I’m sure by now most people will be familiar with the Independent Photo Book blog. There are new publications being added to it regularly, so make sure to check it out if you’re interested in artist books, zines, … Also, if you have a book or zine that fits the criteria make sure to send in the information so it can be added to the site.
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Shawn Records talks to Richard Renaldi about book publishing.
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Shawn Records talks to Jason Fulford and Alec Soth about book publishing.
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I’ve noted that information about independently produced photo books and zines (publications by small publishers or self-published work that is not available via Amazon.com or chain book shops) is often hard to come by. When I go to shops specializing in photo books - such as Dashwood in NYC - the sheer number of such publications I have never heard about always makes me a little sad, because I know there are so many publications I never heard about. (updated below)
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“Who ever said that just because the objects on the wall or in the gallery are over-sized that the book needed to be over-sized as well? I don’t see Richard Serra making gigantic books. I’m getting kind of tired of the inflated book size that you can’t even pick up let alone carry around. That Richard Misrach On the Beach book that I got all excited about, it’s been sitting above my wardrobe cabinet in the same cardboard box it arrived in for pretty much the entire time I’ve had it. I now plan to sell my Gursky MoMA catalogue as it’s just taking up too much room on my shelf and I never really liked it that much anyway.” - Ofer Wolberger
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There’s a photography book auction coming up at Christie’s, and even if you can’t make it to London, you can still browse through the “e”catalogue.
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“I have nothing against people making a living selling books. Someone has to do it and I have many friends who are sellers or dealers in one capacity or another. […] The problem I have is that commerce has become so wrapped up with photography books that it has clouded people’s own opinions and aesthetic judgments about what they like about the books themselves. Some don’t buy books because they want them for the content but for the book value alone. In some extreme cases, the content isn’t even considered, it is just pure greed as the motivator.” - here’s more (make sure to read the comments - there are quite a few interesting ones)
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Photo-Eye Magazine just published the 2008 picks by the Photo-Eye staff and by John Gossage, Alec Soth, Andrew Phelps, Lesley A. Martin, Todd Hido, Richard Gordon, Markus Schaden, Michelle Dunn Marsh, Dewi Lewis, Martin Parr, Gerry Badger, Jeffery Ladd, Chris Pichler, Darius Himes, and Mark Klett. Check it out!
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While there were many great books published this year, finding the one that I enjoyed the most was surprisingly easy this year. Despite the high quality of many books I saw in 2008, Hiroh Kikai’s Asakusa Portraits has had me coming back to it, ever since I managed to get my own copy (just as an aside, this will hopefully also silence those who claim that I don’t like b/w photography). Asakusa Portraits easily fulfills all criteria of a great book: Fantastic photography, a great interview with the photographers, and an extremely wonderful text written by the photographer.
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Serious money is now being made with photo books - mind you, not all photo books, but some of them. If only half of what various people told me about the market is true, there are a lot of things going on that I find quite unpleasant.
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Rob Haggart (aka “A Photo Editor”) just published a great interview with Darius Himes - all about photo books and photo book publishing. And over at The Girl Project (a weblog that deserves to be added to your reader if it isn’t there already), there’s an interview with Cara Phillips about her work and the beauty industry. So now would be a good time for that coffee or glass-of-wine break (depending what time zone you’re in) to read these interviews…
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It’s easier than ever to produce a photography book, and for those who want to try to turn their own photo book into $25,000 there’s Photography Book Now (with a 14 July 2008 deadline, and make sure to read the fine print).
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