This review first appeared in 2016 for Don’t Take Pictures magazine Issue 8 Several years ago I happened across the Japanese photographer Akito Tsuda. Before returning to his native Japan, Tsuda had spent a number of years in the early 1990s studying in Chicago. Living in the neighborhood of Pilsen, he integrated himself into the community and amassed a wonderful archive of images showing the day-to-day life of neighborhood residents. I was taken with a group of pictures tha

I recently bought a tee shirt, a naive outline of a rabbit with the text “I love sad songs” There is something about the power of melancholy. When I first saw an image from Greg Miller’s Morning Bus series I was struck by both its beauty and air of solitude. I belong to the school of thought that believes a photographer’s intent and artistic vision is a pivotal point along the path to both viewing and contextualising what can initially be seen as a purely pleasing visual expe

Some people, it seems, are destined to find each other, to love each other and to stay with each other. In this beautifully designed and printed book, photographer Scott Offen collaborates with his life partner of forty years - the Grace of the title - to create a poetic and almost balletic visual dialogue that whilst eschewing any attempts at any formal sense of narrative, effortlessly succeeds in communicating the trust, symbiosis and love that exists between them. Between

Another undoubted highlight from this year's visit to Peckham's A Bigger Book Fair was discovering the work of Gin Rimmington Jones. I was instantly drawn to the beautifully detailed construction of her handmade books. Browsing through them, I initially passed them by, primarily because I am generally not a landscape collector. However, as is often the way, as I continued around the fair, I could not get the work out of my mind. I am often asked what it is that convinces me t

Just under a decade ago I purchased Brian Sergio’s Pak!, a raw, visceral collection of portraits taken in and around his home town of Manila. Utilising both a gritty monochrome pallet and an in your face style of portraiture somewhat reminiscent of Bruce Gildern or Anders Petersen, Pak! was both a battle cry for a disillusioned and ignored youth subculture and an electrified breath of hot South East Asian air. At the time I said, “there’s a new kid in town“. Fast forward to 2

As another year draws to a close, it appears to be list time once again. So here are a dozen of my personal favourites from 2025. I haven’t wilfully tried to list the most esoteric or elitist titles, just beautiful books that have been published with love and respect. Some are already gone, some you will have to be fast with and others will offer the luxury of (a little) time but in my opinion, they are all worth having. That - after all - is why they are here. I hope you en

"My friend killed himself on the 8th of January. I wondered why he chose that day. Maybe it was because the holidays were over. Maybe it...

Sometimes life gets in the way. To appropriate a familiar analogy, if our life is road, then there are many twists, turns and diversions...

“ When we were kids, we hated things our sisters did Backyard summer pools and Christmases were beautiful And the sentiment of coloured mirrored ornaments And the open drapes Look out on frozen farmhouse landscapes. Have you forgotten how to love yourself ?” Have You Forgotten - Mark Kozelek Some days it seemed a long way back to the house. Endless layers of white distorted distance and the unforgiving temperature elongated time. On quiet days when the sky was clear from whi

In April of 2024, independent publisher Latopaper released the first in a trilogy of zines celebrating the life of a young woman named...

If a city could be likened to the human body, then surely the buildings would be the skeleton - its structure if you will - the physical...

So after a decade or thereabouts, Martin Amis (not that one) has finally brought the curtain down on the Photobook Store Lists roundup. I...

Will you dance with me? But you don’t dance. Will you sing with me? But you don’t sing. I Imagined It Empty is a delicately layered work and an intertwining of several narratives. It is the story of a building that is imbued with the human desire to believe it is more than just bricks and mortar. A house. A home. And it is the story of loss. A profound and soul crushing loss. Call them what we

There is an undeniable talent in being able to tell a story within the boundaries of a single photograph, especially in the...

“Like a circle in a spiral Like a wheel within a wheel”* The promise of a new book from JM Ramirez Suassi is - for me - something akin to...

”And when I die Will you build the Taj Mahal? Wear black every day of your life? I doubt it” Graceland ~ Boo Hewardine /The Bible We...

"Every picture has its shadows and it has some source of light blindness, blindness and sight" Joni Mitchell I have been spending some...

We all have our private universes, our spaces away from the noises and demands of the outside world. Our retreats and safe places,...

People, always people. To understand what makes a book special, to recognise that moment when it evolves from merely elegantly...

In 2022 Morganna Magee released her debut publication, the hypnotic Extraordinary Experiences. Inspired by her lockdown experience, it...