Watching the Weather Change by Marco van Duyvendijk

My review of Marco van Duyvendijk's Watching the Weather Change (Self-Published, 2011) is now available at photo-eye. 

Quiet and meditative, Watch the Weather Change is a loosely structured collection of personal images that meander through Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Netherlands. An impressionistic journal, van Duyvendijk's book weaves together such seemingly disparate images as a puppet-maker in his workshop, Hong Kong cityscapes and portraits of an attractive Asian model to make this modest, but elegant book. Part poetry, personal journal and documentary, van Duyevendijk's book is an alluring mix of photographic fragments, tranquil moments and half travelled roads.

Read the rest here.

Redwood Saw by Richard Rothman

My review of Richard Rothman's Redwood Saw (Nazraeli Press, 2011) is now available at Photo-eye. The book was also on my list for one of the best of 2011.

As sentient animals, we arrogantly pride ourselves on our dominion over the land and its creatures. Entering the 21st century, the demands we have placed on the earth are reaching their limits. In the long view, after we are gone, the forest and animals will reclaim the Earth, and humans will likely become a footnote in Earth's long history. Richard Rothman's first monograph, Redwood Saw, tackles the thorny problem of our relationship to the planet. Rather than show often clichéd images of environmental destruction, as powerful and real as they are, Rothman focuses on a dying timber town, Crescent City, CA. Beginning in the forest and weaving his way through the town, Rothman leads us through the landscape and the inhabitant's lives, and offers an affecting portrait of America struggling in the face of depletion and worn-down dreams.

Read the rest here.

RVB Books

RVB Books is a new publisher based in Paris, who've been putting out some great photobooks. I've included three of their books below, but there are more on their site. All the books are especially well designed and each has a different look and feel from the encyclopedic design of The Significant Savages by Grégoire Pujade-Lauraine to the playful oversized board book Cathedral Cars by Thomas Mailaender.

I've also include The Hibernators by Ruth van Beek, whose work I first became aware of at Erik Kessel's fantastic, albeit polarizing, show, Use Me, Abuse Me, at the 2010 NY Photography Festival.* van Beek's work is a great example of the humorous and smart contemporary work being done in collage. I already have a soft spot for guinea pigs, but her collages of headless cats, dogs and guinea pigs are funny and poignant. I also can't help but think of a certain famous Star Trek episode.

I'm hoping to do a review for at least one of the books, which I will post in the near future.  

* Note: Thomas Mailaender's work was also included in the same show. I would include a link, but the folks at the NYPH Festival have inexplicably removed all trace of prior festivals from their site. The exhibition catalog for that show, which is really a sticker book, is awesome too.

The Significant Savages by Grégoire Pujade-Lauraine (RVB Books, 2011)

 

The Significant Savages by Grégoire Pujade-Lauraine (RVB Books, 2011)

 The Hibernators by Ruth Van Beek (RVB Books, 2011)

The Hibernators by Ruth Van Beek (RVB Books, 2011) 

 Cathedral Cars by Thomas Mailaender (RVB Books, 2011)

  Cathedral Cars by Thomas Mailaender (RVB Books, 2011)