photo-eye | BLOG: December 2015

Sylvania. By Anna Beeke.
Daylight Books, 2015.

Sylvania
Reviewed by George Slade

Sylvania
Photographs by Anna Beeke
Daylight Books, USA, 2015. In English. 128 pp., 7x10".

In general, I have a sense that photography of nature, including broad landscapes and more intimate views like these, involves a degree of pretense. That is, the photographer is working entirely at his or her will, unbound by physical constraints other than cliffs, impenetrable underbrush, or giant trees. The perspective they choose from the infinite number available to them is at once subjective and objective, specific and ambiguous. Scale — the distance from lens to recorded surface and the relationships it establishes — plays a nuanced role.

Photographs by David Gibson as installed at photo-eye Gallery

Time, beauty, and persistence — these are hallmarks of a David H. Gibson photograph. As a landscape photographer Gibson’s approach is simple yet stunning: discover a location, find the right place to stand, and stay there. Gibson tends to work in sequences by photographing an element of natural phenomena, such as a sunrise or weather, capturing versions of a scene as light and space fluctuate over time. photo-eye Gallery is excited to have three recent works in sequence by David Gibson currently on view along side Chaco Terada’s Between Water and Sky through January 16th, 2016.

Révélations: Iconographie de La Salpêtrière. Paris 1875-1918.
By Javier Viver.
Editorial RM, 2015.

This week's Book of the Week pick comes from Sonia Berger who has selected Révélations: Iconographie de La Salpêtrière. Paris 1875-1918 by Javier Viver from Editorial RM.

My Blank Pages. By Michael Schmelling.
The Ice Plant, 2015.

My Blank Pages
Reviewed by Adam Bell

My Blank Pages
Photographs by Michael Schmelling
The Ice Plant, Los Angeles, USA, 2015. In English. 192 pp., 6¼x8".

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Aaron Schuman

Drawn from a personal archive of 4x6 machine prints, the images that make up Michael Schmelling’s My Blank Pages might easily be seen as cast-offs or remainders, either tossed aside or left in a box. Shot on assignment, for fun, or simply out of boredom, they’re tangential shots that never made it, but nevertheless fill a deeper void. Kept for later, they’ve lingered and have found a home in Michael Schmelling’s new book, My Blank Pages. Unbound in a plain manila jacket, the book contains images from Schmelling’s vast archive of photographs dating from 2005 to 2012 when he moved to Los Angeles. Although it may only be a chapter or two, My Blank Pages tells a story about the life of its creator, a photographer driven to photograph the world around him with a relentless eye. At the same time, it’s also an intriguing meditation on the difficulty of creating a personal narrative or biography with photographs. Despite all the hand written notes and the work’s personal nature, there are some things that always remain blank, things that we’ll never know, things that the medium can never divulge.

As the New Year approaches, we thought it appropriate to look back at the work featured by photo-eye Gallery in 2015 and ask our staff to share a few of their personal favorites. When you have the privilege of working closely with so many gifted photographers it can be challenging to narrow the selection down to only a handful of favorite images. Here is a small collection of the photographs that intrigued us, moved us, and left their mark in 2015.

The Hollow of the Hand.
Text by PJ Harvey. Photographs by Seamus Murphy.
Bloomsbury USA, 2015.

This week's Book of the Week pick comes from TR Ericsson who has selected The Hollow of the Hand by PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy published by Bloomsbury USA.

Lead Kindly Light. Edited by Peter Honig and Sarah Bryan.
Dust-to-Digital, 2015.

Lead Kindly Light

Reviewed by Blake Andrews

Lead Kindly Light: Pre-War Music and Photographs from the American South

Edited by Peter Honig and Sarah Bryan
Dust-to-Digital, 2015. In English. 176 pp., 156 color illustrations. Two audio CDs., 6½x8½x½".

Scavenging has always been a close cousin of photography. Whereas other art forms can create new works from scratch, photography depends on pre-existing material. Straight photographers glean from the visual world. Studio photographers pull from manipulated subjects. Even photographers who don't create original exposures — who simply shuffle and re-appropriate — rely on existing images for their raw material.

Assignment No. 2: San Quentin Prison
Photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto and Richard Misrach. Text by Michael Nelson.
TBW Books

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Kevin Messina

"This book contains only two photographs, neither of which was taken in a prison, and yet it is one of the best 'prison photography' books of all time."—Kevin Messina

Purchase Book

Jaunt
By Lotte Reimann
Art Paper Editions

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by:
10x10 Photobooks
John Phelan

"Jaunt by Lotte Riemann is a fun, slightly sinister, super slick journey; the itinerary brilliantly mapped by Jurgen Maelfeyt, who designed and edited it. Rephotographing found photos of a swinging couple on her monitor, Reimann has repurposed them to tell a new story reflecting her own gaze."—from the Book of the Week Pick by John Phelan

photo-eye's Nudes/Human Form Newsletter features books that explore the human form in a variety of ways. Sign up for the Nudes/Human Form Newsletter here.

PRE-ORDER DEADLINES

Étant Donnés 2° — SIGNED
Photographs by TR Ericsson

TR Ericsson's self-published artist's book is a clever take on Marcel Duchamp's enigmatic last work Étant Donnés, in which viewers could look through a peep hole at a diorama of a nude woman lying spread-legged in a grassy area. This second edition of Ericsson's Étant Donnés forms a cinematic tableau consisting of over 400 full-bleed black and white photographs that depict the collapsed nude body of an unidentified woman in a densely-wooded landscape.

photo-eye is taking pre-orders for signed copies of Étant Donnés 2°. If our supplier runs out, orders will be fulfilled in the order in which they are received. The cutoff time for ordering is Monday, December 22nd at 12:00 PM Mountain Time.

Pre-order signed book or read more

Homesick. By Sara J. Winston.
Zatara Press, 2015.

Homesick
Reviewed by Karen Jenkins

Homesick
Photographs by Sara J. Winston
Zatara Press, Richmond, USA, 2015. In English. 62 pp., 38 color illustrations, 8½x11¼".

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by John Gossage

Sara J. Winston’s book Homesick opens with a downward sweep across a kitchen table’s simple spread in round plates and bowls, half-circle slices of bologna and a tub of margarine. The arrangement of these repeating rounds, coupled with the intricate pathways of the tablecloth’s embroidery brings to mind crop circles given up by the shifted perspective of an aerial view. In photographs of domestic forms and figures similarly brimming with embedded meaning while hidden in plain sight, Winston attempts to crack the code. Prompted by her parents’ ailing health and later the discovery of her own chronic illness, she relocated back home and began to photograph a rediscovered and reconfigured domestic life. Food is central to this family’s shifting notions of soundness and health, appearing as both nourishing tonic and possible culprit. The dominant circles in the opening image are echoed in the decorative pattern of bed sheets, then slices of onion and knots in a wooden cutting board. The fringy roots of spring onions sit opposite a blanket’s soft tassel. A bowl of tomatoes — taut and rosy in one photograph, recur in another, now fewer and almost black.

Myopia. By Hillie de Rooij.
The Eriskay Connection, 2015.

This week's Book of the Week pick comes from Roger Eberhard who has selected Myopia by Hillie de Rooij from The Eriskay Connection.

Stranger. Photographs by Olivia Arthur.
Fishbar Books, 2015.

Stranger

Reviewed by Adam Bell

Stranger
By Olivia Arthur
Fishbar Books, London, UK, 2015. 224 pp., 7¾x10¼x6".

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Colin Pantall

From a distance, Dubai seems to be an oxymoron — a city of opulent wealth surrounded by barren desert. Built and sustained by oil, it is a playground for the rich and an economic prison for the thousands of migrant workers who build and maintain its gleaming façade. Travelling from China and South Asia, they come to the city seeking a better life for themselves and their families, but often end up working for low wages in stifling heat, and live in work camps far from the luxurious city center. In 1961, tragedy struck a group of migrants travelling to the city from Pakistan and India. Their boat sank off the coast and 238 people drown. This tragic event forms the heart and narrative thread of Olivia Arthur’s new book Stranger, which imagines a survivor returning to the city roughly fifty-years later. Combining her own images with archival pictures and text, Stranger explores the complex present through the lingering tragedy of the past. Avoiding the obvious ironies of the city, while also navigating the challenges of representing the unknowable other, Arthur offers an imaginative entry into the complexities of Dubai that is compelling and emotionally nuanced.

H. said he loved us
By Tommaso Tanini
Discipula Editions

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Alejandro Cartagena

"What does a photobook really 'tell' you? Is it about telling or describing? What is H Said He Loved Us? Exactly what happened while I was looking and reading through it, I can't explain. Books hit you when they are made like this one. For me H Said He Loved Us took me back to a place of constant fear, a time when I felt scared of being outside and of other people. When I read the words I felt them in my stomach. But they were pictures of nothing. Words that just suggested something. It seems this photobook is about opening doors but not guiding you through the space; it's an introduction but not a conclusion. It was a difficult book but I came back to it many times this year hoping to find out more about what I was feeling." —Alejandro Cartagena

The Chinese Photobook
Text by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung, Gerry Badger. Editor by Martin Parr and Wassink Lundgren.
Aperture

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by:
John Gossage
Hans Gremmen

"Simply a book that had to be made. The collaboration of Parr/WassinkLundgren has proven to be a golden combination. A standard work that is worth every kilo on your bookshelf." —Hans Gremmen

Some Thing Means Everything to Somebody

By Peter Mitchell
RRB Publishing

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by:
Christopher J. Johnson
Jeffrey Ladd
Melanie McWhorter

"There are too few Peter Mitchell books out there and this charming ode to history and possessions shows why there should be more." —Jeffrey Ladd

Prophet
By Geert Goiris
Roma Publications

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by:
Hans Gremmen
Sarah Bradley

"The work of Geert Goiris has the unique quality of being completely different on the walls of museums, as in a book. On the wall his work directly shows the strong individual quality. But in the books Goiris manages to show the compelling layer between the photographs. Prophet creates a parallel world in which you want to get lost."—Hans Gremmen

R+R (Rest + Relaxation)
Created by Ryan Arthurs
Houseboat Press

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Kevin Messina

"I chose this book earlier this year for a photo-eye feature, and as I looked back at the year to compile this list, it remains a powerful presence for me. If you have the means to buy photographic art, I can't recommend this strongly enough."—Kevin Messina

Find a Fallen Star
By Regine Petersen
Kehrer Verlag

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Kevin Messina

"I first encountered this project in Arles several years back, and was immediately hooked. The book is a beautiful example of how a 'trade' publication can be produced in a manner that still shows the hand of the artist."—Kevin Messina

The Heavens: Annual Report

By Gabriele Galimberti and Paolo Woods
Dewi Lewis Media

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Martin Parr

"An incredibly thorough exposé of the whole business surrounding dodgy tax havens. Not the most photogenic subject, but they have found good images from these bland and occasionally exotic places, backed up by forensic research."—Martin Parr

See more in stock books

Songbook
By Alec Soth
Mack

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by:
Aaron Schuman
Ed Templeton
Jeffrey Ladd
John Gossage
Martin Parr

"The crucial shift from LBM Dispatches to Songbook — and the primary reason I consider it a landmark monograph — is that the photos are stripped of their accompanying stories. Zellar was a symbiotic part of the original team. But he's been axed and the work thus transformed. It's not necessarily better but it is radically different… With no text, the complete weight of meaning falls on the photographs. The reader can guess the context, and might even guess correctly, but most of the photos remain deliberately ambiguous. A few are downright bizarre. The reader is faced with unresolved images and forced to respond only visually. That's the zen prick heart of photography and the core strength of this book."—from the review by Blake Andrews

Wild and Precious. By Jesse Burke.
Daylight Books, 2015.

Wild and Precious
Reviewed by George Slade

Wild and Precious
Photographs by Jesse Burke
Daylight Books, Hillsborough, USA, 2015. In English. 128 pp., 60 color illustrations, 13x9".

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Melanie McWhorter

As the father of two daughters I admire the activities and the relationship Jesse Burke has fostered in life and chronicled in photographed. I also respect Burke for his personal engagement with wilderness. This devotion makes it easier for him to nurture an appreciation of nature in his children (one, Clover, who is featured in Wild & Precious, and two other daughters). Despite our convention of referring to Earth as mother, and apart from the occasional Cheryl Strayed, Sacagawea, or Dorothy Molter (the last non-indigenous resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota, also known as the Root Beer Lady), there are relatively few female role models in the wild. Girls should be at home in the wilderness, no less so than boys.

Nocturne V and Nocturne VII – Chaco Terada, 2015

Opening at photo-eye Gallery this Friday, December 11th is Chaco Terada’s latest exhibition, Between Water & Sky, consisting of nearly thirty photographic works. Each piece is remarkably elegant and one of a kind. Terada draws her inspiration from Japanese culture and reflections on her own life experiences. The meditative process and thoughtful results offer both the artist and viewer peace of mind. One can't help but feel a state of calm and well-being when taking Terada's work in. photo-eye Gallery asked Terada to tell us about the making and feeling of her recent series featured in the show, Nocturne.

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