Categories
MEET-UPS

A Photobook Pop-up exhibit in Southern CA

©RESPECTIVE PHOTOGRAPHERS

As Douglas points out in his introduction below, this is not a Photobook Club meetup, but perhaps with a good turnout it will evolve into one. Either way, it’s organized by Douglas Stockdale of ‘The Photobook‘ blog, so you know it’ll be a good’n on the 18th October.

For all the details, see the Facebook event page here. I have included some of the introduction here;

Please join me for one evening this month as I share a pop-up photobook exhibition of the vast majority of the photobooks that are currently included in my exhibition at FotoGrafia Festival Internazionale in Rome Italy, which explores the theme of “work”. I will provide a short introduction about my selection for this exhibition and discuss a few of the photobooks.

Although this is not an official PhotoBook Club event per se, it is an exploratory meet-up to determine an interest in a PhotoBook Club group in Southern California. The issue in the past for similar meet-ups to this has been that Southern California is a very large and spread-out region, that a meet-up in Orange County may not be suitable for those in Santa Monica, the SF valley, SG Valley or San Diego. Thus the main reason that this is an exploratory meet-up!

Read more

This PhotoBook pop-up exhibition will run concurrently with the Photographic Exchange meeting.

Exhibition venue: Irvine Fine Art Center, 14321 Yale Ave, Irvine, CA 92604
Date and duration: Thursday, October 18th, 2012 from 6:30 pm to 9:0 pm

I look forward to seeing you there.

– Douglas Stockdale

Categories
MEET-UPS NEWS

The Photobook Club Porto to Hold Innaugral Meetup 26th September

Great to hear that the Photobook Club Porto will be officially launching with their first meetup later this month under the guidance of organizers Ângela Fereira, Jorge Velhote, Nelson d’Aires and Renato Roque who has shared the following information for those who are interested in attending:

The first session is planned for Porto on the 26th September (21.30) at Arquivo, an old house in Oporto, renovated for a restaurant and dedicated to various events. Curiously its name (Archive) has a big relation to photography.

There has been a page created in Facebook for the Photobook Club in Porto found here

The first session will be dedicated to “The Pencil of Nature” which is considered to be the first Photobook (1844), by William Henry Fox Talbot

– Renato Roque

If you are interested in attending, head over to the Facebook page linked above and let Renato know!

Categories
MEET-UPS NEWS

A larger home for Photobook Club Lisbon

The Photobook Club Lisbon is moving to a larger space this September at COWORKLisboa so if you attend these sessions on the first Friday of each month, make sure you take down the new address found below.
(You can always find latest contact details and locations via the ‘Meetup’ tab)

PHOTOBOOK CLUB Lisboa
COWORK Lisboa
LX Factory | Rua Rodrigues Faria, 103 Edifício I – 4º Piso
1300-501 Lisboa

Categories
SUMMARY

Paul Graham’s ‘A1: The Great North Road’, A Summary

A really busy and enjoyable month looking at this great book with a whole bunch of contributors to whom I am extremely thankful for making it such a vibrant and lively discussion. As always, you can find the summary of our discussion below, but feel free to continue adding thoughts and questions in.

Next up on the Photobook Club is Mark Power’s ’26 Different Endings’, but before that, a short break as I am picking up the camera shortly and heading to the Cat and Fiddle road in the Peak District for several weeks to begin a project of my own. If anyone is in the area and would like to meet up for beer and books – give me a shout.

– Matt

Categories
CLOSER LOOK COMMENTS

Paul Graham’s British Road Trip

The A1 road for those who know it, or know the book, doesn’t exactly conjure up thoughts of a road trip or road trip aesthetic. There are no dessert vista’s here, no vast stretches of road ahead and behind. This is most certainly not the orange-tinted views of Wim Wenders or Stephen Shore as they pass through El Passo and Nevada, neither does it evoke thoughts of Kerouac or Pirsig’s prose.

©PAUL GRAHAM

This isn’t to say we do not recognize some of the conventions of the genre in the images, particularly in the diners, cafes and petrol stations, but Graham has also weaved a decidedly British streak into the book. Bright blue skies give way to overcast days and wet roads, neon is only seen once, and all in all, this is a much more subdued photographic approach. No fanfare will be found here, just a well paced, expertly edited series of images, and in this I find myself looking harder, and for longer.

©PAUL GRAHAM

What lies at the heart of this book (to myself at least) and does conform to the road genre is the human encounters Graham has documented along the A1. These are all characters we recognise, they are the hundred of people we see in the car alongside, or in the adjacent cubicle at a restaurant and if you are anything like me, you wonder about why they are here, now, or what it is they do and why they do it. Almost all of the subjects in ‘A1’ hold the camera’s gaze back, I like to think they are looking at Graham, or at me, wondering exactly the same things.

©PAUL GRAHAM

Interestingly, while we see life from the road, cafe’s and fields going by, even pulling up to a petrol station, we are never inside the car. It is at first an odd omission, especially compared to the more well known photography from the US dealing with the road, it’s landscape and it’s stories. But in doing so Graham remains very much a traditional documentarian, slightly removed from each situation he encounters unlike his Stateside contemporaries. The result is another reason this is such an important and unique piece in the ever expanding road photography genre.

– Matt

And if you haven’t seen the book yet…

Categories
EVENTS INDEPTH INVISIBLE CITY NEWS SUMMARY THOUGHTS ON BOOKS VIDEO

The Photobook Club Presents… Ken Schles: Invisible City

Today I am pleased to announce the launch of a digital publication looking closely at Ken Schles’ photobook Invisible City. This publication is currently available as a direct download for the iPad but will be available on more platforms shortly. This publication takes on a magazine-style format, inside of which you will find not only the images and text featured in Invisible City, but a variety of personal reflections, commentary on the process of creating Invisible City from Ken Schles and even original notes from a lecture given at New York’s International Center of Photography in 1990.

If you have an iPad, you can download the publication free from the link given below via the iBook store.

DOWNLOAD – ‘Ken Schles: Invisible City, A Digital Resource’ straight from the iBook Store

The complete forward featured in the publication alongside screenshots is featured below this introductory video.

Forward
I set up the Photobook Club in 2010 as a response to both my own fascination and frustration with photobooks. My fascination was born and nurtured as a student spending thousands of hours in the University library choosing books at random by the colour of their spine, or based on recommendations from my peers and tutors. My frustration was a little harder to pinpoint but essentially stemmed from my wanting to learn more about the classic photobooks, those revered and often rare books that held a sense of mystery between their two covers; everyone agreed they were classics but there was little discussion of why.

At the time there was, and still is, a huge interest in photobooks, but predominantly in the new, the self published and the handmade, and so together with partner-in-crime Wayne Ford, I decided to open out my thoughts and learning to a wider community – just as a traditional book club. As well as promoting and facilitating this shared experience online, I was keen to encourage the generative experience the photobook offers us both in spending time with a beautifully crafted artifact, and in sharing thoughts (as well as books) in person.

I certainly hope that (depending on your knowledge of Invisible City), this publication will either introduce you to, or help create a greater understanding of a hugely influential modern photobook. Inside you will find not only the images and text featured in Invisible City, but a variety of personal reflections, commentary on the process of creating Invisible City from Ken Schles and even original notes from a lecture given at New York’s International Center of Photography in 1990.

Regardless of your previous experience with this book, or whether you are a lecturer, photographer, student, book lover or just curious, I would really appreciate your comments via the email address below.

Finally, thanks must of course go primarily to Ken Schles, not only for allowing all to see his wonderful images but also for kindly lending me a copy of the book to work with, and for his enthusiasm towards this project. My thanks also to the contributors listed on the following page who offered their own, personal reflections on the book.

Matt Johnston


matt@photobookclub.org

 

DOWNLOAD – ‘Ken Schles: Invisible City, A Digital Resource’ straight from the iBook Store

Categories
EVENTS MEET-UPS

Photobook Club Madrid Meetup #3

It’s a busy period for photobook meetups. Just this weekend the New York Photobook Club held their second meeting, next week Photobook Club Lisbon opens for the first time and just last night the Photobook Club Madrid held their second meeting of which you can see a few images below alongside a brief writeup by Juan Cires.

If all this talk of photobook meetups has made you want your own to attend. Pop me an email as there may be others in the area thinking the same thing.

– Matt

Bonifacio Barrio Hijosa (CC BY-NC-ND)

Yesterday was the third gathering of photography books in the Royal Photographic Society in Madrid, where we spent some time talking about books and commenting on the stories of a recent workshop with Gerhard Steidl. The books involved were:

  • Elliott Erwitt, EE 60/60, National Museum Reina Sofia Art Center, 2001
  • U.S. Camera 1944. The USA at War, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1944
  • Origin, edited by Bleda and Rosa, Regional Museum of Garrotxa, 2006
  • Laura Terre, Paco Gomez, RM / Photo Colectania Foundation, 2010
  • Alfonso, Corners of Old Madrid (night), Graphic Arts Martorell, 1951
  • Joan Colom, Raval, Steidl, 2006
  • Paul Fusco, RFK, Aperture, 2008
  • Carlos Perez Siquier, the knowing look, Royal Photographic Society, 2002

As you can see there has been a variety of proposals, focusing on photography more classical Spanish and American photography and works that range from the conceptual to the Bleda and Rosa Alfonso seen almost pictorialists. Much to say. We hope to see you again next month.

Juan Cires

Bonifacio Barrio Hijosa (CC BY-NC-ND)

Ayer tuvo lugar la tercera tertulia de libros de fotografía en la Real Sociedad Fotográfica de Madrid, en la que pasamos un buen rato charlando sobre los libros y comentando las anécdotas de un reciente taller con Gerhard Steidl.  Los libros participantes fueron:

  • Elliott Erwitt, EE 60/60, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2001
  • U.S. Camera 1944.  The U.S.A. at War, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1944
  • Origen, editado por Bleda y Rosa, Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa, 2006
  • Laura Terré, Paco Gómez, RM / Fundación Foto Colectania, 2010
  • Alfonso, Rincones del viejo Madrid (nocturnos), Artes Gráficas Martorell, 1951
  • Joan Colom, Raval, Steidl, 2006
  • Paul Fusco, RFK, Aperture, 2008
  • Carlos Pérez Siquier, La mirada cómplice, Real Sociedad Fotográfica, 2002

Como se puede ver ha habido una gran variedad de propuestas, centradas en la fotografía española más clásica y en la fotografía norteamericana y trabajos que van desde lo conceptual de Bleda y Rosa hasta las vistas casi pictorialistas de Alfonso.  Mucho que comentar.  Esperamos veros de nuevo el mes próximo.

Juan Cires

Bonifacio Barrio Hijosa (CC BY-NC-ND)

 

Categories
SYNOPSIS

Synopsis: Sally Mann’s ‘Immediate Family’

We are looking at Sally Mann’s ‘Immediate Family’ through March on the Photo Book Club. Luckily this book is really easy to get hold of in libraries, photobooks or from the latest publisher of a paperback version, Aperture at a good price and so I shan’t be uploading a video this time.

If you fancy getting involved and sharing your thoughts on the book then you can do so in the comments section below or in email to matt@photobookclub.org.

– Matt

Title
Immediate Family

Author
Sally Mann

Publisher
Aperture 1992

IMMEDIATE FAMILY

“Mann’s subjects are her small children (a boy, a girl, and a new baby), often shot when they’re sick or hurt or just naked. Nosebleeds, cuts, hives, chicken pox, swollen eyes, vomiting—the usual trials of childhood—can be alarmingly beautiful, thrillingly sensual moments in Mann’s portrait album. Her ambivalence about motherhood—her delight and despair—pushes Mann to delve deeper into the steaming mess of family life than most of us are willing to go. What she comes up with is astonishing.”
—Vince Aletti, The Village Voice

“Immediate Family, which was published in 1990, must be counted as one of the great photograph books of our time. It is a singularly powerful evocation of childhood from within and without…”
—Luc Sante, The New Republic

Categories
EVENTS MEET-UPS

The Photo Book Club Madrid is born!

The Photo Book Club Madrid held their inaugural meeting this Tuesday at Real Sociedad Fotográfica in Madrid. By all accounts the event was very popular and from speaking with Bonifacio Barrio Hijosa who was in attendance, it seems the group will aim to meet next on march 27th, and from then on, every last Tuesday of the month.

If you are interested in attending any future events run by the Photo Book Club Madrid, head on over to their facebook page for more information, and as a teaser, here is a peak at the club meet-up last night.

– Matt

bonifacio barrio hijosa (CC BY-NC-ND)
Categories
EVENTS

Stephen Shore at SFMOMA…

I hope some ‘Club readers were able to get tickets to Shore’s talk at SFMOMA last week, for those that did not, luckily Stan Banos was in attendance and has written about the talk and Shore’s style over here. Also in attendance was Mark Wilson who, after enjoying Kurt Easterwood’s extended writing on ‘West Fifteenth and Pine…’ got the photograph below of Shore with said image. Big thanks to Stan and Mark!

IMAGE: MARK WILSON

If you haven’t checked out Kurt’s fantastic piece on this image, you can do so by reading the PDF below.
PDF – Kurt Easterwood on ‘West Fifteenth’

I should also point out that due to all the great contributions this year, we may run slightly into March with this book! Not even the added February day of the Gregorian calendar can help us here. (And as a heads-up, following the weekend, we will be looking at Sally Mann’s ‘Immediate Family’)