I have a lovely little 5×5 platinotype of this photo from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx that I would like to give away as a New Year’s gift to a reader of this blog. I will choose one person randomly from the comments on this post to receive the print—just leave a comment letting me know what your favorite photography book, show, or event of 2008 was, and I will select a winner on Friday.
Happy 2009!
UPDATE 1/2/09: Comments are closed, a winner has been chosen! Congratulations, Ellen!
hmmm….favorite photo book of this year might be New Mexico by Friedlander. But I am biased.
favorite show was definitely the belgicum show in the photomuseum in antwerp:
http://www.fotomuseum.be/tentoonstellingen/2007/
A show end of 2007 early 2008 by Belgian photographer Stephan Van Fleteren who makes stunning black & white portrets and pictures.
http://www.stephanvanfleteren.com/
His site is definitely worth checking out.
Hmm I just recently started getting into photography books so my favorite discovery of 2008 might be a obvious one, but I’d have to say Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places
Hmm, well stumbling upon a copy of “Conseulo Kanaga – an American Photographer” from the Brooklin Museum was certainly a treat and quite inspiring. Sadly i live in podunk Oregon with the nearest like hope for a good show being a five hour drive to Portland, in good weather…
Aha, I can see that this thread is quickly becoming as much a gift for me as anyone else. Thanks so much for the great ideas so far, I haven’t heard about a lot of this work.
I just realized that I should share the same. My favorite book of the year was Jem Southam’s “Painter’s Pool”, which was actually released in 2006, so I don’t know if that counts: http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/mshowdetailsbycat.cfm?catalog=tr225
If we’re sticking with books released in 2008, I would have to go with Raymond Meeks:
http://photo-eye.com/bookstore/mShowDetailsbyCat.cfm?Catalog=TR286
My favorite show was probably the Friedlander show at the Met.
David: I got Friedlander’s New Mexico this year and it is way high on my list.
Kevin: If you like Uncommon Places, you might want to check out the “Contemporary Artists” book about Shore, it includes a lot of background information and critical discussion about that work. Definitely worth a trip to the library, if nothing else.
Joost, John, thanks for the names, I will check out both in the new year!
Hi Dalton:
find for 2008 for me? Ann Mitchell.
I went to see Beth Dow’s wonderful prints exhibited at the Photographic Center in Seattle and found Ann’s Val Verde exhibit sharing the space. It inspired me enough to dust off and clean up my Graflex.
Charles Maclauchlan
My favorite photo book of 2008 would have to be Robert Frank’s Paris. I haven’t grown tired of thumbing through it yet.
Happy New Year Dalton !
I hope you 2009 finds you filled with inspiration and interesting projects.
My favourite photo book for 2008 is without a doubt Joel Sternfeld’s “Oxbow Archive”.
My favorite book this year wasn’t actually a photography book. It was The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel.
Of the photography books I picked up last year I would say that Mark Steunmetz’s South Central rates pretty high on the list. But then I would remember Anders Petersen’s Du mich auch or Hiroshi Watanabes Findings or Olivier Mériel’s Secret du Pays d”Ouche and on and on ad infinitum.
Shows that were quite nice were John Wimberley, Kenro Izu, Maggie Taylor and Dominic Rouse.
All in all a great year for art and inspiration. Happy New Year.
Mark Steinmetz’s South Central. Man, I hate typos.
I love Eugene Richards’ new book, The Blue Room. But I’m not exactly objective about it — I studied with him and found him very inspiring. The work in this book is so moving, so quiet and haunting.
my faves of 2k8 were the hiroshi sugimoto show at gagosian (well, actually half of that show), the joel sternfeld show at luhring augustine, and my friend alix’s work (http://www.alixwinsby.com).
My favorite photo book released in 2008 was definitely Pitch Blackness by Hank Willis Thomas.