Photobooks Of Note 2018 - Tim Carpenter
Because I can’t control myself, here’s the baker’s dozen of my favorite photobooks of 2018, in alphabetical order.
American Winter - Gerry Johansson
Cold and still and clear, like a Hemingway stream. I wrote on this one for the Charcoal Book Club: https://charcoalbookclub.com/collections/recent-books/products/american-winter
Domesticated Land - Susan Lipper
Yes, but just barely domesticated: the scorched earth and irradiating sun seem poised to take back what’s rightfully theirs. Nervy and unsettling.
Driftless - Jason Vaughn and Brad Zellar
Sometimes you don’t want to have to explain why a book burrows into your heart. You just want to rejoice, and let it be.
It’s super-hard to avoid exploitation with pictures of people and places on the margins, but Jordan skillfully does so with dignity and what can only be called grace.
Halfstory Halflife - Raymond Meeks
Probably the book of the decade. This is the reason we make pictures.
Head of the Lion - Claudio Majorana
Sometimes you think a topic (here, teenage skateboarders) has been done to death and then some kid with a fresh perspective says “Hold on a second.” Looking forward to much more from Claudio.
The Heavens - Barbara Bosworth
I’ve always loved (and, moreover, needed) the way Barbara’s pictures remove the viewer from daily concerns while maintaining a rigorous concern for the real.
Funny, wise, sincere. Just like Ed himself. Probably my favorite Panar book, and that’s saying a lot.
Looking up Ben James: A Fable - John Gossage
I wrote on this – one of the finest books by the master – for Photoeye: https://www.photoeye.com/best-books-2018/
Massive thanks to RRB for getting these pictures out in the world in such a beautiful edition. Can’t wait for the next one.
Full disclosure: I wrote the text for this book. Fuller disclosure: Mary is the patron saint for anyone interested in what an intelligent maker can do when faced with an endlessly chaotic world.
Tulare: Scenes from California's Central Valley - Jake Longstreth
The kind of book you can just sort of get lost in; maybe you look at several or most of the pictures one time and the next you study a single one until it shares its mysteries.
Wood River Blue Pool - JoAnn Walters
These pictures get in under your skin and refuse to let go. Proof that some things are well worth waiting for. (But give us more real soon, please.)
Tim Carpenter is a Photographer who lives in New York, but most if his work is about Central Illinois, so that's gotta be hard. He is also one of the the 3 founding fathers of TIS books. Tim has a new split release with Nathan Pearce out on Deadbeat Club called "Still Feel Gone". Tim drinks WAY too many Coke Zeros in a day.
