relive events in that slightly fuzzy/grainy way of seeing things that VHS forced upon us.

What I love about this book is the memories of my early childhood that it evokes. This collection of Ron’s photos shows me the world of 30 years ago in the same way I see it in my mind - grainy, crazy lens flare enhanced by those star filters which were popular once, and photos of VHS movies on old TV screens.

From the publisher’s website:

…the pictures range from hazy scenes of a summertime drag race, a recurring forest in changing seasons, midnight horror films on a TV set, and a Nordic-looking teenager who appears as a specter from the artist’s past.

The Heaviest Flower - Colby Caldwell and Elijah Gowin

Elijah recently sent me a copy of The Heaviest Flower.

From the website:

Produced in conjunction with an exhibition at Urban Culture’s Paragraph Gallery in Kansas City,  this book brings together two longtime friends and colleagues Colby Caldwell and Elijah Gowin.  Tied together through their innovative inquiry of the materiality of photography—both artists use painstaking and elaborate processes for reaching their final images – the images circle around themes of anxiety, loss, and the tenuous beauty of living. Often drawing from North Carolina family snapshots and found movie footage, Colby Caldwell combines still photographs with video pieces to consider the ideas of nostalgia and memory, and how they are embedded in the practice of photography.  Elijah Gowin’s digitally constructed photographs show figures drifting in water or falling through the air, either accepting what is happening to them with grace or reacting instead with panic.  Together, both sets of artworks present a kindred search for wholeness and weighted beauty.

There are some really nice photos in this book. I especially like the ‘Falling in Trees’ series of images. The book itself is nicely printed, with a good weight to it.

I also like the look of Hymnal of Dreams which is available from the Tin Roof Press website. Check out the 3 books which are currently available on the website.

Every issue of Foam Magazine further cements the feeling I have that this is the best photography magazine currently being published.

The theme for this issue - Traces - offers a nod to the transient nature of life being captured through the permanence of photography. But how permanent is a medium in which millions upload their digital images to sites such as Facebook, only for those images to be lost forever when the site finally collapses. Couldn’t happen? Look at Geocities and the frantic scramble to salvage content before the titanic network of sites finally sank.

This time, my favourite portfolio comes from Anni Leppälä, in whose images all trace of identity has been removed, obscured, or simply scrubbed away. Another welcome edition this issue is a separate mini-magazine exploring the future of photography with a wonderful mini-essay by my favourite, Alec Soth. 

And finally, of particular significance to this site is the collection of book reviews, which I shall now sit down to savour thoroughly.

A note of apology to Foam Magazine - my copy only arrived this week, otherwise I would have been able to write about the issue much earlier. This was probably due to the Christmas post in the UK.

Snake or be snaked - Kingsley Ifill

When I asked for book recommendations a couple of people suggested I get this, with one individual making the comment “Kingsley doesn’t disappoint”. Well, indeed he doesn’t and this zine is as good as his other work.

Just to give you an idea how good: the opening shot is a guy with a cat sat on his head. Stood outside. Yes. The next shot is a girl collecting a signature in a somewhat unorthodox manner. And the next is … well it’s deliberately obscure, but not hard to guess what’s going on.

And it’s this good all the way through. In fact, the title alone is one of the best I’ve seen this year. Get it now - don’t wait for it to sell out.

I had prepared another post with a summary of about 7 different titles but tumblr in its wisdom has deleted it. That means this will definitely be the last post this year.

See you in 2011.

Croissant de queue de cheval - Thobias Fäldt

Another great blue zine from JSBJ. I particularly love the cover image on this one. Thobias has a good eye for composition - his pretty much immaculate framing is a constant theme throughout this zine.

He’s also got the knack of spotting odd little moment or set ups and capturing them through his lens.

A fitting addition to end this series (for this year).

Speaking of which, this may very well be the last post on this blog for 2010 as I’m off on holiday in a couple of days. It’s been a great year for photography books and self-publishing in particular has really taken off. It’ll be interesting to see where 2011 takes us. Some say self-publishing has peaked already, but others (like me) are still eagerly waiting for a few titles that we know are on the way. I’m optimistic about next year, but due to the sheer volume of stuff being published I know I’m going to have to be more selective about what I buy. Cheers everyone.

Brighton Bunny Boy - Carmen, Gus and Alec Soth

and

Man with Buoy And Other Tales - Seth Lower

I decided to put these two books in the same post because

a) They both came from Little Brown Mushroom Books

b) They are both storybooks with great photos

c) They are both still available (but not for long, I’m sure)

Apart from that, you could argue that they’re quite different. Man with Buoy is number two in the ‘Storybooks for grown-ups’ series. The Brighton Bunny Boy is a story written (and partially illustrated by) a child. But is it a story for children or grown-ups?