The Photobook Thread

findthomas

Member
Joined
May 29, 2022
Messages
4
Location
MA
Format
35mm
Pieter12 said:
I don't know if anything I have merits such care. I don't collect books except to read and enjoy them. My books are there for me and others, they are on shelves and tables to be picked up and handled. I wouldn't it any other way.
Click to expand...

I have some common engineering/textbooks etc., and some of these have been on the shelf for years. They seem to be doing just fine being on the shelf.
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,236
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format

That book is a disgrace. Nothing in it ressembles Haïti, nor does it ressemble its people. It only ressemble Gilden's twisted view of the people of Haiti, filled with clichés, nourished by too many old zombie movies. Gilden went to Haiti with a cliched image of it, and when faced with his incapacity to actually see the people there, he simply, with his mediocre brand of photographic cruelty, tried to recreate it.

He left there understanding nothing of what he saw and about the people he saw.

Alex Webb's Haiti has its faults, but it does a much better job at capturing its humanity, tragedy and ambiguity. He's looking at people, not want he wants them to look like on his photographs.

Gilden's Haiti is a disgusting book.

P.S. Just so that my bias is obvious, I'm Haitian.



(Haiti, 2012)
 
OP
OP

logan2z

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
3,598
Location
SF Bay Area, USA
Format
Multi Format

Thanks for your perspective. I don't have the context for gauging the accuracy of Gilden's depiction of Haiti that you obviously do. I just know that the book seems to be thought of highly for the quality of its 'street' photographs. Now that I own the book I can see why. But I must defer to you for how well the photographs represent Haiti and it's people, which is apparently poorly.
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,236
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
logan2z said:
I just know that the book seems to be thought of highly for the quality of its 'street' photographs.
Click to expand...

Interesting take, but begs the questions: is it "street photography" or "documentary photography? At which point does the former becomes the latter? Or, to put it in another way, isn't this documentary photography done in a street photography style?

It's not just a question of semantics. The conventions associated with one and the other are very different. As are the ethical implications. In Gilden's case, the "street photography" label is very convenient for critics who wish to avoid tackling these implications.
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,236
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
On another note, cannot recommend highly enough Melissa Harris' Josef Koudelka Next: A Visual Biography published by Aperture.
 

Arthurwg

Subscriber
Joined
Dec 16, 2005
Messages
2,532
Location
Taos NM
Format
Medium Format
Hmmm... Changing the subject somewhat, I'm currently reading "Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard," Elizabeth W. Easton, ed. This is a thoroughgoing account of the advent of the first Kodak box cameras in 1888 and how they were used by the painters of the day. I'm finding it excellent.
 

MTGseattle

Subscriber
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
1,331
Location
Seattle
Format
Multi Format
Here's one I scooped up in October; It's pretty good imo.


I also had a Barnes and Noble gift card I had forgotten about so I picked this up;

Eakins Press Foundation

For the advancement of literature and art through excellence of presentation to a broad public. Limited edition books and portfolios on photography, history, literature, ballet and art.
eakinspress.com

I like it. Mr. Friedlander definitely has his own ideas regarding framing.
 

Nitroplait

Subscriber
Joined
Jul 13, 2020
Messages
774
Location
Europe (EU)
Format
Multi Format
I just ordered Japanese Photography Magazines, 1880s to 1980s from Goliga books.

This meta-book has gotten a bit of positive attention in the past year and I have a special attachment to Japanese photography, as my interest in photo books began when I lived in Tokyo and enjoyed the rich publishing culture which continues to fascinate me tremendously.

I already own Steidl's The Japanese Photo Book 1912-1990 and I imagine these two will supplement each other well.


Both are/were quite expensive new, but the latter is long out of print and now unobtainable at a price point where I can participate.
I suspect both are made more as a public service rather than in expectation of profit. They are also elaborately executed and limited in their potential reach, thus I dared not wait too long to press the "buy" button as neither will be obvious candidates for a reprint.
 
  • paddycook
  • Deleted
  • Reason: cant post link

MTGseattle

Subscriber
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
1,331
Location
Seattle
Format
Multi Format
I scored a copy of this still in the shrinkwrap for $3.50 last week

Eadweard Muybridge and the photographic panorama of San Francisco, 1850-1880 by Harris, David (1950-): Near Fine Soft cover (1993) 1st Edition | Superbbooks

ISBN: 9780920785393 - 1st Edition - Soft cover - Centre Canadien d'Architecture ; MIT, Quebec/Cambridge, Mass - 1993 - Condition: Near Fine - Unmarked PAGES And BINDING And COVER In LIGHTLY USED CONDITION. Approximately 9 1/2 X 11 1/2. 135 pages plus fold-out panorama photo. - Eadweard Muybridge...
www.abebooks.com
 
OP
OP

logan2z

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
3,598
Location
SF Bay Area, USA
Format
Multi Format

Wow, great price.
 

albireo

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2017
Messages
1,237
Location
Europe
Format
Multi Format
Alex Benjamin said:
Taschen is having its annual sale. Is it me, or are they getting much less love than other photo book publishers? If so, why is that?
Click to expand...

I have a couple of books by them (an Atget and a Saul Leiter compendium) and I wasn't aware they get much less love than other publishers in general, but they do get little love from me, and mainly for one reason: many images are printed across two adjacent pages, which means they break along the spine. Not sure if this is the case only for their budget releases though.

I've always wondered why many photobooks contain images printed this way. To enjoy the full image, especially if the book is thick, you'll have to pry open the book at the page, and risk ruining the binding. Is it a cost saving measure? Is it to keep publishing in portrait format for editorial coherence?

MACK does it too. I've been browsing a couple of their recent releases and yep - the dreaded split images again.
 

Pieter12

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
7,482
Location
Magrathean's computer
Format
Super8
It's sometimes referred to as printing across the gutter--the gutter being the division between pages. It is purely a design decision, the only way to get a horizontal image to print large. Unless it is printed as a fold-out insert (a lot more expensive and complicated to bind). Some publishers can produce lay-flat bindings where the book opens 180º (flat) so there is no gutter. I believe that method is also expensive and not done for mass-produced books. My gripe with Taschen is more their catalog, a lot of trendy, trashy books, a lot of glitzy super-large books that seem to be mostly about being expensive bling.
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,236
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
A few new ones on the shelves these past few months:

Saul Leiter, The Centennial Retrospective
Willy Spiller: My Subway, 1977-1984
John Gossage: The Nicknames of Citizens
Lois Conner: China
Dorothea Lange: Seeing People
Koudelka Gypsies (New edition by Aperture)
Josef Koudelka Next: a Visual Biography by Melissa Harris
Josef Koudelka: Exiles

Yes, I'm going through a Koudelka phase . Realized after reading Joseph Koudelka Next that I had The Making of Exiles and not Exiles...

The Saul Leiter retrospective is really worth it. Shows a few contact sheets — a new tendency in retrospective books that I really appreciate.

Lois Conner's China is just a huge wow for me. Absolutely brilliant and stunning use of the panoramic format.

Was a bit disappointed by the Willy Spiller book. Has some really good photos in it, but nothing at the level Bruce Davidson did around the same period. Feels more like a time-capsule than a photo book you'd want to go back to often.

Also, borrowed from the library the Sergio Larrain retrospective book by Agnès Sire. Truly a major visual poet. Too bad his books (safe for London) are so difficult to find.
 

NB23

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
4,308
Format
35mm
3 of my books are hitting the market soon.

One with an intro by Daniel Belanger.

Huge.
 
  • NB25
  • Deleted
  • Reason: duplicate - sort of
OP
OP

logan2z

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
3,598
Location
SF Bay Area, USA
Format
Multi Format

What do you think of Seeing People? It's been on my radar for a while but I haven't taken the plunge yet.
 

albireo

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2017
Messages
1,237
Location
Europe
Format
Multi Format

what did you think of the Gossage?
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,236
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
logan2z said:
What do you think of Seeing People? It's been on my radar for a while but I haven't taken the plunge yet.
Click to expand...

Really worth it. It's a scholarly book — this is Yale University Press, after all —, but this idea of framing her work through the lens of portraiture is brilliant and gives coherence to the whole. It's a book about portraiture, about how the idea and practice of portraiture infuses her work from her early practice to the later series, and thus, how she saw, and tried to show people. You get a much better sense of how she engaged with people, with individuals, as opposed to the usual "documentary photography" framing and its emphasis on the FSA program which isn't interested in individuals as much as the general problem of poverty during the Depression and how people are impacted by it.

I have the older Aperture monograph Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime, and, mostly because of the essays, this is a good complement to it. Has less photos, but more info on them, and the printing is absolutely stunning — here, the photos glow, compared to the harsh, glossy and overly contrasty look of the Aperture book.

albireo said:
what did you think of the Gossage?
Click to expand...

Really loving it! I did not know of him until I listened to the episode of Sasha Wolf's podcast in which he is featured. Make me curious and I took the chance. Really beautiful photography, very much in the spirit of the times. There is a special stillness and silence in his photography that I find very compelling, which makes a banal shrub or open suburban garage or empty road as interesting a visual subject — as worthy of our looking at it — as people.

John Gossage – PhotoWork Foundation

photowork.foundation
 

albireo

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2017
Messages
1,237
Location
Europe
Format
Multi Format


Nice. I have 'The Pond' by him, and a Steidl monograph in the same series as the one you have, 'Should Nature Change' - a true great.
 

Alex Benjamin

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
2,236
Location
Montreal
Format
Multi Format
albireo said:
Nice. I have 'The Pond' by him, and a Steidl monograph in the same series as the one you have, 'Should Nature Change' - a true great.
Click to expand...

I'm planning to get the other two (soon three) in the series later this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…