it's probably too late in the year to try to pull off a 2007 best of, but i'm rounding out my top 10 photography books from last year anyway. not all of these books were published in '07, but last year was the first time i had them in my grubby hands, so here goes (in no particular order)..
Marking the Land by Jim Dow
Dog Days by Alec Soth
Where We Live from the Berman Collection
The City by Mitch Epstein
5x7 by William Eggleston
Mongolia by Marco van Duyvendijk
Self Portrait with Cows Coming Home by Sylvia Plachy
Driftless by Danny Frazier
plus a bonus book of discourse...
Image Makers Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger
there are several other books that have made a home on my shelves this year, but the above are my favorites of the moment. this will all, most likely, change tomorrow.
i have to say though, the one alarming discovery last year was that the production value of more than a couple of the titles, overall, was really poor. the quality issue of the year appeared to be the dust jacket being aligned incorrectly, resulting in the spine text wrapping around to the front cover. a mistake of an eighth of an inch can kill a book in my opinion.
here's to 2008 being a year of monograph surprises.
listening to The National
4 comments:
I'm lapping up Image Makers Image Takers right now. Very good.
Hey Ben,
I think some of your links ("Where We Live" and "The City") are pointed in the wrong direction. Speaking of "Dog Days", what did you like about that book? I vaguely remember Soth talking about how he made it. Besides, its always interesting to get different takes on things.
Liz, yes Image makers Image Takers is great. some really wonderful nuggets in there, and from such a spectrum of photographers.
Ben, thanks for the tip on the links - all fixed.
honestly, i think i liked Alec's Dog Days so much because how different it was to Sleeping and Niagra (both wonderful books). there is an honesty and looseness to it. of course, the back story sets a tone too, and with that it's so much more optimistic than his other work to me. the format too struck me - it seems that less is more for me lately. the smaller books feel more intimate, more accessible.
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