There are a great number of photographers that I admire of course. There are few that I idolise just a little. Parke is one of these, so writing about his work is a little intimidating. Of course he is loved by many in a way that is likely genre neutral, but its not the way others feel about his work that makes penning something about his books difficult for me, its my personal feelings.
Read MoreI was lucky enough to get my copy of Half Life by Michael Ackerman a few months back. A good friend let me know about the book and the fact there were a small number of them available from VU. He said that I had to buy it, simple as that... It was sound advice and shows how much this friend knows my style of photography. I have contemplated the book for these few months and each time I pick it up I find some new reason to love it more and more.
Read MoreSome of you may not know John Goldsmith, but if you dont then you should look him up. He can be found here.
John is also in some great company as a founding member of strange.rs collective.
But were here for a book right...
Drop Out of Art School was a shock to the system for me, and I will elaborate a little on why. I think it was due to the fact that I had this preconceived idea of the sort of images John would put in a book. This wasnt it. And to be honest, I recon John is smiling about that fact as he reads this.
Read MoreI have had this one listed as a place holder for sometime now. Its daunting to even think about writing about the book for a few reasons. 1. Its a massive collection of some of the most famous works from Daido Moriyama. Such a prolific worker, so such a large volume.
2. I idolise his work in many ways, so I am a little hesitant to write about what I think is the most complete collection of his finest photos.
3. I take photos of some of the images in the books that I review, and honestly... as I cant show you every page I feel like this review will be a little unfinished. The book should be enjoyed in its entirety.
Read MoreI have reviewed quite a few books now. As a process for me its very rewarding. I get to sit and take in the images in the books and the consolidate my thoughts about them here. It serves a double purpose really. Firstly it actually gives me a reference point, almost like a library of my thoughts about the wonderful books that I am lucky enough to own. Secondly, it provides a point for people to come and read about some of the books themselves. This book is a little different to the others that I have written about thus far. This is one of the books that I purchased on my trip to Japan. It really is something that will be a bit of a love or hate type deal. I knew nothing of Mariko Shindo before leaving for Japan, but I am very happy that I was able to find out a little about her through the pages of her book. Since admiring the book itself I have been trying to find out more about her, but havent found a good source yet.
Read MoreI have recently been going through the process of designing my own zine from the images that I shot while in Japan with the intent to print a limited run of maybe 50 copies. Part of this process has involved picking the brains of a few guys that I have been following for a while online. Guys who have had some experience in the publishing side of things as far as these little self published photo zines go. I think the self publishing of small print run photo publications in this day and age of the internet and social media is a special thing, and I would like to try and feature the work of some of the artists here. One such guy is Chris Leskovsek. A Chilean living in Aukland. He has been kind enough to spend some time answering some questions about his work and his great little zine series, Øbservations. Below is the teaser video of issue number 1. I am posting issue number 1 as the video for the post for two reasons. First, its number 1. Second, its the one I am missing so I like to look at it this way as I dont have a hard copy and Chris doesnt have any copies left.
Read MoreI havent reviewed a book for a while, but this doesnt mean that I havent had a few turn up on my doorstep. I love great books, and there are some great ones that I have that I still need to spend some time writing about. This is a process that makes me sit and take in the book. Its just like writing a book review in high school, except now I appreciate the value of the exercise. As I said, there are a few really stellar books that I have that I have been meaning to write about, some of them a little daunting as I dont know where to start and how to do them justice. I set up place holders on the site a while back so I know which books are on the list with the thought of having some time to write on my recent trip to Japan. The fact that I had no time to write was a bi product of the productivity I had with the camera. And the fact that this has taken so long to get to after my return is due to the time that I have been spending in the darkroom since returning. Results of this to come very soon.
Read MoreIt's all good by Boogie has to be one of the greatest photo books published if you are into documentary style street photography. I didn't know a lot about Boogie until I watched Everybody Street. But once I knew just a little I was hooked. I have said way too many times things like it's my favourite book, or their my favourite artist. I won't say it again here, but in all seriousness, if you are into street and you don't know who Boogie is then you should fix that. There is a really good bio about Boogie in Everybody Street. It talks about his upbringing in Belgrade. It would have been an extremely difficult time to grow up in such a place. I think this started to shape the type of work that he is known for, It's not what you would call light hearted or fun, let's just leave it at that for a moment.
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