7 Photobooks You Should Peep in 2015
October 14th was World Photobook Day. Here’s #PHOTOGRAPHY Magazine’s fave titles to mark the occasion.
A photobook has endless possibilities. New sizes, bindings, materials, fonts, throwback layouts and pioneering design are constantly emerging. The book is a dynamic format for the photographic medium. There are thousands of photobooks out there and in production. Where to start? Well, let’s narrow it down to this years releases and let’s narrow it down to my personal favourites. Enjoy!
‘Close Your Eyes’ by Gareth McConnell
An energetic, busy book filled with nostalgia. These kaleidoscopic images document key British moments from the London Riots to the Battle of Beanfield. McConnell steers away from stereotypical war photography by using small references of the Zen mystic Osho (a group known for drug use) and shows it through the photographs by using a mix of bright colours and strong shapes; you feel the side effects yourself.
The personal approach McConnell uses shines through to create a 80’s and 90’s record of mass political awareness alongside a drug thrilled rave scene. The ecstasy-fuelled colours take me to a place before I was born. And for that I applaud McConnell.
-
‘Hometowns’ by John MacLean
With the intention to “photograph your heroes”, MacLean created sixty-five images all documenting where “legends” such as Bridget Riley, James Turrell and William Eggleston were born and raised. Hometowns is absorbing. Sitting with this photobook and looking through different hometowns might seem run-of-the-mill, but MacLean has created a body of work that takes you back to your own hometown; the experiences, the memories and the subtle, silly things you will never forget, and in return we gain sentimental value with this photobook.
After becoming a freelance photographer in 1998, MacLean has made a name for himself and has previously gained recognition in 2012 for New Colour Guide. He continues his coherent, vibrant presentation of place. MacLean breaks down the boundaries between the people we honour and the people we know; even boundaries with ourselves. We should not forget that the people that we are inspired by once came from the types of homes we did, and that within its self gives us self-belief.
-
‘Tectonic’ by Johan Rosenmunthe
This photobook boats one of the most beautiful covers. Get inside and the mystery unfolds. With a undergraduate degree in Human Sciences, Rosenmunthe’s work explores natural elements, their properties and their relationship in our world. Tectonic focuses on the life and experiences of stone(s), their long existence on planets and giving these objects significance.
Rosenmunthe has combined science, art and philosophy to create an impressive and stunning document. The context, concept and the text he has included by Mary Anne Atwood, will raise questions you never even knew you had. A beautiful object.
-
‘Seascapes’ by Hiroshi Sugimoto
Thirty years of documenting the world’s seascapes Sugimoto has published more than two hundred of his images into one essential photobook.
Within Seascapes, each image is different to the next, but yet they all retain the horizon imprint and Sugimoto’s effortless, classic monochrome way. Full of detail, the almost identical images make the viewer question what they really see. Sugimoto takes the quote “less is more” to a whole new level.
The visual repetition in Seascapes is rhythmic and serene on the one hand, but raises difficult questions about how we do or do not see things differently in the world.
-
‘The Dailies’ by Thomas Demand
Published last month, The Dailies has already made it on to my own personal bookshelf. Newspapers were once called “dailies” and Demand compares this old form of media to the flood of smartphone “snapshot” media made today by millions of users every minute. Demand taps a contemporary conversational concept many artists discuss non-stop, but does so in the cleverest way.
Demand contrasts the snapshot approach with use of the long dye-transfer printing process for the pages of the book. Strong, rich colours saturate the work, taking on the current style of the Instagram. It’s one thing to employ a disposable digital phone file on a paper cup, but an expensive, labour-intensive technique? What do we value?
Language and photography are key concepts within The Dailies,; words establish meaning and direct thoughts and questions. Sections adopt subtitles such as ‘Detail’ and ‘Obstinacy’ and within each section Demand includes an array of people such as Alexander Kluge to Svetlana Alpers in order to explore their theories in relation to his own. With all the research, staging and post-manipulations going into each print, we consider how “easy” a snapshot really is. Simplicity and complexity rolled into one photobook, a necessity for people who want to look further than the image itself.
-
‘Gathered Leaves’ by Alec Soth
I debated whether or to include this as one of my top seven. Its not what we might traditionally understand as a photobook, but why should it not be? Soth has created more than a book; Gathered Leaves is a handheld-exhibition in itself. Again, Soth pushes the limits of the photobook.
The embossed cardboard presentation box contains four of Soth’s earlier photobooks in miniature form (three of the originals have sold out individually); twenty-nine postcard; and an essay by writer Aaron Schuman.Gathered Leaves exists in the space between mixtape and artist retrospective.
My personal favourite photobook included is Mississippi, showing the landscapes, still-lives and portraits of the community within Mississippi, created with faded and subtle colours to show the despair and aged culture in this American state.
-
‘Belongs to Joe’ by Casper Sejersen
Typically a quirky fashion studio photographer Sejersen, who has worked for magazines such as Dazed and Purple, was chosen to document the filmNymphomaniac through his camera lens. Described as a photographic essay, Sejersen has created a thought-provoking book questioning our relationship with the human form and sex.
Sejersen created this body of work as if it were his own. He untangled Lars Von Trier’s script and created a set of images that stand, in their own right, set apart from the film. Personally, it was not easy flicking through the pages. The brown and beige palette delivers a false nostalgia, an eerie narrative and allows some understanding. But the photographs, as with the film, skirt the lines of sex, coercion and deviance — Belongs To Joe may create emotions within ourselves, which we might not share openly with society.
If I had to describe this book with only one adjective it would be raw. There is nowhere to hide with this book; we are as exposed as the characters are. Spend some time looking through Serjerson’s work for sure, but maybe don’t leave this on your coffee table when your parents visit.
