Books: Michael Reisch: New Landscapes

At first glance, the photographs of landscapes by Michael Reisch look very real. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer senses that something is not quite right. On the one hand, we are fascinated by unspoiled nature, which suggests wilderness, or perhaps even paradise. On the other hand, the images seem artificial, too immaculate to be true. The landscapes appear strangely frozen, as if they have been permeated by an invisible geometric structure. The pictures create a sense of uncertainty, because they are based on real, existing landscapes that Reisch has photographed with a digital camera but later processed. This combination of realism and manipulation gives rise to some questions: how do we put together our contemporary concept of landscape and nature? And are our ideas of landscape and nature at all salvageable now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century?

Michael Reisch: New Landscapes, Texts by Duncan Forbes, Rolf Hengesbach, 100 pp., 35 color ills., 34,70 x 28,60 cm, Hardcover,
Published by by Designer, for Hatje Cantz, ISBN 9783775726351
Buy it here: Amazon

Books: Bird by Andrew Zuckerman

Photography © Andrew Zuckerman

Turning his camera to the world of birds, Andrew Zuckerman has a created a new body of work showcasing more than 200 stunning photographs of nearly 75 different species. These winged creatures from exotic parrots to everyday sparrows, and endangered penguins to woody owls are captured with Zuckerman’s painstaking perspective against a stark white background to reveal the vivid colors, textures, and personalities of each subject in extraordinary and exquisite detail. The ultimate art book for ornithologists and nature enthusiasts alike, Bird is a volume of sublime beauty.

Bird, by Andrew Zuckerman
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+ more: Andrew Zuckerman: Creature

Books: Guido Mocafico: Movement

Time is naturally marked by repeating astronomical phenomena, by the daily cycle and the seasons, as nights and months come and go. To slice it into finer fractions, our forbears invented sundials, which track the movement of the shadows projected by the sun, or clepsydra, hourglass-like devices that count time based on a consistent rate of water flow. But ever since 1657, when the first watch was created, we have used the oscillatory movements of a mechanical system to do that job. The photographer Guido Mocafico, whose previous books include Venenum, Medusa and Serpens, sets out in this new project, Movement, to observe these systems. He chose complex and rare mechanisms–physically mechanical rather than electronic–which led him into a world of traditional knowledge controlled by master watchmakers. To remove the back from one of their tiny creations is to plunge into an unknown world: these images of the tiny springs, levers, screws and gears that drive the hands of time forward, etched with the slightest texture possible and engraved in the smallest type possible, present an abiding mystery of the everyday, representative of all of the technologies we have come to take for granted. Mocafico was born in Switzerland in 1962. A specialist in still life, he works for international magazines such as Vogue, French Vogue, The Face and Wallpaper. Based in Paris, he has also undertaken numerous advertising campaigns for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Clinique, Shiseido and Hermès.

Guido Mocafico: Movement, Edited by Patrick Remy. Text by François-Paul Journe, Stephen Forsey, Antoine Simonin. ISBN: 9783865214553
Buy it here: Amazon

Books: Martin Roemers. Relics of the Cold War

The Cold War is over, yet its traces are still visible. Dutch documentary photographer Martin Roemers decided to track down the remains of this period. For over ten years he repeatedly traveled through formerly hostile countries on both sides of the line. He descended into underground tunnels; photographed abandoned control centers, old barracks, wrecked tanks, and ruined statues. In his images the era of enmity, the politics of deterrence, and the arms race appear ongoing and vivid, serving as a reminder for a future of peace.

Exhibition: Martin Roemers. Relics of the Cold War, Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, November 11, 2009 - January 15, 2010

Martin Roemers. Relics of the Cold War, Published by Hatje Cantz, Edited by Nadine Barth, texts by Nadine Barth, H.J.A. Hofland, Martin Roemers, 144 pp., 73 color illustrations, 25.7 x 28.6 cm, hardcover, ISBN 9783775725347

Monograph: Carlo Valsecchi Lumen

Industrial architecture, agro-industrial farmland, airports and urban landscapes are all subjects of the Italian photographer Carlo Valsecchi. He works with a extremely soft palette and nuanced chromatic scale, the images are painterly in its sensibility. By shooting long, slightly overexposed images Valsecchi manages to capture natural light bathing a subject not known for its intrinsic beauty. The compositions are considered and carefully composed, his goal is to make visible the dynamic process linking architecture, machinery and product.
Much of his work is clearly within the strong tradition of the industrial landscape developed by the German school, Bernd & Hilla Becher and Andreas Gursky, while others have noted similarities withe the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. The book follows an exhibition of his large-format photographs at Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Carlo Valsecchi: Lumen, Edited by Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, William A. Ewing, Nathalie Herschdorfer, Publisher: Hatje Cantz English, French, Pages 192, 134 color, hardcover, 29.7 x 27.6 cm, ISBN: 9783775724104
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Books: Edgar Martins: Topologies

With artful composition and controlled framing—but no digital manipulation—Edgar Martins creates sublimely beautiful views of often un-beautiful sites. Minimalist nighttime beaches, forests ravaged by fires, and Iceland’s stark terrain have all served as subjects for his large-scale color photographs. He also explores the unexpected impact of modernism on the landscape, including startlingly graphic airport runways and colorful highway barriers that, at first glance, read like abstract murals.

Certain themes recur throughout Martins’s work. A sense of place and alienation from it. A sense of mystery—vividly embodied in scenes such as a woman with a bouquet of balloons on a deserted shore. And a sense that something unsettling has just happened or is about to happen—a fire, an accident, a close encounter with some unspecified danger. As John Beardsley notes, “Some images are what we habitually expect photography to be—evidence of the world as we think we know it—while others obscure their subjects through an illusionism that borders on magic.”

Edgar Martins: Topologies, Photography by Edgar Martins, Hardcover with jacket,
11″ x 9.25″, 136 pages

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Books: The U.N. Building

When it was completed in 1952 along New York’s East River, The United Nations Building stood as a symbol of world humanitarianism, a beacon of unity after the Second World War. More than 50 years on, the 39-story building is regarded as one of the pinnacles of mid-century modernism. Its magnificent public spaces and assembly halls, as well as its impressive collection of art by Chagall, Henry Moore and many others make it one of the most visited sites in New York.
On the celebration of the United Nations’ 60th anniversary, and before a long period of renovation, this book presents a portrait of this fascinating building. Specially commissioned photography and an illuminating text bring alive the the spaces which have played host to the historic aspirations, speeches, debates and gatherings that have been central to the world’s development since 1945.

“Considered and well-produced … an intelligently observed photo-essay of a working environment”
– The Architects’ Journal

“No one had ever conceived of building a mirror on this scale before, and perhaps no one could guess what an endless series of pictures that mirror would reveal.”
– Lewis Mumford

The U.N. Building, with an essay by Aaron Betsky, Photographs by Ben Murphy, Foreword by Kofi A. Annan
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Bunkers: Ruins of War in a New American Landscape

Built in apprehension of the enemy that never came, Alex Fradkin has photographed the architecture of war along the coastal landscape of the San Francisco Bay area. The earliest bunkers date from the Mexican–American War all the way up to the Cold War. A personal photographic project which took Fradkin eight years to complete will be published by Chronicle Books in the Fall of 2009.

Bunkers: Ruins of War in a New American Landscape, by Alex Fradkin

Books: Julius Shulman, Modernism Rediscovered

The buildings burned in our memories, which to us represent the spirit of fifties and sixties architectural design, were those whose pictures were widely published in magazines and books; but what about those that got lost in the process, hardly or never appearing in publication?

The exchange of visual information is crucial to the development, evolution, and promotion of architectural movements. If a building is not widely seen, its photograph rarely or never published, it simply does not enter into architectural discourse. Many buildings photographed by Julius Shulman suffered this fate, their images falling into oblivion.
The abandoned files of Julius Shulman show us another side of Modernism that has stayed quiet for so many years. Bringing together nearly 250 forgotten masterpieces, Modernism Rediscovered pays tribute to these lesser known yet outstanding contributions to the modern architectural movement. It’s like sneaking into a private history, into homes that have rarely been seen and hardly appreciated as of yet.

A resident of Los Angeles since 1920, Julius Shulman has been documenting modernist architecture in Southern California and across the globe for nearly eight decades. His images of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22 (1960) in Los Angeles and Richard J. Neutra’s Kaufmann House (1947) in Palm Springs are among the most recognizable and iconic architectural photographs of the 20th century.

Julius Shulman, Modernism Rediscovered, 416 pages, Edited by Peter Gössel.
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Books: beautyLIGHT by Matthew Rolston

beautyLIGHT is a new book published in collaboration with Remy Martin Louis XIII who are supporting visionary artists from the world of art, design, photography and architecture.
The book showcases some of Matthew Rolston’s best photographs from the past 20 years including those of Selma Hayek, Charlize Theron, Bjork, Bob Dylan, Christina Ricci and Julianne Moore.
Matthew Rolston was discovered by Andy Warhol at an early age to shoot for Interview Magazine, and has shot iconic covers for numerous publications including Rolling Stone and Harper’s Bazaar.

beautyLIGHT, published by teNeues, Available in two formats: Standard book, $75, Collectors’ Edition$2500 (limited to 600 copies with a signed print)