Sweet Nothing
Vanessa Winship
FOTO8
£20.00/108pp
June 2008
ISBN: -0-9559580-0-7
Sweet Nothing is a collection of beautiful black and white portraits, depicting school girls living near the troubled eastern border of Turkey. Current Sony World Photographer of the Year and former World Press Photography winner, Vanessa Winship, has been travelling to the area for years, intrigued by the effect of decades of low level guerilla war along the borders with Iraq, Iran and Armenia. Immensely curious and fragile, the girls stare at the camera unaware, or untroubled, by the situation they live in. It is their humility and lack of posture that make this book so powerful.
Bonfires
John Duncan
Photoworks, Steidl and Belfast Exposed Photography
£20.00/72pp
June 2008
ISBN: 978-3-86521-726-4
Every year the Protestant communities of Belfast build large bonfires in preparation for the 12th July celebrations, which commemorate the defeat of James Stuart in 1690. John Duncan spent three years documenting this long standing tradition that has come under increased criticism, not only from the Catholic community and environmentalists but also from within the Protestant community. Ten years after the Good Friday Agreement these monuments to religious identity serve as a harsh reminder of the divisions that run through all of Northern Irish society.
Women of Buddha: Nuns In Bhutan
Marie Veno Thesbjerg
Ajour
£25.00/128 pp
June 2008
ISBN: 978-87-92241-08-5
Marie Veno Thesbjerg travelled to Bhutan to capture the peaceful and respectful life of religious women in Buddhist temples. Unlike monks elsewhere, these young women do not live secluded from others nor indeed do they take a vow of celibacy, instead they spend their lives in the mountain communities of Bhutan. Thesbjerg explores their lives and the nation of Bhutan, officially the happiest in the world and one that has recently staged their first democratic election.
White Sea Black Sea
Jens Olof Lasthein
Dewi Lewis
£25.00/178pp
July 2008
ISBN: 978-1-904587-60-6
White Sea Black Sea is a photographic journey from the White Sea in the north of Russia to the Black Sea south of Ukraine made by photographer Jens Olof Lasthein during a hitchhiking trip that lasted 8 years. Lasthein captures urban landscapes and portraits of people often engaging in dubious activities, illustrating life in abandoned post-industrial cities and the extreme poverty of rural areas. Beauty and ugliness are well balanced in Lashthein’s images, which encompass a sense of belonging blended with a desperate need to escape.
Transition is a collection of images of a group of girls during a period of five years that marked their transition from childhood to adolescence. While portraying the girls’ games, Lillian Birnbaum has explored the metamorphosis that is turning them into young women. Birnbaum captured the different phases of the girls’ femininity, discernible from the objects that surround them, moving from toys and dolls to fitted, stylized skirts and tops. Transition is both a dreamy reminiscence of the golden days of childhood and a record of self-discovery.
China: Portrait of a Country
Taschen
£29.99/360pp
July 2008
ISBN: 978-3-8365-0569-7
Edited by Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing, China: Portrait of a Country is a comprehensive photographic history of the People’s Republic of China since its inception in 1949. Containing the best images from 88 Chinese photographers, the book captures the key moments of the Chinese evolution from the days of Chairman Mao to the upcoming opening of China for the 2008 Olympics. The images, accompanied by texts from the editor and various other writers, give the reader a full understanding of the incredible evolution that has occurred over only 60 years.
Rimini
Marco Pesaresi
Contrasto
£22.95/ 96pp
May 2008
ISBN: 978-88-86982-63-4
Introduced by an introspective and dreamy text from movie director Federico Fellini, Rimini is dedicated to the famous maritime Italian city and its well documented summer life. The black-and-white images show the often tempestuous relationship between Rimini’s people and the tourists. Marco Pesaresi shows the empty desolation of the city during its foggy winters, contrasted by busy summer nights, made alive and foolish by millions of Italian and international tourists looking for excitement.
Animalia
Henry Horenstein
Contrasto and Pond Press in the United States
£20.00/ 80pp
May 2008
ISBN: 978-88-6965-107-6; 978-0-9761955-2-8
Henry Horenstein is full of surprises. With Animalia he has created a virtual cabinet of curiosities. Shot in black-and-white, the focus is on shape, light and texture. Horenstein’s gentle, observant eye captures the patterns of nature, be it the caked and cracked skin of an Asiatic Elephant or the disc-like feathers of the African Grey Parrot. Some images appear sharply in focus, others more like charcoal drawings. Interesting crops and compositions highlight individual detail and provide mystery in these irresistibly beautiful, bewildering and romantic photographs that make you want to reach for this volume time and again.
Author: