If you’ve been looking for great photo books to find inspiration for, then you’re in the right place. The Phoblographer has worked to review loads of new photo books as they’ve become available. And on top of that, we also work to report on the projects associated with the books. But with so many photo books out there, which ones do you choose? Well, we talked to the legendary photo book publicist Dana Rakhim about what books have been selling really well. And here’s a selection of books that she talked about.
Table of Contents
Girlhood: Lost and Found by Jamie Schofield Riva
Last year, we profiled the work of Jamie Schofield Riva and how she went about speaking to how life repeats itself — in some ways at least. “Girlhood: Lost and Found portrayed her experiences as a teenager and an adult and the similarities that seeped from her life into her daughter’s,” is what we said in our article about the project.
If you grew up in a rough household the way that I did, you’ll understand what I mean by how books like this can speak to generational trauma repeating itself. And to that end, it speaks to how we can be the ones to stop it by taking care of our mental health before we ultimately become our parents.
for which Nilofer wrote a wonderful review (Jamie was so happy about it). Jamie Schofield Riva actually traveled all the way from NYC to do a book signing at my table. Can’t thank her enough!
Halloween Underground by Seymour Licht
Halloween Underground is a book that I personally purchased and reviewed. This book is beautiful because of how simple yet effective it is. Photographers, for years, have been shooting photos of people on public transportation. This book takes moments from Halloween in NYC and puts them all into a special publication that even embraces the images in a way that gives them room to breathe on the page. It does this through the format and design — and it’s something that’s only taken more spotlight in recent years.
Of any book on this list, this is the one that I’d tell anyone to get. According to Dana, this book was, “probably the book that attracted the most amount of people.”
The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise
This one is an easy sell for the analog photographers among us. “DeLuise works with a large-format 8×10 camera and the Platinum/Palladium printing process,” Dana said in press communications. “Her luminous imagery explores the visual complexities and everyday poetry of contemporary experience through portraiture, landscape, and still life.” She also added that the European audience really appreciated books like this.
Considering all the coverage that it received, it’s easy for us to see why people fell in love with it.