http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html en Copyright 2009 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:55:49 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Photo-Eye recently published a list of the Best Photobooks of 2008. Photographers, publishers, editors, writers, critics and publications have been asked to share their picks for the top 10 (or so). Alec Soth and Martin Parr have been among those asked. Here are their favorites from 2008. Alec Soth:

1. New York, N. Why? by Rudolph Burkhardt and Edwin Denby. Photography and poetry almost never work well next to each other, but this breezy little album (originally produced in 1938) makes me really happy.
2. The Solitude of Ravens. Photographs by Masahisa Fukase. One of my favorite books of all time finally gets some good packaging.
3. Wake by Adam Jeppesen. A quiet little poem (just wish the pictures didn’t keep falling into the gutter).
4. Baghdad Calling. Photography by Geert Van Kesteren. Largely made up of amateur pictures, this book is all about falling into the gutter.
5. Seneca Ghosts. Photographs by Danielle Mericle. If you look closely, this tiny book packs a punch.
6. Beyond the Forest. Photographs by Clare Richardson. Yes, I know, it came out in November of 2007, but I got it this year. A great, great book. If you want something similar from 2008 (good, but less tightly edited), check out Somerset Stories, Fivepenny Dreams by Venetia Dearden.
7. South East. Photographs by Mark Steinmetz. Another classic from the author of South Central.
8. Beaufort West. Photographs by Mikhael Subotzky. It irritates me when photographers are this good, this young (27), but there is no denying the power of this book.
9. Lighter. Photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans. An opportunity to relive my favorite exhibition of 2008 again and again. A huge book of installation views shouldn’t work, but Tillmans has the magic touch.
10. The World from My Front Porch. Photographs by Larry Towell. A lovely family album expanded into a complicated essay on the meaning of land and home.

Martin Parr:

1. A Road Trip Jounal, Steven Shore, Phaidon
2. Avenue Patrice Lumunba, Guy Tillim, Prestel
3. Bird, Roni Horn, Steidl
4. Last Days of W, Alec Soth, self published
5. Fashion Magazine, Lisa Sarfati, Magnum Paris
6. In Flagrante. Chris Killip & Fait, Sophie Ritelheuber, Reprints by Errata Editions
7. Beaufort West, Mikhael Subotzky, Chris Boot
8. Witnes No 6, Friedlander, Nazraeli Press

]]> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html <p>So, is it Mikhael Subotzky or Michael?<br /> Sloppy snobs...</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-39875 <p>Ops, of course it's Mikhael. Just corrected that in the text.</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-39879 <p>Thanks, a trusted opinion is always a good starting point. cheers</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-39957 <p>good call on Masahisa Fukase. (i had no fucking idea the book was re-released).....a hero....still in a coma.....</p> <p>It irritates me when other photographers have enough money to buy all these photo books ;)))))))))))))))))))))</p> <p>that's quite a list posted at PhotoEye....shit, dont know half of them...still sucks the cost of photobooks...especially since i can still almost afford the novels/poetry collections i swallow....but a photobook (and it's my life) is like a quarterly gift ;))))</p> <p>interesting to see one of the dudes talk about Dash snows exhibition catelog....for me, more pain and bravery in Ravens then in all the cocaine on the dicks and lowereastside parties...and im a fan (sort of) of Dash's work...not the photographs, but the installations...</p> <p>anyway<br /> running<br /> b<br /> </p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-39961 <p>All these year-end best of lists have had me contemplating photobooks in library, which I started collecting in the late-90s. Of the 50+ monographs by or about Magnum photographers, these are my favorite dozen.</p> <p>Cornell Capa<br /> 1. Cornell Capa - Peter Fetterman Gallery</p> <p>Bruce Davidson<br /> 2. Time of Change - St. Ann's Press </p> <p>Elliot Erwitt<br /> 3. Elliot Erwitt's Handbook - The Quantuck Lane Press</p> <p>Philip Jones Griffiths<br /> 4. Dark Odyssey - Aperture</p> <p>Inge Morath<br /> 5. Saul Steinberg Masquerade - Viking Studio</p> <p>André Kertész<br /> 6. André Kertész The Early Years - Norton<br /> 7. The Polaroids - Norton</p> <p>Josef Koudelka<br /> 8. Exiles - Aperture </p> <p>James Nachtwey<br /> 9. Inferno</p> <p>Martin Parr<br /> 10. The Photobook: A History (volumes 1 & 2)</p> <p>Alessandra Saguinetti<br /> 11. On the Sixth Day - Nazraeli Press</p> <p>W. Eugene Smith<br /> 12. Minamata - Alskog, Holt, Rinehart, Winston</p> <p>My favorite collections<br /> 1. Magnum Magnum - Thames & Hudson<br /> 2. Magnum Stories - Phaidon</p> <p>The one that regrettably got away:<br /> Trent Parke<br /> Dream/ Life - Hot Chilli Press</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-40014 <p>the weirdest book on these two lists is Wake by Jeppesen. every time i pick this book up (haven't bought it and never will) i get the same feeling when i first time picked up engströms "trying to dance" but unlike in the Dance book in Wake i never get "in" to the photos. i always look at it and then wonder WHY? (can not I read?) great single photos, in a small book, but without a beginning, without a story, without an end. and if it's about finland but not about the "nordic melancholy" part of it like the photoeye text says well then what the hell these melancholy northern photos are about? not about finland for sure as i live here and clearly not even documentary photos from here as there is at least one photo that is not from here (the cityscape with lights, there's no city in this melancholy backwood with that magnitude). otherwise these lists are quite ok ( 1001 billionaires is missing). Wake is an odd choice, but maybe its because its so fucking odd. the 2nd edition of esko männikkös female pike, that was published this year, would have been better choice. now there's a book about this backwood (and nordic melacholy mixed with alcoholism and god). and i bet that john gossage put dash snow on to his list as God Spoiled a Perfect Asshole When He Put Teeth in Yer Mouth is much more better name for a book than Hey Fuckface. might be wrong, but theres too much people who take photos of us acting like fuckfaces. meself included.<br /> i also have to mention Baghdad Calling, one of the great books also from last year. two really great books by Geert van Kesteren made really quickly. was it three years between them? that's amazing. a bit like Vietnam Inc. books by Jones-Griffiths but about the war in Iraq. in three years. amazing, but maybe too slowly for some people</p> <p>my number 1 on this list is Solitude of Ravens. don't know about number2, i really have to go<br /> </p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-40038 <p>Had a chance yesterday to look at many of the photographers from the list whose work with which I hadn't been familiar....still thrilled to see Fukase listed (and gets some promo, as if they needed, for my fave tokyo photo gallery, Rathole), but im surprised Jacob's I, Tokyo didnt make the list from anyone (or have i overlooked it)...or Arja Hyytiäinen Distance Now (or was that 2007?)....and was thrilled to see Kiyoshi Suzuki monograph make the list (a photographer i tried to introduce to the folks at DAH's blog earlier in the year)...and one of the few books i was able to buy this fall was by my friend Jason Eskenazi. whose Wonderland: A Fairytale of the Soviet Monolith is a dream itself....</p> <p>the book i wanted but hasn't yet been published is...?....; ))))))))....maybe in 2009....</p> <p>running<br /> b<br /> </p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-40120 <p>Strand Books is importing copies of Solitude of Ravens (should be in by mid-February), anyone interested should reserve a copy ... yesterday.</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-40142 <p>Just spent 10 days with John Gossage in New Zealand and I gave him a hard time every chance I could about Dash Snow. </p> <p>Regarding Jacob's I, Tokyo, 1001 Billionaires and lots of other books....I haven't seen em' yet. It is really impossible to rank the books this soon into 2009. Gossage and I agree that the rules will need to be changed next year (and if he puts another Dash Snow book on the list, I'll give him a knuckle sandwich). </p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-40248 <p>alec ;)))</p> <p>give him (knuckle sandwhich) from me too.....i was stunned to see Snow's catelogue there...anyway.....which work will speak over time...showed my 14 year old both pics...he was like "this raven stuff is really sad..."...that's the irony of Snow's work, doesnt impact 14 year olds, but Ravens...:)))))</p> <p>now, go do your homework ;))))...and spend some time with I, Tokyo :)))...</p> <p>running<br /> cheers<br /> b<br /> </p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-40539 <p> Hi folks,</p> <p>Where's Blue Room by Eugene Richards?!!! Did it come out to late in the year to be included? I ashamed to say that I hadn't heard of The Solitude of Ravens before now. What amazingly beautiful, sad, lonely photographs......I want it now! </p> <p>Alec, I hope not knowing about it, means I'm due for a knuckle sandwich!</p> <p>Jason</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-41074 <p>Jason:</p> <p>not knowing about Fukase is not a breach of photo responsibility ;)))))...shit, the only reason i know about him, is 'cause im obsessed with japanese photography and stumbled across the book in a used-photo book shop in TO three years ago (no, didnt get the book, cause it was on sale for $200 at the time)...a nuckle sandwhich is for those listing photo books of the year for young nyc well-groomed/wealthy young turks whose polaroids haventhalfhalfthepunchofTulsa and are just a reworking of larryclark/terryrichardson but get all the panties of nyartworld all outandbothered instead of work that speaks better of the life (fukase)....</p> <p>blue room rocks...i told alec: that's the bookend for Bush: Last Days of W and Blue Room...</p> <p>best of lists: fuck 'em ;))))</p> <p>running<br /> b<br /> </p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-41087 <p>Hi Bob,</p> <p>Phew, thats okay then.... not sure I could handle a massed attack from the good taste in photography books death squad.... although they wouldn't get me without a fight....;))))))</p> <p>Talking of japanese photography, I think I might be developing a healthy obsession with it too. I recently got hold of Moriyama Daido's t-82, which is fab, not to mention I, Tokyo, okay so thats not by a japanese photographer but the pics are from japan..... does that count? </p> <p>oh by the way I looked into The Solitude of Ravens, I think i may have read that it'll be reprinted this year...... although I may have just imagined it, or perhaps hoped for it. </p> <p>Anyway, how's things with you? What's new?</p> <p>Jason</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-41100 <p>jason :)))</p> <p>obsession with Japanese photography is always a healthy thing :)))))...Daido's my north star (with giacomelli)...Raven's was reprinted this year by the gallery that represents the work...my fav tokyo photo gallery: rathole</p> <p>http://www.ratholegallery.com/</p> <p>you can order from them....</p> <p>and Strand is getting some...im screwed (the price at Rathole is out of my budget) and wont get down to the city for a while....but....</p> <p>just wait, you're head will spin :))))</p> <p>new: writing writing, and soon will have a photo essay from this summer up...clicking writing clicking writing and family :)))</p> <p>living :))) and trying to keep warm this winter </p> <p>running</p> <p>cheers<br /> bob</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-41111 <p>Bob,</p> <p>Looking forward to seeing your photo essay. I'm partly into a long term project, not sure when it'll be ready, but hey its quality that counts, right.</p> <p>Keep working, stay warm.</p> <p>Jason</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-42018 <p>Awesome post. I love stuff like this</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-42055 <p>I appreciate seeing the lists, but: is it just my computer or is some of the text in black on dark grey, making it all but impossible to read.</p> http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/01/best_photo_books_of_2008.html#comment-42456