We've asked internationally renowned experts and artists from the photobook world to choose just one book as their FAVORITE photobook of the year. Over the next several days we will be unveiling all of our photobook VIPs' favorites.
Check back daily to see a new group of favorite books!
Daniel Boetker-Smith's Favorite
Gao Shan
"Self-taught Gao Shan's wonderfully simple tale of his adoption (at eight days old) and the exploration of his relationship with his adoptive mother is visually striking, bold, and feels at once tender, raw, and funny. The visual language of this young Chinese photographer is incredibly contemporary whilst never wandering far from the family home."
Marco Delogu's Favorite
Graciela Iturbide
"Graciela Iturbide is not interested in tall mountains, but has always been interested in birds, and always in isolation. She waits for birds, flying starlings, individual animals, even dead ones, and inserts them in her self-portraits."
Yuji Hamada's Favorite
Issei Suda
"The Mechanical Retina on My Fingertips is what Suda named the Minox Camera that held him in thrall from 1991 to 1992. The Minox is popularly known as a spy camera—it fits in the pocket with a shutter release as light as the blink of an eye. The resulting images, printed from 8x11mm negatives, are grainy with a flat perspective."
John Jenkins's Favorite
Miki Hasegawa
"Internal Notebook is an amazing yet difficult book about children raised in abusive homes in Japan. Hasegawa presents the stories of over a dozen individuals in a scrapbook fashion, weaving portraits of the now adults with their childhood diaries and family photos, giving you visual glimpses into their lives then and now."
Kevin Kunishi's Favorite
Andres Gonzalez
"Mr. Gonzalez weaves together a tactile collection of heartbreaking interviews, landscapes and portraits with various artifacts directly bound to these traumatic events. Sandy Hook, Columbine, and many others are included. The thoughtful design and layout of the book provide a unique engagement with the viewer, folding out into layers of information to digest and connect. The end result is a painfully complex and poetic book."
Rachael Banks's Favorite
Tim Carpenter
"Tim’s track-side photographs relish in the beauty of quietude discovered within the tangle of earth and rust that encompass the Midwestern landscape. Like the photograph, trains were built to connect. Wherever you are, and despite the distance, there is a line you can trace back to home. I wonder if Tim and I have watched the same train."