As feminism gained momentum in 1970s America, three photographers―Abigail Heyman, Eve Arnold and Susan Meiselas―published massively influential photobooks informed by the movement.
The first, Heyman's Growing Up Female (1974), is a kind of feminist diary: the photographer casts a lucid eye at her own life and questions the imprisonment of women in stereotype roles. The second, Eve Arnold's The Unretouched Woman (1976), shows unknown women and celebrities in spontaneous everyday moments. The photos were deliberately not retouched or staged and offer a nuanced vision of women far from the glamor of glossy magazines. The third, Susan Meiselas' Carnival Strippers (also 1976), is the fruit of three years of investigation into fairground striptease sideshows in the Northeastern United States.
Issue Three: The United States (2003-2013) is a composition of new American photographs taken over the last 10 years. It features the work of photographers like Bryan Schutmaat, Ilona Szwarc, Daniel Shea, Vanessa Winship, Lucas Foglia and over 100 more. Printed at Shapco, Minneapolis, 216 pages.
Since the invention of photography almost 175 years ago, the medium has proven itself understandably adept at capturing what is there to be photographed: the solid, the concrete, that which can be seen. Another tradition exists, however; a parallel tradition in which photographers and artists have attempted to depict via photographic means that which is not so easily photographed: dreams, ghosts, god, thought, time. The Unphotographable explores this parallel tradition, and is published to coincide with an exhibition of the same name at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, presenting photographs by anonymous amateurs alongside those of artists such as Diane Arbus, Bruce Conner, Liz Deschenes, Adam Fuss, Man Ray, Christian Marclay, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Alfred Stieglitz and Hiroshi Sugimoto. Jules-Bernard Luys and Émile David are represented by a photograph taken toward the end of the nineteenth century, of fluidic emission from the fingers of two hands; Richard Misrach captures a sandstorm in California in 1976; and Conner is represented by "Angel Light," one of the Angels series of dramatic, life-sized photograms he created in 1973-75, and which explore the disjunction between vision and phenomenological experience. Since opening in 1979, Fraenkel Gallery has presented close to 300 exhibitions exploring photography and its interrelations with the other arts, and The Unphotographable is one of its most ambitious projects to date. The catalogue is edited with an essay by Jeffrey Fraenkel, and includes 50 images in color.
From the water's surface, it's a simple exercise: a dog's leap, a splash, and then a wet head surfacing with a ball, triumphant.
But beneath the water is a chaotic ballet of bared teeth and bubbles, paddling paws, fur and ears billowing in the currents. From leaping lab to diving dachshund, the water is where a dog's distinct personality shines through; some lounge in the current, paddling slowly, but others arch their bodies to cut through the water with the focus and determination of a shark.
In more than eighty portraits by award-winning pet photographer and animal rights activist Seth Casteel capture new sides of our old friends with vibrant underwater photography that makes it impossible to look away. Each image bubbles with exuberance and life, a striking reminder that even in the most loveable and domesticated dog, there are more primal forces at work. In Underwater Dogs, Seth Casteel gives playful and energetic testament to the rough-and-tumble joy that our dogs bring into our lives.
Anastasia Samoylova’s Atlantic Coast is more than a photography book—it is a journey through the evolving landscape of the United States, both literal and metaphorical. Retracing U.S. Route 1 from Key West, Florida, to Fort Kent, Maine, seventy years after Berenice Abbott first documented the road, Samoylova offers a meditation on the tensions between nostalgia and progress, myth and reality, that define the American experience.
Gumsucker laments the loss of untamed Australian wilderness to civilization, ever encroaching, domesticating the land and spirit. It is a ghost story of sorts, populated by withering vestiges and isolated souls. Its title, drawn from the archaic term once used to describe native-born European Australians, also recalls ‘The Gumsucker’s Dirge,’ a 19th-century poem mourning the erasure of wilderness as the frontier was pushed further out and the dream of an untouched wilderness became increasingly inaccessible.
Having spent decades immersed in photography, encountering Daido Moriyama’s work is always a jolt to the senses—but Quartet, the new Getty Publication release edited by Mark Holborn, takes that jolt to another level. This isn’t just a photobook; it’s a journey into the formative pulse of one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.
Janet Delaney has always been drawn to the ways work shapes people’s lives, families, and communities. In her latest book, she turns her lens closer to home, retracing a week she spent in 1980 with her father, a beauty salesman on the verge of retirement. What began as a daughter’s curiosity became a vivid portrait of long days on the road, endless conversations, and the quiet determination behind a lifetime of providing for others.
Through humor, candor, and empathy, Delaney’s photographs reveal not just the hustle of a salesman, but also the love that fueled it. To learn more about this project and her reflections on it, we asked her a few questions.
Blood Bonds: Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda is a new photobook by photographer Jan Banning and journalist Dick Wittenberg, with an essay on forgiveness by philosopher Marjan Slob. It addresses the genocide in Rwanda, the reconciliation programs that followed, and presents 18 joint portraits of survivors and perpetrators.
I first encountered a few of Coreen Simpson’s images without realizing it was her work, and receiving Coreen Simpson: A Monograph was a revelation. This book, the second volume in Aperture’s Vision & Justice series, offers an in-depth look at the career of a photographer and jewelry designer whose work spans over five decades. The monograph itself is beautifully produced, with a tactile, leather-like hardcover that makes holding it feel like handling an art object.
To commemorate the legacy of one of fashion photography’s most influential figures, the Rodney Smith Estate is pleased to announce several international exhibitions, both the first retrospectives in their countries, and a new book.
We’re excited to announce the release of Critical Photojournalism: Contemporary Ethics & Practices, a groundbreaking new book by Judy Walgren and Tara Pixley that reimagines how visual journalism can—and should—be practiced today.
TBW Books is pleased to announce Blood Green, a new artist book by Curran Hatleberg, conceived as a coda to the artist’s acclaimed 2022 monograph, River’s Dream. Blood Green offers an alternate vision—less an outtake than a parallel dream, a shadow of the original, expanding on the darker themes of contemporary American life.
