CCcell by Taiji Matsue

The images above are iPad screen grabs.

 
"CCcell is a new type of photography book that makes use of the high-definition of the new iPad and its touch-sensitive screen to present the work of one of Japan's most important contemporary photographers. CCcell puts together two different though related bodies of work: the series "CC" and the series "cell". CC presents a macro landscape while cell is a sequence of landscapes on a smaller order of magnitude. Each macro image has one point that, when located and clicked, zooms in to reveal its micro counterpart. Click on the city code on the left edge to forward through images."  Goliga Books


Format: App compatible with iPad only.

Price: $4.99 ($3.99 at the time of the review)

Links: iTunes, Goliga Books and 108UNITED

Comment: In the digital photo book discussion we usually talk about enhancement in the form of multimedia, and not how we can use photography in more intelligent ways. That's why it's refreshing to look at CCcell, which only uses photography to interact with the viewer. At first you will try to find the crops in the crisp high res photos. When you have, you can decide to look at the work as two different ones, either as detailed landscapes from above or graphic crops that reveal new details and stories. This app teaches us an important lesson, and that is to look harder to give the photographs the attention they truly deserve. In todays constant stream of photos online and photo books (that are often seen as works consisting of multiple photos) this is a nice way of reminding us of the single photograph and the depth and layers it can contain.


RATING:

Content: 19/20

Design: 12/15

Value: 5/5

TOTAL: 36/40