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 may know I have recently published a small zine from a series of images from a trip to Tokyo. Truth be told its a process that I almost fell into in some ways. I had no intention of publishing a series of images before leaving, but the end to end process of shooting, processing, and printing didnt seem complete when I had finished the work.
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 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.
Read MoreJust a pre warning, some of the images in this post may be considered not safe for work. Timing is interesting. I was on Facebook today and a good friend posted some photos of some books that he was taking back home with him from a trip. One of them was Daido Moriyama's Mirage. I had this post set as a place holder already and when I saw the image on Facebook I decided it was the right time to finally start to write it.
Added to this is the fact that I am traveling for work at the moment and as a little inspiration I have brought some books with me that I have been planning on writing about for a while. One of them was Mirage.
Read MoreI recently received a copy of a new book by Jesse Marlow to review. After recently purchasing his previous book Wounded, I was very excited about the new publication from Jesse. Jesse is a Melbourne based photographer, and this is one thing that I find drew me to his work. From a slightly selfish perspective, its a source of inspiration to see someone roaming the same streets that I search and coming away with such strong work. Its great to see the locations and know where they are. It lets me become just a little more immersed in the images than with a book shot in a location that I am unfamiliar with. This is all well and good for me as a Melbournian, but I have no doubt the book is hugely successful without this locational connection. Maybe even more so, I dont have that perceptual advantage.
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