--- title: The Best Photobooks of 2018 description: Here are TIME's best photobooks of 2018, from photographers like Deana Lawson and Vivian Maier. canonical: https://time.com/5459153/best-photobooks-2018/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-20T17:20:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:09.870Z og:title: The Best Photobooks of 2018 og:description: Here are TIME's best photobooks of 2018, from photographers like Deana Lawson and Vivian Maier. og:url: https://time.com/5459153/best-photobooks-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8bc56b083463bf18/698940db8fd2ee1ae635d52d/lede.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Best Photo Books 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best Photobooks of 2018 twitter:description: Here are TIME's best photobooks of 2018, from photographers like Deana Lawson and Vivian Maier. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8bc56b083463bf18/698940db8fd2ee1ae635d52d/lede.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # TIME's 25 Best Photobooks of 2018 Dec 20, 2018 5:20 PM CUT  Danny Kim for TIME by [TIME Photo Department](/author/time-photo-department/) ## TIME Photo Department Dec 20, 2018 5:20 PM CUT As an antidote to your unyielding Instagram feed, consider the photobook. In 2018, the form continued to be the most intimate way for photographers to fulfill and share their work. Here, TIME’s photography staff has selected the 25 we loved most this year. Three explored intimate worlds particularly incisively. In [Deana Lawson](https://aperture.org/shop/deana-lawson-an-aperture-monograph/ "undefined")’s self-titled first monograph (Aperture), an elegant satin-covered book, the celebrated young artist solidified her unique sensibility within collaborative, lush portraiture. Like a painter, Lawson uses the large-format camera to craft a formal tableaux where ideas of representation, performance and power converge — elevating the everyday environments and allowing the subjects to assert themselves. Meanwhile, Andrew Moisey designed his [_American Fraternity_ ](http://time.com/longform/american-fraternity-life-photographs/ "undefined")(Daylight) as an illustrated handbook filled with secret rituals and history. For eight years, he was allowed to capture the inner life of a fraternity house, which feels as if it could be from almost anywhere in America or any time since the release of the 1978 film _Animal House_ — but was particularly powerful in a year where conversations about “toxic masculinity” circled some of the U.S. government’s most powerful men. Moisey’s book feels like a peek inside a clandestine world laughing about a joke that isn’t funny anymore. “The culture that happens in a fraternity house ends up infecting the rest of the country,” Moisey told TIME, “especially when brothers become leaders.” And in the compilation of loopy family photographs by Michael E. Northrup in _Dream Away_ ([Stanley/Barker](https://www.stanleybarker.co.uk/collections/books/products/dream-away "undefined")), the follow-up to [_Babe_ (J+L Books, selected for TIME’s 2012 list)](http://time.com/3795591/times-best-of-2012-the-photobooks-we-loved/ "undefined"), the artist opens his archive of early work from 1976–88 and looks at his own love and marriage. In the tradition of photographers making books around their families (like Emmet Gowin, Sally Mann or [Doug DuBois](http://dougdubois.com/atdan/ "undefined")), Northrup balances the beauty of domestic life within the sensibility of an acid trip. Some images are touching while others are tempered with a looming anxiety about mortality. Nevertheless, the book gives the feeling that love, longing and a sense of whimsy make life in Northrup’s world feel hopeful. Almost all of our notable books seem to test the boundaries of studied, well-hewn documentary works. For instance, _Undocumented_ by John Moore and _Upstate Girls_ by Brenda Ann Kenneally use the book format as the ultimate expression of the epic story. And John Edmond’s _Higher,_ Rose Marie Cromwell’s _El Libro Supremo de la Suerte_, Jo Ann Walters’ _Wood River/Blue Pool_ and many other photobooks found space to preserve the overlooked. Works like [_Landing Lights Park_ ](http://www.davidmaxrothenberg.com/statement-1/ "undefined")(ROMAN NVMERALS) by David Rothenberg were more illusive; its untethered sense of reality makes what may otherwise seem mundane — the area around LaGuardia Airport in Queens, N.Y. — into an incredible exercise in mindful seeing. All of these books are attempts at seeing anew. They play with notions of sequence. They challenge our habits, increasingly defined by ceaseless scrolling. We hope they delight, transport or, perhaps most importantly, make you take a sacred moment to see the world differently. ## [Deana Lawson: An Aperture Monograph](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597114227/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1597114227&linkId=aec95c25598fb69fa9cdf0c641b6a7df "undefined") ## Published by [Aperture](https://aperture.org/shop/deana-lawson-an-aperture-monograph "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1942084552/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1942084552&linkId=e7c01afe063259c6d244e23df5316400 "undefined") ## By Andrew Moisey ## Published by [Daylight](https://daylightbooks.org/products/american-fraternity-an-illustrated-manual "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Dream Away](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0995555583/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0995555583&linkId=7dbe45720a6725119b069d4bd5b8b267 "undefined") ## By Michael Northrup ## Published by [STANLEY/BARKER](https://www.stanleybarker.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/dream-away "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Lars Tunbjörk](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9171264442/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=9171264442&linkId=ba603debf8137579dbd187e127a851b2 "undefined") ## Published by [Max Ström](https://www.maxstrom.se/bocker/222778/lars-tunbjork/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Vivian Maier: The Color Work](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062795570/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062795570&linkId=2d36d871aef297eacdf37f247f4c6d15 "undefined") ## Published by [Harper Design](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062795571/vivian-maier-the-color-work/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [On Abortion: And the repercussions of lack of access](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1911306243/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1911306243&linkId=873b55c5864b1a05c60092e72e5b731d "undefined") ## By Laia Abril ## Published by [Dewi Lewis Publishing](https://www.dewilewis.com/products/on-abortion "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [American Interiors](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1911306170/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1911306170&linkId=ba8dafbcc61a6c98cf814eeb6fa78ed4 "undefined") ## By M L Casteel ## Published by [Dewi Lewis Publishing](https://www.dewilewis.com/products/american-interiors "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Of Love and War](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525560025/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525560025&linkId=fb7c06c6ab7fbd8e2afe5fbfb8a54a46 "undefined") ## By Lynsey Addario ## Published by [Penguin Press](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/580090/of-love-and-war-by-lynsey-addario/9780525560029/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Liberty Theater](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1912339226/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1912339226&linkId=d683231f1683b56aabb6356bf86388c8 "undefined") ## By Rosalind Fox Solomon ## Published by [Mack](https://mackbooks.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/liberty-theater-br-rosalind-fox-solomon "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Kagerou](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GBLCR17/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07GBLCR17&linkId=78fa63252968971cc905972a2233209d "undefined") ## By Yusuke Takagi ## Published by [Akina Books](http://akinabooks.com/product/kagerou/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Upstate Girls: Unraveling Collar City](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1942872836/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1942872836&linkId=15facc00f943f05f955e0121586d840a "undefined") ## By Brenda Ann Kenneally ## Published by [Regan Arts.](https://www.reganarts.com/books/2017/upstate-girls/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Dawoud Bey: Seeing Deeply](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1477317198/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1477317198&linkId=8b4ff3c4b62a8f1955f04be41d7beef9 "undefined") ## Published by [University of Texas Press](https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/dawoud-bey "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Jo Ann Walters: Wood River Blue Pool](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/099673516X/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=099673516X&linkId=df934e7c485e8e142bd3687b21e5a7d0 "undefined") ## Published by [Image Text Ithaca](https://imagetextithaca.com/collections/frontpage/products/wood-river-blue-pool-blue-pool-cecilia "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Higher](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0997444681/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0997444681&linkId=d823101cba7602948818f70e5d96470f "undefined") ## By John Edmonds ## Published by [Capricious](https://becapricious.com/publications/higher-by-john-edmonds/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Undocumented: Immigration and the Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576878678/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1576878678&linkId=5268c6469fb0a6765022aef590fcce04 "undefined") ## By John Moore ## Published by [powerHouse Books](http://www.powerhousebooks.com/books/undocumented-immigration-and-the-militarization-of-the-u-s-mexico-border/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## Landing Lights Park ## By David Rothenberg ## Published by [Roman Nvmerals](http://www.romannvmerals.com/books/NIII.html "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [El Libro Supremo de la Suerte](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E2XDIW/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B008E2XDIW&linkId=7d6e77073cadd88dc40656dc8e58ac57 "undefined") ## By Rose Marie Cromwell ## Published by [TIS Books/Light Work](https://www.tisbooks.pub/products/el-libro-supremo-de-la-suerte "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597114243/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1597114243&linkId=29ff7d67f5fee89220ad5e0d6ee3ae2a "undefined") ## By Zanele Muholi ## Published by [Aperture](https://aperture.org/shop/somnyama-ngonyama-hail-the-dark-lioness "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [In My Room](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3958291031/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=3958291031&linkId=5c9a9ffd08f68550a32eab8686a220b3 "undefined") ## By Saul Leiter ## Published by [Steidl](https://steidl.de/Books/In-My-Room-0811234546.html "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [My Birth](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1999814444/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1999814444&linkId=6e9563880241cb530f5b5fabd1495413 "undefined") ## By Carmen Winant ## Published by Image Text Ithaca/[SPBH Editions](http://shop.selfpublishbehappy.com/product/my-birth-by-carmen-winant "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [The Parallel State](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1910401226/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1910401226&linkId=6307ed464c09771d966a0df7cc4b4eeb "undefined") ## By Guy Martin ## Published by [GOST Books](https://www.gostbooks.com/2018/04/03/the-parallel-state-by-guy-martin/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Experimental Relationship Vol. 1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GTBW2TS/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07GTBW2TS&linkId=ab966810bc08f809e3250874fc62fc66 "undefined") ## By Pixy Liao ## Published by [Jiazazhi Press](http://www.jiazazhi.com/book/experimental-relationship-vol1/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Christopher Street 1976](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1916410685/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1916410685&linkId=442d2ede85270817c330175a86fb3d84 "undefined") ## By Sunil Gupta ## Published by [STANLEY/BARKER](https://www.stanleybarker.co.uk/products/christopher-street-1976 "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes: The Sweet Flypaper of Life](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0999843826/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0999843826&linkId=46faaeaee6825992f343c9a0ec70709d "undefined") ## Published by First Print Press/[David Zwirner Books](http://davidzwirnerbooks.com/product/the-sweet-flypaper-of-life-softcover "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## [Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525573887/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=tmbestphotobooks2018-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525573887&linkId=2e38e9b29b6339d2a4ecdb69f719edbf "undefined") ## By Vikki Tobak ## Published by [Clarkson Potter](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567510/contact-high-by-vikki-tobak-foreword-by-questlove/ "undefined")  Danny Kim for TIME  Danny Kim for TIME ## ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5459153/best-photobooks-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5459153/best-photobooks-2018/"},"headline":"TIME's 25 Best Photobooks of 2018","datePublished":"2018-12-20T17:20:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:09.870Z","description":"Here are TIME's best photobooks of 2018, from photographers like Deana Lawson and Vivian Maier.","url":"https://time.com/5459153/best-photobooks-2018/","keywords":["Living","Books","photography","LightBox","longform"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo Department","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo-department/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5459153/best-photobooks-2018/","name":"TIME's 25 Best Photobooks of 2018"}}]}] ```