Comments on: A New Year’s Gift

By: Danielle

Danielle — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:09:03 +0000

My favorite photo book released in 2008 was definitely Pitch Blackness by Hank Willis Thomas.

By: talya c.

talya c. — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:31:22 +0000

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).

By: Ellen Rennard

Ellen Rennard — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:53:37 +0000

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.

By: Michael Morris

Michael Morris — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:21:40 +0000

Mark Steinmetz’s South Central. Man, I hate typos.

By: Michael Morris

Michael Morris — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:10:55 +0000

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.

By: Alexi Hobbs

Alexi Hobbs — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:10:50 +0000

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”.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:01:42 +0000

My favorite photo book of 2008 would have to be Robert Frank’s Paris. I haven’t grown tired of thumbing through it yet.

By: Charles Maclauchlan

Charles Maclauchlan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:12:59 +0000

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

By: Dalton

Dalton — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:51:05 +0000

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!

By: John Taylor

John Taylor — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:24:27 +0000

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…