“A photobook is an autonomous art form, comparable with a piece of sculpture, a play, or a film. The photographs lose their own photographic character as things ‘in themselves’ and become parts, translated into printing ink, of a dramatic event called a book.” —Ralph Prins, photo historian
As we reach an increasingly digital age, the fate of the print media leaves little to the imagination. But yet, in 2013, the art of the photobook continues to thrive, breaking through the traditional boundaries to support and push the limits of the photographic medium. This year also reinforced the notion that self-publishing is here to stay, using crowd-funding platforms like Kickstarter to set new records for support and encouraging artists to re-consider the photobook as a primary medium to share their message.
On LightBox we covered exciting projects across myriad genres, from Jimmy Nelson’s epic Before They Pass Away catalog to more personalized, self-published projects like Carolyn Drake’s Two Rivers. Here, in this gallery, we spotlight the best photobooks of the past year as chosen by photographers and photography experts from around the world … and, of course, by photo editors from TIME.
This year’s offerings range from enormous, luxe tomes like Garry Winogrand to smaller, more intimate works like The Pigs. Overall the selection confirms — in a heartening way, for all of us — that even as unwieldy maelstroms of information emerge from all of our digital devices, many of us still enjoy being transfixed, or transported, by an encounter with a singular vision. After all, the pleasure and quiet thrill that one gets sitting down with a good book — especially one that pushes the boundaries of the format — simply can’t be reproduced in mere ones and zeroes. In that spirit of celebrating a still-vital art form, we humbly offer our take on the photobooks we loved most in 2013.
Books photographed by Carolyn Griffin for TIME.
The Pigs by Carlos Spottorno, published by RM Verlag & Phree, selected by Olivier Laurent, deputy editor, British Journal of Photography.RM Verlag & Phree"Europe is still battling one of its worst economic crisis with Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain (or 'The Pigs,' as financiers nicknamed them) seemingly on the brink of collapse. After a quiet few years (2008 to 2011), European photographers have started taking a serious look at the crisis' social impact. None have gone as far as Carlos Spottorno, who has chosen to use the codes of the financial community – in this case by taking The Economist as a template – to document how our elites (political and financial) have blamed these countries for our troubles. Stereotypical images of lazy and careless Greeks or Portuguese workers come to mind, and Spottorno purposely use such visual codes to drive his point home: our quest for massive profits and our propensity to look the other way are to blame. The result is a bitter, yet entertaining look at what's wrong in our society."—Olivier Laurent, deputy editor, British Journal of PhotographyCarlos Spottorno—RM Verlag & PhreeHier by Jitka Hanzlova, published by Koenig, selected by Michael Mack, founder of MACK books and MAPP digital editions.Koenig"At a time when photobooks are overloaded with diverting tricks, Hier is a refuge of calm and a lesson in what can only be described as the ideal elements for a great work. Hanzlova's books have always combined the delicate insight of her portraits with a strong personal vision of the abstracting powers of the medium and Hier is another elegant book to reinforce Hanzlova's position as one of the most significant yet unassuming voices in contemporary photography."—Michael Mack, founder of MACK books and MAPP digital editions Jitka Hanzlova—KoenigShe Dances on Jackson by Vanessa Winship published by MACK, selected by Jörg M. Colberg, writer, photographer, and teacher.
MACK"An introspective, lyrical look at the US, Winship manages to pick up
on the pervasive atmosphere of gloom and dread that has been lying on
the land for a few years now. In more ways than one, "She Dances on
Jackson" provides the long overdue counterpoint to Robert Frank's "The
Americans": Not in terms of what it says, but in terms of how it does
it. A real masterpiece of a photo book."
—Jörg M. Colberg, writer, photographer and teacherVanessa Winship—MACKEmmet Gowin by Emmet Gowin, published by Aperture, selected by Phil Bicker, senior photo editor, TIME.AperturePictured: Ruth, Danville, Virginia, 1968.
"A beautiful and long awaited monograph of quiet and intimate influence from a master photographer and teacher Emmet Gowin—whose writing is as eloquent and profound as his images are beautiful and sincere."—Phil Bicker, senior photo editor, TIME.
"There are things in your life that only you will see, stories that only you will hear. If you don't write them down, if you don't make the picture, these things will not be seen, these things will not be heard."—Emmett GowinEmmet Gowin—ApertureHoly Bible by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, published by MACK, selected by Roxana Morcoci, senior curator in the Department of Photography, Museum of Modern Art.MACK"Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s photo-collages and annotations on his personal bible, London-based artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have overlaid politically fueled images of global violence inside the pages of King James Bible. The images are culled from the Archive of Modern Conflict — a vast private collection of pictures housed in London. Complete with faux leather and gild edging, and including an epilogue by philosopher Adi Ophir on the idea of 'divine violence,' the 768 page-long book constitutes, in the artists’ own words, 'an idiosyncratic, unofficial version of the history of war.' Holy Bible continues Broomberg and Chanarin’s critique of images of mass-media and state censorship first explored in War Primer 2 (also published by MACK), currently on view through Jan. 6, 2014 in the exhibition New Photography 2013 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York."—Roxana Morcoci, senior curator in the Department of Photography, Museum of Modern ArtAdam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin—MACKDark Knees by Mark Cohen, published by Le Bal/EXB (Paris), selected by Chris Boot, executive director, Aperture Foundation.Le Bal/EXB (Paris)"My favourite book of the year is one of the simplest. Published to accompany an exhibition of Mark Cohen’s work, at Le Bal in Paris, the photographs featured are his disorienting close ups of pieces of humans, and other objects, taken on the streets of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylania, mainly during the 1970s. It's a modest, book, with a startling beauty: the photographs, which are exhilarating; their exquisite reproduction, mainly in rich, soft black and white, but with the occasional varnished color picture by contrast; the use of Cohen’s banal descriptors of each of the pictures, in his own naïve hand, as the book’s text (‘Flashed head top,’ ‘Dog between houses,’ ‘Snow falling in alley,’ ‘Ants on sidewalk,’ etc.); the rhythm of the book; and its brilliantly understated design. There’s a short, sharp essay by Vince Aletti, at the back, offering as much guidance as you need. Thrilling."—Chris Boot, executive director, Aperture FoundationMark Cohen—Le Bal/EXB (Paris)The Photography of Nature & The Nature of Photography by Joan Fontcuberta, published by MACK, selected by Elisa Medde, managing editor, Foam Magazine.MACK"This publication comes after Joan Fontcuberta was granted the Hasselblad Award 2013. Beautifully produced by MACK, it presents as a unique, fantastic journey through six different series spanning from 1984-2002. Through a fascinating wandering through botany, zoology, astronomy, cosmonautics, paleontology, geography and geology, Fontcuberta makes us test the limits of our desire to believe in photography, as Geoffrey Batchen writes in the accompanying text."—Elisa Medde, managing editor, Foam Magazine Joan Fontcuberta—MACKTraces by Ana Mendieta, published by Hayward Publishing, selected by Anne-Celine Jaeger, author
Hayward Publishing/D.A.P.Genesis by Sebastião Salgado, published by Taschen, selected by Kira Pollack, director of photography at TIME.TaschenPictured: On South Georgia, a barren island in the far South Atlantic, a pair of southern elephant seal calves beckon before a colony of king penguins.
"Genesis, Sebastiao Salgado's epic tome, records the last vestiges of Earth untouched by man. Page after page, it's a stunning masterpiece — a true book for the ages."—Kira Pollack, director of photography, TIMESebastião Salgado—Amazonas ImagesExcerpts from Silver Meadows by Todd Hido, published by Nazraeli Press, selected by Darius Himes, director of Fraenkel Gallery and co-founder of Radius Books.Nazraeli PressPictured: From the series Excerpts from Silver Meadows #2810
Date: 1996-2013
"I became aware of Todd’s work through his first book House Hunting (Nazraeli Press, 2001). The photographs depict lower middle class homes and small town motels mostly shot at night. There are lights shining from within, and the occassional solitary street light illuminates a dirty pile of snow, a broken down car, a fenced in yard. As viewers, we’re neither too close nor too far from the apparent subject. There are no humans depicted in House Hunting. Over subsequent volumes (Hido has published roughly 6 monographs), portraits of people, mostly women, crept into the work. Excerpts from Silver Meadows is a full-blown masterpiece of photographic noir, rife with suggestion; place is as much a central character as the women who make appearances and then fade in the rear-view mirror. We are in 'the vicinity of narrative' — a fictional narrative, in my view — without being told the story."—Darius Himes, director of Fraenkel Gallery and co-founder of Radius BooksTodd Hido—Stephen Wirtz GalleryState by Paolo Woods, published by Éditions Photosynthèses, selected by Fred Ritchin, author of Bending the Frame and professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.Éditions PhotosynthèsesPictured: A borlette office. Haitians invest two billion dollars every year in these private lotteries – nearly a quarter of the GNP. They are often referred to as “banks” since the poor invest their money in them. Camp Perrin, Haiti
"After NGOs and journalists came and went to Haiti, Paolo Woods stayed to figure out how a society functions when many of its institutions do not. Along with writer Arnaud Robert, Woods searches for the many disparate forces that impact Haitian society, from wealthy businessmen, mostly importers, to the numerous evangelicals coming from the U.S. to convert Haitians, to the influence of radio and the lotto on the people's aspirations, and even the donated, imported t-shirts worn by Haitians who may have little idea what the outrageous, often insulting slogans written on them in English mean."—Fred Ritchin, author of Bending the Frame and professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University's Tisch School of the ArtsPaolo Woods—INSTITUTEFire Island Pines: Polaroids 1975-1983 by Tom Bianchi, published by Damiani, selected by Vince Aletti, photography critic, The New Yorker.Damiani"A collection of SX-70 Polaroids made between 1975 and 1983, Fire Island Pines is a fraught and fascinating period piece: a dazzling view of Eden before the Fall. Bianchi’s particular paradise — a famously hedonistic summer enclave populated almost exclusively by handsome, buffed gay men — looks like a soft-core porn fantasy or a Calvin Klein photo shoot. In a brief introductory note, Edmund White calls this “one version of gay happiness,” and Bianchi anticipates the familiar criticism. He knows the Pines clique was often dismissed as “Too body obsessed. Too fashion obsessed. Too shallow. Too sleazy. Too wild.” But these were his friends and lovers, and in his photographs they’re splendid and seductive and terrifically alive. We know how this story ends; not long after Bianchi stopped taking pictures on Fire Island, many of his subjects had succumbed to AIDS. Looking back is painful; liberation can look like heedlessness in retrospect. But Bianchi’s photographs are also about gay camaraderie--the brotherly love that later turned a crisis into a crusade."—Vince Aletti, photography critic, The New YorkerTom Bianchi—DamianiControl Order House by Edmund Clark, published by Here Press, selected by Aron Mörel, publisher, Mörel Books.Here Press"This is possibly the most boring photobook you could ever flip through. The images are bland. The setting dull. The photography — more like the hollow-gaze of google maps. If anything of interest manages to comes though, it's the wandering ennui of a cat — which might even be the neighbours' cat — passing though the beige settings with the same limp curiosity. If you could fathom the pictures, try fathoming the endless correspondence, the censored court records and the statute also contained in the book. Just as tedious, just as dull. This is control order, an understated great statement of our legal system. Behind these photographs is another image. The frame full of the absence of any object: pregnant with meaning. But here's the twist: this is a portrait of the machinery which has tied the judiciary, executive and legislative in the same web of deceit — off with the separation of powers head! This is the house of a detained UK resident, indefinitely held under house arrest for reasons neither they nor their lawyers, nor anyone else is allowed to know. This citizen has been removed for unknown reasons. Prisoner as his own warden. This is our modern government. This is our bastion of democracy and law!"—Aron Mörel, publisher, Mörel BooksEdmund Clark—Here PressImitation of Christ by William E. Jones, published by MACK, selected by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, artists and bookmakers.MACK"William E Jones has delved into the archives of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts and various other collections to illustrate his mischievous essay about Jesus Christ and his many imitators. The narrative begins with an analysis of the old testament and the emergence of Jesus as a revolutionary leader, but segues into an account of the Nicaraguan civil war funded in part by US tax dollars. He recounts the story of the sixth station of Christ in which a woman offers Jesus her veil to wipe his face clean. Miraculously an image of his face is automatically imprinted on the cloth. There are many versions of the story but one thing remains consistent; the name of the women, Veronika, composed from the Latin vera, or true, and the Greek ikon, or image. 'The story of a true image,' writes Jones, 'miraculously appearing on Veronika's veil, can be seen as an expression of medieval aspirations that later resurfaced in the 19th century with the invention of photography'."—Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, artists and bookmakersWilliam E. Jones—MACKEzekiel 36:36 by Nick Ballon, published by LAB Project, selected by Michael Itkoff, co-founder of Daylight Books.LAB Project"Ezekiel 36:36 is a limited-run publication that profiles Bolivia’s failing airline the Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano and its last functional aircraft. Clear, color photographs tell the story of a beloved national business, its loyal employees, and its struggles to compete in the ever-shifting world of air travel. Within the refined, cloth-bound book is an actual ticket receipt along with a small booklet compiled from schematic manuals, safety instructions and other found materials printed exclusively in the airlines’ colors of blue and red."—Michael Itkoff, co-founder of Daylight BooksNick Ballon—LAB ProjectHesitating Beauty by Joshua Lutz, published by Schilt Publishing, selected by Susan Bright, writer and curator of photography, author of Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood.Schilt Publishing"Hesitating Beauty is a rare gem of a book. Lutz weaves together text, vernacular photography and his own photographs loaded with associations of memory, time, regrets and imagination in an attempt to connect with his mother who suffered from mental illness. It is both a tribute and cathartic exercise. Truth and fiction collapse, and the viewers conceptions of maternal responsibilities and mother/son relations are called into question. As a viewer we are given permission to enter a very private and primal space between mother and son. It's a reminder to everyone that holds and looks at this book that nobody is perfect and that in attempting to connect with somebody with mental illness it is best done with love, kindness and empathy and not with judgements."—Susan Bright, writer and curator of photography, author of Home Truths: Photography and MotherhoodJoshua Lutz—Schilt Publishing
In and Out of Fashion by Viviane Sassen, published by Prestel, selected by Anne Bourgeois-Vignon, creative content director, Nowness.Prestel"'Even as a young child I used to have vivid dreams... I still remember most of my dreams,' says Viviane Sassen. Sometimes she wakes up with images ready formed in her mind, as apparitions which perhaps will find their way into her work. An invitation into the artist’s dreamworld, then, In and Out of Fashion is an important retrospective look at the editorial work of a prolific female photographer who weaves her own path, remarkably successfully burring the lines between fashion and art. The book is a finely crafted testament to a singularly empowering aesthetic. Sassen’s hypergraphic sensibility, her intriguing color palette blending vivid hues with muted pastel tones, and the sculptural, often headless, figures of her models, read formally as carefully constructed fashion images, but also as conduits to a more intuitive level of understanding the inner worlds of her subjects. Far from objectifying her models, her images evoke the strange yet comforting familiarity of the half-remembered dream, and have paved the way for a new genre of fashion photography."—Anne Bourgeois-Vignon, creative content director, NownessViviane Sassen—PrestelDalston Anatomy by Lorenzo Vitturo, published by Self Publish, Be Happy, selected by Erik Kessles, Dutch curator and editor, co-founder of the advertising agency KesselsKramer.Self Publish, Be Happy"A beautiful insight to the work of sculptor and photographer Lorenzo Vitturi, who documented an African market in Dalston, London and made work with objects from the market. For many years Vitturi brought the objects and photographs from the market to his studio and used them as a basis for this project. The book has everything: a surprising edit, a beautiful design and by turning every page you experience another small miracle that Vitturi found or created. The book is an absolute masterpiece created in a micro environment."—Erik Kessels, Dutch curator and editor, founder of the advertising agency KesselsKramerLorenzo Vitturo—Self Publish, Be HappyAmerican Colour 1962-1965 by Tony Ray-Jones, published by MACK, selected by Michelle Molloy, senior photo editor, TIME.MACK"In a wonderful intro to this little gem, Liz Jobey mentions that these rarely seen early color photographs were what Ray-Jones referred to as "isolated sketches." Later recognized for his beautifully jaded black-and-white documentary style, Ray-Jones' influence on photography was enormous, before his decade long career ended abruptly due to leukemia. Here we are given the opportunity to step inside the head of a rapidly developing young British photographer in the early 60s as he explores the U.S., in color no less."—Michelle Molloy, senior photo editor, TIMETony Ray-Jones—MACKBirds of the West Indies by Taryn Simon, published by Hatje Cantz, selected by Aaron Schuman, photographer, writer, curator, and the editor of SeeSaw Magazine (seesawmagazine.com).Hatje CantzA.31 Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson), 1981"Taryn Simon's Birds of the West Indies serves as a meticulous and mesmerizing meditation on materialism, masculinity and geopolitical movements over the course of the last fifty years, via the vehicles, weapons, and women that have featured in Bond films during the same period of time. Although taken straight from fiction, this taxonomical inventory — sequenced randomly via the Mersenne Twister algorithm — not only hints at both brilliant and bizarre narratives within the world of 007, but also starkly reflects disturbing real-world themes and attitudes that defined the latter half of the twentieth century, some of which still remain remarkably resonant even today. Furthermore, scattered amongst the familiar Aston Martins, Walther pistols, and Miss Moneypennys are absurdly amusing one-offs such as a Bath-O-Sub (1971), a shark brain control device (1983), bagpipes with flamethrower and machine gun (1999), a laser X-ray Polaroid camera (1989), and even a rolling pin (1987), as well as a stunningly observed and unsettling series of contemporary portraits depicting actresses who played Bond-girls — such as Pussy Galore (1962), Plenty O'Toole (1971), Fatima Blush (1983), Strawberry Fields (2008), and many more — as they are today. In Fleming's second Bond novel, Live and Let Die (1954), his hero warns a temptress named Solitaire, 'One day, when you're playing your little game, you'll suddenly find yourself pinned down like a butterfly'; Simon's turned up with a pocketful of pins."—Aaron Schuman, photographer, writer, curator, and the editor of SeeSaw Magazine (seesawmagazine.com)Taryn Simon—Robert McKeever/Courtesy Gagosian GalleryNew York Arbor by Mitch Epstein, published by Steidl, selected by Phillip Block, deputy director of programs and director of education, International Center of Photography.SteidlPictured: Eastern Cottonwood Sprague Ave Staten Island II, 2011 "Mitch is a photographer I have admired for decades. This recent project reminds me how astonishing pictures can be when made by someone who is willing to give himself to a subject and see with eyes wide open. Moving the background to the foreground he points to that which is there in plain sight — making the invisible, visible. The idea is so simple, so obvious, yet it takes someone with the depth of experience, the complex understanding of the urban environment and great visual literacy to realize the inherent possibilities of the everyday, everywhere. Mitch weaves a story of the world in which we live that is rich and resonant, layered and opened ended as the best tales told. That these are photographs of New York is a delight. It is a book that demonstrates why I love this city, photography and books."—Phillip Block, deputy director of programs and director of education, International Center of PhotographyMitch Epstein—SteidlThe Grey Line by Jo Metson Scott, published by Dewi Lewis, selected by Karan McQuaid, curator, The Photographers' Gallery, London.Dewi Lewis"The Grey Line, published 10 years after the initial invasion of Iraq, is a document of Jo Metson Scott's five year tenacious journeying through the U.S. and U.K., meeting soldiers who had spoken out against the wars they were involved in. Metson Scott explores how the military processes and classifies the moral dilemmas of these young men and women and traces the consequences they face; from loosing their income and dishonorable discharge to loss of security for their dependents. Documentation, existing photographs, ephemera, interviews and hand-written declaratives all augment the photographic documentation and portraits from her encounters. The dense and attentively designed book reads as an honest attempt to understand and share what it might be to raise a dissenting voice from within a system that is hermetically sealed against the sound of objection."—Karan McQuaid, curator, The Photographers' Gallery, LondonJo Metson Scott—Dewi LewisWall by Josef Koudelka, published by Aperture, selected by Geoff Dyer, author.Aperture"We’ve seen Josef Koudelka’s stunning black-and-white panoramas before, in Chaos. Individually, these photographs of the ‘security fence’ (as Israelis call it) or the apartheid wall (as it is known by the Palestinians whose lives and landscape are blighted by it) have a stark and spectacular beauty. Taken together they create a daunting feeling of visual incarceration so intense, on a scale so massive, that the sky itself is — by turns — implicated, outraged."—Geoff Dyer, authorJosef Koudelka—ApertureIris Garden, Stories by John Cage, Photos by William Gedney, published by Little Brown Mushroom, selected by Jason Fulford, photographer and co-founder of J&L Books.Little Brown Mushroom"Iris Garden is a posthumous collaboration between two of my favorite artists, composer John Cage and photographer William Gedney. The photographs, selected by Alec Soth, range from Gedney’s pictures of India, New York City, Appalachia and portraits of John Cage on a mushroom hunt. The texts are a selection of Cage’s one-minute stories. Each story is meant to be read aloud in the space of 60 seconds, so the reader must speed up or slow down, depending on the length. The book design, by Hans Seeger — unbound and intertwined spreads and gatefolds — is meant to encourage chance encounters with the content, in line with Cage’s theory of Indeterminacy. The sequence will change over time as the pages are rearranged. This is my favorite book of the year for the perfect marriage of rich, emotive content and perfectly efficient, smart design."—Jason Fulford, photographer and co-founder of J&L BooksWilliam Gedney—Little Brown MushroomMalls Across America by Michael Galinsky, published by Steidl, selected by David Strettell, founder and owner of Dashwood Books.Steidl"Galinksy is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer who has never had a book published before. As a twenty-year-old, he became obsessed with the pervasive influence of mall culture (circa 1989) and traveled around the U.S. photographing shoppers in the sprawling malls that were emerging all over the country. The work feels vernacular — found snapshots with a utilitarian sense. It records a fascinating period when the big hair and shiny excess of mid-eighties was being replaced by slackers and grunge culture of white suburban America. But it is much more than a piece of nostalgia — the designer, Peter Miles, who helped forge the stripped down design style of Juergen Teller's books and campaigns, brings a cool contemporary elegance to the work reproduced in a series of straight forward double pages with rich, meaty color printing."—David Strettell, founder and owner of Dashwood BooksMichael Galinsky—SteidlGarry Winogrand edited by Leo Rubinfien, published by Yale University Press, selected by Paul Moakley, deputy photo editor, TIME.Yale University PressPictured: Los Angeles, ca.1980–83
"As someone who grew up under the influence of Garry Winogrand, I've always been left wanting to see more, especially images from the latter part of his career. I remember reading that he died unexpectedly at 56, apparently leaving behind thousands of rolls of undeveloped film and unedited contact sheets. Finally, this mammoth book from the recent San Francisco MOMA retrospective brings to light so many surprising, never before seen images making his work feel alive and relevant as ever. "—Paul Moakley, deputy photo editor at TIMEGarry Winogrand—The Estate of Garry Winogrand, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San FranciscoZimbabwe: Your Wounds Will Be Named Silence by Robin Hammond, published by Actes Sud/Foundation Carmignac Gestion, selected by Vaughn Wallace, producer of LightBox.Actes Sud/Foundation Carmignac Gestion"Robin Hammond's book, produced with assistance from the Carmignac Foundation, is a true work of classic photojournalism. Poignant and moving, telling but not insensitive, Hammond's work reveals the darker demons of Mugabe's chokehold on Zimbabwe. Where words fail, Hammond's photographs pick up — pulling no punches about the lives destroyed by violence and cruelty. The realities shared in the book are hard to swallow but even harder to ignore."—Vaughn Wallace, producer of LightBoxRobin Hammond—Actes Sud/Foundation Carmignac GestionOrchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera by Wayne Lawrence, published by Prestel, selected by Marie Tobias, associate photo editor at TIME.Prestel"Lawrence's photographs capture an honest beauty and the vibrant spirit of summer in the Bronx. A wonderful and poignant portrait of the community!"—Marie Tobias, associate photo editor, TIMEWayne Lawrence/INSTITUTESouth Sound by Tarrah Krajnak, published by Ampersand, selected by Larissa Leclair, founder of the Indie Photobook Library (indiephotobooklibrary.org).Ampersand "The books on the shelves, read and reread, discussed and debated over the years, embody a history of person and place just as much as the recorded photographs and memories. They are part of the space, there from one generation to the next, and weathered like the wooden table in the room. Many artists utilize the photographic archive; recontextualizing vernacular imagery into new narratives and visual poems. In South Sound, Tarrah Krajnak pairs the family archive and book collection found at the Puget Sound cabin into what Alexander Keefe calls in his essay a “speculative riddle”. Beautifully designed by Ampersand with nautical blue stripes on the cover, Krajnak’s photographs within are a point of departure for philosophical musings.
"—Larissa Leclair, founder of the Indie Photobook Library (indiephotobooklibrary.org)Tarrah Krajnak—AmpersandPing Pong Conversations by Alec Soth and Francesco Zanot, published by Contrasto Books, selected by Andy Adams, founder of Flak Photo (flakphoto.com).Contrasto BooksPictured: USA. Port Gibson, Mississippi. 2000. Bonnie, with a photograph of an angel. Sleeping by the Mississippi.
"Soth is one of my favorite photographers and his influence on the internet/photo generation is huge. He's gotten lots of play online, so many of us know his pictures even if his books aren't in our home library. Ping Pong Conversations is an opportunity to consider his approach to seeing the world with a camera. Curator Francesco Zanot knows his subject and their short-form dialogues provide funny, articulate insights into what makes this artist tick. The book is lots of fun and it's cheap — just twenty bucks! (I'd love to see Contrasto publish an expanded series of interview books in a similar format). Like his images, which require slow looking to appreciate, this extended interview gets better with repeat readings."—Andy Adams, founder of Flak Photo (flakphoto.com)Alec Soth—MagnumPhotojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq by Michael Kamber, published by University of Texas Press, selected by Patrick Witty, international picture editor, TIME.University of Texas PressPictured: A Sheikh Maaruf cemetery worker carrying a reusable casket to the storage house after the funeral of Nidal Ali Jasem, 41, a lonely deaf and dumb woman killed in a rocket blast in the south of Baghdad, March 31, 2003.
"Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq is a monument to the conflict photographer. Mike Kamber, who covered the Iraq war for the New York Times, spent five years compiling the backstories to some of the most iconic and important photographs made during the past decade of conflict there. Kamber's interviews are deeply compelling and brutally frank, offering a comprehensive window into the minds and motivations of some of the greatest photographers working today. It’s like listening in on a conversation among friends freshly back from the front lines."—Patrick Witty, international picture editor, TIMEYuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMERasen Kaigan by Lieko Shinga, published by AKAAKA, selected by Alec Soth, photographer, founder of Little Brown Mushroom.AKAAKA"The danger of Surrealism is that it can easily lead to self-indulgence and repetition. To avoid this trap, Lieko Shiga moved to the Japanese coastal town of Kitakama and became the town’s official photographer. The result is a dreamlike community album."—Alec Soth, photographer, founder of Little Brown MushroomLieko Shinga—AKAAKALost Home story by Nobuyuki Isshiki, photographs by Harvey Benge, J.H. Engström, Roe Ethridge, Takashi Homma, Ron Jude, Daido Moriyama, Christian Patterson, Slavica Perkovic, Bertien van Manen, Terri Weifenbach, published by Super Labo, selected by Natalie Matutschovsky, senior photo editor, TIME.Super Labo"Every photo editor is at times tempted to imagine how different artists might respond to the same story. Publisher Yasunori Hoki explores this question in his compilation book Lost Home. Hoki assigned Nobuyuki Isshiki to write a short story, which was then transposed into visual impressions by ten photographers— each of whom created a book of their own design. Isshiki’s prose poem focuses on a young boy and his father navigating life after the boy’s mother dies in a tragic accident. The artist’s books interpret everything from the emotional charge between characters, to still lives that parallel Isshiki’s melancholy writing.
Daido Moriyama's work captures the feeling of disorientation through his customarily dark eye. Bertien Van Manen's contribution is a photographic negative of the written story, describing the lives of North African women in Europe and the isolation they face. Ron Jude and Christian Patterson’s books focus on the poetry of mundane details. There is no discovery of a definitive truth but together the photographic sequences explore narrative, atmosphere and characters from a multitude of positions. Isshiki is in fact a well known screenwriter, and Lost Home feels at times like a selection of short films."—Natalie Matutschovsky, senior photo editor, TIMESuper LaboBright Nights: Photographs of Another New York by Tod Seelie, published by Prestel, selected by Eugene Reznik, writer and photographer, contributor to LightBox.PrestelJousting at Bike Kill, Brooklyn, N.Y."For the last 15 years, Tod Seelie has been the tireless, go-to chronicler of authentic fringe culture in New York City, compiling an unparalleled document on the elusive notion of 'the underground.' The illegal concert circuit and warehouse rave scene, the vacant watertower speakeasies and bridge parties, the squat houses and crust punk hideaways, the underground tunnels and abandoned subways, the mutant bike rallies and floating makeshift 'cities' — Tod was there. It was still the pre-Instagram era and you had to be in the know, you had see it for yourself, if you were to see it at all. A certain amount of risk was required to access this amorphous coterie of artists and vandals, which draws a lineage back to the days of Andy Warhol's Factory, the days of a filthy, bankrupt, crime-ridden New York, furthest from the largely sterilized, Disneyfied version we know today. Seelie's raw, unaffected photographs in this first monograph capture the passion and intensity of a youth culture on the edge, seemingly ripe to fall off and fade away. His subjects are having more fun than you, he is having more fun than you, and you can't help but wonder how much longer such fun will be around to be had. Which is not to say that Bright Nights is at all a wistful back-in-my-day picture collection. This book is a testament to the unique and historically vibrant undercurrent of anarchic energy that — despite trends in demographics, zoning and police tactics — will remain, however obscured, only in New York."—Eugene Reznik, writer and photographer, contributor to LightBoxTod SeelieThe Canaries by Thilde Jensen, published by LENA Publications, selected by Jeffery Ladd, photographer, writer and publisher of Errata Editions
LENA Publications "Thilde Jensen’s book The Canaries is about people who suffer from Environmental Illness. Those with ‘EI’ have become sensitive to, and must go to great lengths to avoid, the array of toxins or electronics found in everyday objects, and in their homes and cars. They often must avoid major cities where cellular phone towers, power-lines and radio-waves are used in abundance. Even reading a book, Jensen’s book, could cause severe reactions due to the fumes from the ink on the paper.
The Canaries is a vision of a real but little discussed nightmare where people are forced to relocate to desolate places, modify their living spaces to be free of contaminates. They alter phones and other appliances to reduce their exposure and maintain some semblance of normalcy. It is a book that is terrifying because it brings to our awareness the world we are creating is far more polluted than we realize. These people can feel the extent of it, they are the canaries for the rest."
—Jeffery Ladd, photographer, writer and publisher of Errata Editions
Thilde JensenAway From Home by Kursat Bayhan, self-published, selected by Jason Eskenazi, photographer, author of By the Glow of the Jukebox: The Americans List.Kursat Bayhan"Orhan Pamuk's well-known book Snow called to mind two wonderful new independently published first books this year: Kursat Bayhan's Away from Home and Carolyn Drake's Two Rivers. The stark white mysticism of snow plays an important role for both of them, yet it also represents, for me, a thaw in the stranglehold many established publishers have had on photographers. Both Kursat and Carolyn found the means to fund the printing, and designers (Frederick Lezmi and Syb Kuiper respectfully), to help them put it into book form. Drake's book takes us on a backward journey from a dry river bed through flowing rivers of Central Asian traditions and then to icy lifeless mountaintops. Bayhan's book takes us from snowy eastern Turkey (where Pamuk's books takes place) to itinerant lives of cold loneliness in the commercial center of Istanbul, where family and traditions are far-away back home. For both, life must be lived somewhere between the extremes."—Jason Eskenazi, photographer, author of By the Glow of the Jukebox: The Americans ListKursat Bayhan
