The List #3 by Martin Amis
The third installment in the new regular feature, The List, highlights my personal recommendations from the recent arrivals to the Photobookstore shelves. Over the course of the year, I hope these updates will be a welcome alternative complement to the both much anticipated (and sometimes dreaded) end of year book lists. See also List #1 and List #2.
Igor Posner – Past Perfect Continuous
A blurry impressionistic portrayal of Igor Posner’s howetown of St. Petersburg, Past Perfect Continuous’ bold high contrast images linger long in the memory.
Mike Mandel – People In Cars
As the title suggest, People in Cars see Mike Mandel photographing passing motorists in 1970’s LA. Some are happy to be photographed, some less so in this series of captured reactions. A simple premise, perfectly executed in this suitably sparsely designed book.
Marcello Galvani – Eggs and Asparagus
A study of how a photographer’s eye and influences can turn the everyday into something more remarkable. Just as William Eggleston famously transformed Memphis into something beyond the ordinary, here Marcello Galvani turns the everyday ordinary stories of Massa Lombarda, Italy into a rich tableaux.
Ron Jude – Nausea
Nausea sees Ron Jude photographing the interiors of public schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia. This claustrophobic sequence of images once again amply demonstrates Jude’s mastery of visual language.
Mårten Lange – The Mechanism
Yet another great photobook in a fine year so far for Mack Books, The Mechanism is Marten Lange’s expertly sequenced look at contemporary urban life.
Çağdaş Erdoğan – Control
Control features young Turkish photographer’s Çağdaş Erdoğan striking and at times shocking photographs from one of the most dangerous districts of Istanbul. Figures drift in and out of the darkness of night in this near perfect realisation of the project in photobook form.
Michiko Hayashi – Hodophylax: The Guardian of the Path
This elaborate two volume boxed set explores folk tales of the Japanese wolf. An extraordinary handmade treasure, and another beautiful book to materialize from the Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo.
Martin Amis founded Photobookstore in 2006, and is rarely more than 10 feet from a pile of photobooks.
