Shawn Records - Owner of this World

Owner of this World

Shawn Records - book on demand, 2009

I must say I am happy to finally have Shawn's name over in the tag list.

I have been a fan of his work and his writing for quite some time. His blog, which he unfortunately doesn't keep as up-to-date as he once did, was an inspiration for me to start the BUFFET. Both his writing and his photography are intelligent and witty, without being pretentious or sarcastic. I have a print of his hanging above my washing machine, which sounds de-grading, but my washing machine sits in a beautifully lit space.

Shawn just released a book about a movie about a book. His son Max is the lead role in the last Spike Jonze film Where the Wild thing are. Shawn spent his time as set photographer documenting his son in the strange moments between being Max and Max. Shawn says himself that fans of the movie might be disappointed as it isn't so much about Maurice Sendak's classic but about Shawn's losing the control of protecting his son as he is thrown into the film world which, I imagine, can be a big scary place.

The book is softcover about 24x30 cm for 45,- $

or a special edition version with a print-of-choice for 120,-$

54 color photographs

you can order them here at Publication Studio

Fabio Barile - Diary #0, Things That do not Happen

Diary #0, Things That do not Happen

Fabio Barile - limited edition book, 2009

I have started to post this book several times, and each time I was beat to the punch by someone, somewhere, who also had something to say. Here is a smart, edgy review by George Slade for Photo Eye, and with better illustrations than mine above. I am getting tired of destroying spines of books just to snap some images from within. So check out Photo eye's book tease to see more.

The publishing group 3/3 has released its first publication of photos from Italian photographer Fabio Barile.

"Do things happen? What happens when they do not happen?"

This is a very quiet book which seems to question the relevance which a photographer gives to a specific moment simply by pushing a button. Not to be confused with the phenomenal "decisive moments", these moments are so wonderfully unspectacular, they could have easily slipped past. As a diary, this book reads like probably most of our own diaries; mainly forgettable events, which, when visited again, become more complex because the details have slipped away.

3/3, 2009

48 pages, numerous color images

softbound.

Alec Soth - Allowing Flowers

alec soth's "allowing flowers" book for common bond from Mom Culture on Vimeo.

Video grabbed from Mom Culture Onlilne.

I don't own this book, probably won't ever be able to afford it, but I wish I could as by doing so I would be helping a noble cause. I usually like to at least get my hands on a book before putting it up here, but this one has 2 things going for it that are going to justify me posting about here, without ever seeing it live:

Alec made it, and some folks in need will profit.

Jeff at 5b4 has the first review/presentation of this project, so I am more or less just linking you back to him.

Here some thoughts from the Common Bond organization.

CommonBond Communities is proud to announce the release of Allowing Flowers, a limited-edition book created specifically for CommonBond Communities. Allowing Flowers features the work
of Alec Soth, an internationally renowned photographer who blends his unique style of photography with the organization’s mission to provide homes for those most in need.

In Allowing Flowers, Soth captures the humanity of the word “home” in a powerful collection of images featuring seniors, families and children who live in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. The book features photos of the very people CommonBond helps; their ‘common bond’ is living in CommonBond Communities’ affordable apartments and town homes.

Allowing Flowers is a beautiful, 11”x12” bound, hard-cover book featuring full color photos of CommonBond residents by Alec Soth. The book was designed by California artist Catherine Mills, of Catherine Mills Design. Each book cover (both front and back)
is unique and one-of-a kind.

Premier donors (those who donate $5,000 or more to CommonBond’s first-ever capital-campaign) will receive a copy of the Allowing Flowers limited edition book. Those who commit to a gift of $25,000 or more will receive a personally signed and numbered print by Alec Soth in addition to the book. Donations of any size are greatly appreciated and will create stable, supportive homes for people in need and “allow flowers” to bloom in their lives.

CommonBond Communities.

Maximilian Haidacher, Magdalena Fischer - Alpenrose

Maximilian Haidacher, Magdalena Fischer

Alpenrose - limited edition booklet, 2009

Maximilian Haidacher and Magdalena Fischer have released a perfect follow-up to Max's Hotels des Alpes, a self-published book from 2008. Similar to Hotels, Alpenrose embraces the traditions of landscape photography in the alps and celebrates the beauty of this place all the while addressing the problematic phenomenon that hits a place when tourism becomes the main source of income and such majestic landscapes becomes a fictional cartoon of itself. The alps, as we have come to expect them, are seldom seen...Perfect timing in the year in which the New Topographics are experiencing a revival

These are the places which fill the days of the tourists who come to spend their holidays in the Hotels from Max's first series.

21x16,5cm / 44 pages in color

Limited and signed edition of 50

Rob Hornstra - Sanitorium

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen

Sanitorium - Limeted Edition booket, 2009

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen have released their first publication of the Sochi Project.

This 40 page full color publication is the first of several publications of the project documenting the changes in this Russian region leading up to the Olympics which will take place there in 2014.

The photographs are accompanied by a fictional yet not unrealistic journal account of a visit at the sanitarium in Metallurg, Sochi. The new images are accompanied with vintage postcard views and accounts.

The claims made for the waters of Matsesta vary from curing sterility in women to arresting baldness in men, and if nastiness is a measure of the quality of a medicine the smell in this sanatorium should be proof of its excellence.

Journey into Russia, 1964

Like Rob's other works in Russia, he has found a way to make us believe he is a time traveler, taking bits of information which seem to be spread out over decades and shaking them up and rolling them out into a new order.

I'm not sure, but I think you have to be a supporter of the Sochi Project to be eligible for this and the upcoming publications. It is limited to 350 signed copies so if you are interested you might want to hurry.

more info here:

The Sochi Project

Blackbook Publications - Kalle Sanner and Simon Berg

Blackbook Publications is new to me. They sent me their first 2 publications and a link to their site which claims that they will try to run the "business" as democratic as possible:

Blackbook Publication grows by voting. This means that if you want to become a part of our distribution network with your planed publication, it will be reviewed by the number of Artists so far published at Blackbook. This is how we secure our artistic vision and quality.

I will stop by occasionally to see how things move along. Both of the titles I received are very different from each other, which makes sense as the premise is to bring artist-book makers together on a distribution platform. They seem to be trying to bridge the gap between self-publishing and mass distribution, which might be an interesting stance to take in the ongoing discussion which Andy Adams and Flak Photo have started with Resolve, a platform where the future of the photo books is being contemplated by many folks.

Kalle Sanner

Sprinten - Limited Edition booklet

Simon Berg

Apan Är Rädd - Limited Edition booklet

Kalle Sanner

Simon Berg

Farewell Books - Reminding me to "keep it simple, Andrew"

I've been in over my head lately with things "non-photo" and the results can be seen (or not seen) here on this blog. I think a problem is that I tend to wait until I feel I have some serious weighty comments to give before posting but a friend told me the other day that the Buffet shouldn't loose its "archive" character, which was its initial design, just because I can't find time to fill 20 inches of screen.

This coincided with 2 little events:

A small package from FAREWELL books the other day, and the same above mentioned friend laughing when he saw my "reproduction stand" in the studio. The stand consists of a 2.00$ ebay Metz Flash hooked up to a 5.00$ slave, everything balanced on the top of a watercolor painting by the austrian artist Wilhelm Scherubel. Willy's watercolor paintings are "made" by rolling his wet paintings outside into sub-zero temperatures and letting nature take its course; what we see in the paper are frozen ice-chrystals. These remind me of the wedding of chance and science which is pivotal in photography. Frozen water; simple.

detail of W. Scherubel's frozen painting.

So, I will allow myself to "keep it simple" now and then in order to keep the archive growing, not that my lack of reflection should make the books I find for the Buffet any less important for me.

I've said several times that Farewell is one of my favorite independent publishers and I have heard that several of their titles which are very hard to find are now available in Australia. If you want to track down copies of Machina and Woodland maybe try contacting Farewell for the info. There is rumor of a new shop specializing in limited edition books.

But for now, here are the 2 newest titles. Both simple and beautiful. Both limited to 500 copies.

Kalle Sanner

Gravity - Limited Edition booklet, 2009

More pictures from Kalle Sanner here.

Märten Lange

Crows - Limited Edition booklet, 2009

more pictures from Märten Lange here.