29.2 Seconds, Thursday 30th May 2013, 2:44 PM, Villa Lumière, Lyon by Andreas Schmidt

Format: Physical book containing a DVD.

Price: £40 (you can watch the video for free)

Links: Schmidtbooks, Blurb and YouTube

Comment: Say what you want about Andreas Schmidt, but I like the fact that he's always challenging, pushing and playing with the photobook medium. He doesn't think twice and asks for your opinion, he just puts it out there. Some context about this book below.

"Is it a book? Is it a photo-book? Or is it a film?

Andreas Schmidt's book "29.2 Seconds, Thursday 30th May 2013, 2:44 PM, Villa Lumière, Lyon" is a conundrum. The cover image of the book shows a film still from a YouTube upload (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfOV7Zuvrrc) of the same silent movie and, apart from a short explanatory text, the book only contains a single DVD onto which the film has been transferred. As the title indicates, Schmidt filmed it, situated on the main staircase at Villa Lumière in Lyon, through a window - a classic framing device used throughout the history of the medium by many photographers and filmmakers alike. In the distance we can observe nursery children on their break, running about and somewhat resembling speeded up planets orbiting around each other, almost as if we are looking at a little 29.2 second explanation of the universe.

The artist filmed this short scene a little more than 118 years after the Lumière brothers filmed their workers leaving their factory at the birthplace of cinema http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO0EkMKfgJI with what could be considered a pretty rudimentary device, a Canon G10 Digital Compact Camera; a present-day apparatus maybe much more sophisticated but essentially not so different from the Lumière brothers' own Cinématographe, which was an all-in-one camera that also served as a film projector and developer.

In another 118 years time will anyone still be able to watch Schmidt's DVD? Quite possibly there will be no device left to play it on. Maybe a good museum will show it? Or your grand-children or great-grand-children can show the book and tell the story." Schmidtbooks

Carol Golemboski's Psychometry clamshell box

Carol Golemboski recently released the Psycometry iPad App. She has also produced a custom clamshell box to fit an iPad with the app installed. Below she explains the idea behind it.

"I had an idea to create a “traveling iPad” that I could load with the Psychometry app and send to galleries for display. It also serves as a good vehicle to introduce the app at art fairs such as the AIPAD Show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, where it will be on display in the Robert Klein Gallery booth from April 4th-7th.

The box is designed to resemble a beautiful clothbound book when closed, and allow viewers to experience the app when open. I came across the website of Kristin Dunn Bookbinding and Design and thought her “Portfolio Box for iPad” provided the perfect starting point. I worked with Roxanne Davison, lead designer at Brainchild Blueprints, to provide instructions for Kristin to create this custom clamshell box. It not only opens like a book, but can be propped up to view in an upright position. It was the perfect solution to link my digital photobook to a physical photobook."


About the App

Psychometry is an interactive artist’s book that entices viewers to explore the haunting imagery of photographer Carol Golemboski. This dynamic iPad app uses new media to illuminate Golemboski’s psychologically charged still life imagery. Interactive features highlight her unique darkroom process, which combines photography and drawing in ambiguous and provocative ways. Studio tours, location shots, essays, video interviews, and process demonstrations give viewers insight into the mind of the artist. This innovative app exemplifies the possibilities for artists and designers using the iPad platform as a vehicle for publishing interactive books.

My Own Wilderness by Christopher H Paquette

Photos from top: Martin Buday, M Scott Brauer, Eamon Mac Mahon, Herve Demers

"Wilderness has many meanings in this shrinking world we live in. The traditional definition is 'an area of earth untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain'. Where there once were immense regions on the planet that could be defined in this way, today there are fewer and fewer untrammeled places. But wilderness can also be more than a physical place. It can be a state of mind, a condition of loneliness, an economic or political status. It can exist within the most populated cities as a personal space created by the individual. How do you define wilderness?
I was looking for answers to the ways in which photographers interpret and sort through their own personal experiences with both the physical and the theoretical forms of wilderness. How would these conceptions look as photographs?"  Christopher H Paquette


Format: Blurb ebook or print on demand book

Price: Free (book $47.95)

Links: Blurb and PHOTO/arts Magazine

Comment: I have decided to not rate/review Blurb ebooks simply because I don't like them. I don't like the fake spreads, pages and shadowing, and they are simply to easy to make, as you can create these ebooks from any Blurb print on demand book you've made (which even I made myself). Physical and digital books are two different things and to automatically transfer a physical book to digital rarely work.
That said, "My Own Wilderness" is a good project and the ebook is free, so it is definitely worth a look to see this nicely edited body of work from various photographers. It also offers a good preview if you're thinking of getting the print on demand book.

PDF books by Bertrand Fleuret

From top: 1-3. From "The Risk of an Early Spring  4-5. From "Landmasses and Railways"

"BERTRAND FLEURET was born in Versailles, France, 1969. He studied photography and graphic-design at École des Beaux-Arts de Versailles and London College of Printing. His first book, The Risk of an Early Spring was published by Artimo in 2004. Fleuret lives and works in Berlin, Germany." J&L Books

Format: PDF (or book)

Price: Free

Links: Bertrand Fleuret and J&L Books

Comment: Bertrand Fleuret has his two books "The Risk of an Early Spring" and "Landmasses and Railways" available as free PDF downloads from his website. The PDFs are of quite low resolution, but that actually didn't disturb me much as the photos are very graphical. I especially like the spreads with two photos in these books, which you can look a long time at and try to make up your own associations between. Both are quite lengthy books, but the sequencing always keeps them exciting. 

56 Broken Kindle Screens by Silvio Lorusso and Sebastian Schmieg

56 Broken Kindle Screens - Silvio Lorusso and Sebastian Schmieg (2012) from Silvio Lorusso on Vimeo.



"56 Broken Kindle Screens is a print on demand paperback that consists of found photos depicting broken Kindle screens. The Kindle is Amazon’s e-reading device which is by default connected to the company’s book store.

The book takes as its starting point the peculiar aesthetic of broken E Ink displays and serves as an examination into the reading device’s materiality. As the screens break, they become collages composed of different pages, cover illustrations and interface elements."  Silvio Lorusso & Sebastian Schmieg


Format: Print on demand book. Soon also Kindle ebook.

Price: $4.90

Links: Lulu, Silvio Lorusso and Sebastian Schmieg

Comment: While this is a print on demand book and not a digital book yet (available for Kindle soon), it is closely related. I don't have the book and think I will wait for the ebook, but from the photographs and the video I've seen, there's something captivating about the photos in it. It shows the fragility of digital devices and maybe even some digital books in the long term.

MACK Catalogue

The images above are iPad (iBooks) screen grabs.

"MACK is an independent publishing house focusing on working with artists, writers and curators to realise intellectually challenging projects in book form."  MACK

Check out MACK's beautiful new book catalogue. It's a free PDF which you can download here.

The physical photo book is also digital

This blog is about digital photo books, but I like the physical books just as much. The physical photo book live as much online, if not more, than they do in peoples homes. There are photo book review sites, tons of photographs and videos showcasing them, libraries, work in progress, crowdfunding to get them made, discussions, online shops and auctions etc.
Below are some great websites and blogs covering the subject in different ways. I know, I probably forgot about a thousand other sites.

Claxton Projects

"The Claxton Projects website is a curated selection of contemporary and vintage photography books from the Claxton Projects library. This archive includes books by some of photography’s most distinguished, imaginative and inventive artists and is intended to provide an introduction to new collectors, whilst highlighting the occasional overlooked title to the more seasoned photography book enthusiast. Above all else, Claxton Projects is a celebration of great photography books and the wonderful images within."

Indie Photobook Library

"Founded by Larissa Leclair in 2010, the Indie Photobook Library is an archive of self-published and indie published photobooks. This includes DIY, photobooks independently published and distributed, photography exhibition catalogs, print-on-demand photobooks, artist books, zines, photobooks printed on newsprint, limited edition photobooks, and non-English language photography books, etc. The iPL promotes and showcases the books in the collection through international pop-up and feature-length exhibitions, articles, conferences, guest lectures, and also preserves them as a non-circulating public library."

One year of books

"We are husband and wife, living in Paris. This blog shows our growing book collection."

Self Publish, Be Happy

"Self Publish, Be Happy is an organisation founded by Bruno Ceschel in 2010 with the aim of celebrating, studying and promoting self-published photo books through events (such as exhibitions, displays and talks), publications and online exposure. Self Publish, Be Happy also organises workshops that help artists and photographers make and publish their own books."

The PhotoBook

"I write reviews and commentaries about photographic books, aka PhotoBooks. The photobooks that are of interest to me are contemporary investigations that cover a broad range of photographic projects, series and monographic subjects. I will occasionally provide news about photographic book publishing and photobook events. My book reviews are provided on a totally random frequency."

The Photobook Club

"The Photobook Club aims to promote and enable discussion surrounding the photo book format. In particular looking at old, rare and influential photography books from the 20th century onwards.

Each month the Photobook Club will look at one photography book worthy of discussion not only by us at the Photobook Club but anyone who would like to write blog posts, comment through tweets and generally add 2 cents."

Flohmarkt by Stephen Shore

The images above are laptop screen grabs.

 

About Flohmarkt 1:55 in

Stephen Shore on The Book of Books

"Intrigued by the creative potential of print-on-demand technology, in 2003 Stephen Shore began making a series of books using Apple's iPhoto service. Each book was a visual record of his activities on one particular day. The project shifted in emphasis from August 2005, when Shore determined to make an entire book wherever he was in the world 'on days that The New York Times deemed an event newsworthy enough to bestow one of its six-column, full-width banner headlines to it. 

Produced in editions of 20 and sold at his galleries, these books have become coveted and collected by the photographic community. They were exhibited as part of Shore’s show at New York’s International Center of Photography in 2007 and The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought a set for its permanent collection.

The Book of Books is a highly collectible, two volume book (limited to 250 copies) containing a complete collection of these 83 print-on-demand books. The original layouts, including blank pages, are reproduced at actual size and organised chronologically. In this way, the collector experiences each book and the entire book project as Stephen Shore originally intended."  Phaidon

Format: PDF

Price: Free download (The Book of Books is $2500)

Links: Phaidon and Conscientious (interview and pdf download at the bottom of the page)

Comment: Flohmarkt contains 14 photos from a flea market in Vienna, Austria. It's only one of Shore's 83 print on demand books included in the huge and costly "The Book of Books" published by Phaidon recently. This PDF, probably intended for print output was kindly shared as a free download a couple of years ago. 
The individual photos (while good) isn't what impresses the most with Flohmarkt or some of the other books glimpsed, it's the concepts and the collected whole.
Due to the inaccessibility of these books, this pdf is the little most of us will see. What a great solution an app, ebook or website could be to make all of the books more accessible.

RATING:

Content: 12/20

Design: 6/15

Value: 5/5

TOTAL: 23/40