With much of my time spent working on my own photobook, The Gamblers, I chose to pause my regular photobook recommendation feature, The List. However, with the halfway point of 2018 upon us, here follows a list of photobooks that left an impression so far this year:
John Myers – The Portraits
John Myers’ uniquely British portraits had for many years been a little known body of work. This handsome new photobook published by RRB Publishing, ensures that this underappreciated photographer gets some of the recognition he deserves. A simple classy design bring Myers’ extraordinary photographs to the fore.
Morten Andersen – Fast Cities
Books featuring frenzied explorations of city life are not uncommon, however with it’s masterful sequencing and pairing of images, Morten Andersen’s Fast Cities proves itself to be step above the rest.
Hayahisa Tomiyasu – TTP
A series of deadpan photographs of the same ping pong table in a public park may not sound like the most exciting premise. However, thanks to Hayahisa Tomiyasu’s relentless curiousity and uncanny eye for detail, TTP is an unexpected gem and a perfect example of a project that shines in photobook form. Recipient of the 6th Mack First Book Award and my personal favourite to date.
Max Pinckers – Margins Of Excess
A photobook very much of our time, Margins of Excess is spun around the stories of six people who momentarily received nationwide attention in the US press, but were ultimately considered deceivers. Highly likely to be one of the photobooks of the year, Margins of Excess once again showcases Pinckers’ brilliance as a photographer and book maker.
Sian Davey – Martha
The hauntingly beautiful book Martha, sees the photographer, Sian Davey, documenting her daughter Martha and her friends transition to adulthood. An elegant fluid design and Davey’s powerful images combine to make this a very rewarding photobook.
Tamiko Nishimura – My Journey
Zen Foto Gallery have produced some of the best photobooks to come from Japan in the past year (see last year’s exceptional Guts by Masaki Yamamoto). This evocative collection of work by photographer Tamiko Nishimura is my pick, but equally worthy of inclusion would be the publisher’s other books, New York by Masao Gozu and Hiromi Tsuchida’s Autistic Space.
Michael E. Northrup – Dream Away
There is a growing claustrophobia in Michael E. Northrup’s series of photographs of his then wife. Described as a “love story about life, vision, and love itself”, Dream Away’s striking imagery and abundant humour are balanced by a growing sadness and nagging uneasiness making it one of the most unique books of recent years.
As a footnote to these recommended selections, below are our top 15 bestsellers at Photobookstore, from January 1st to June 30th 2018 :
- Women by Saul Leiter
- Supplement Deutschland by Gerry Johansson
- Margins Of Excess by Max Pinckers
- The Portraits by John Myers
- Night Procession by Stephen Gill
- War Primer 2 by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin
- The Gamblers by Martin Amis
- All About Saul Leiter
- Youth Unemployment by Tish Murtha (sold out)
- Like You’ve Never Been Away by Paul Trevor
- Termini by Tom Wood
- She Dances on Jackson by Vanessa Winship
- Record no.37 by Daido Moriyama
- Preston Bus Station by Jamie Hawkesworth
- Dream Away by Michael E. Northrup
Martin Amis founded Photobookstore in 2006, and is rarely more than 10 feet from a pile of photobooks. His first photobook The Gamblers was published in April 2018.
Images: Martha by Sian Davey, Margins of Excess by Max Pinckers
