https://www.lensculture.com/articles/lensculture-editors-favorite-photobooks-2024
We reached out to photography experts from around the globe, and we asked them to recommend books that are their personal favorites from 2024. This year’s list of favorites features 34 titles, and as you can imagine, the range of topics and styles is wide and varied.
Valentina Abenavoli is an editor, book designer and visual artist working at the intersection of photography, video, sound and text. She has led intensive workshops on photo editing and bookmaking internationally. In 2012, she co-founded Akina, an independent publishing house producing challenging photobooks by emerging photographers. Her first photobook, Anaesthesia, was released in 2016, followed by her second book, The Harvest, in 2017. Both are part of an ongoing trilogy investigating the subjects of empathy and evil. Recently, she co-founded Neighbour, an alternative art space in Trivandrum, India, focusing on exhibitions, publishing and collaborations.
via 1000 Words: https://1000wordsmag.com/photobook-conversations-4-valentina-abenavoli/
When I think of my life before working at Akina, I recall a fascination for photobooks that was raw and unshaped – an early, unrefined intuition that supported an imaginative approach without prior knowledge, in its mad and vast simplicity. I would pick up a book because of its cover or title, without knowing what to expect with each turning page. As I learned the narrative structures and rhythm of sequences, I took my sweet time with each book, and some stories, in all their complexities, would linger in my mind for a long time, unfolding in multiple serendipities and nocturnal epiphanies. It was a real pull, a magnetic one, that had been the primary subject of my thoughts for many years. That blissful ignorance is what I now miss deeply.
https://1000wordsmag.com/photobook-conversations-4-valentina-abenavoli/
Discover ethical challenges in AI graphic design: bias, plagiarism, and ownership. Learn to address imbalanced data, copyright issues, and content authenticity while using AI responsibly for creative, inclusive design solutions.
via Kaptur: https://kaptur.co/ethical-issues-in-ai-graphic-design-bias-plagiarism-and-ownership/
The question of who owns AI-generated content is perhaps one of the most complex and unresolved issues in the realm of AI and graphic design today. As AI technologies continue to advance, producing increasingly sophisticated outputs, the traditional notions of authorship and ownership are being challenged in unprecedented ways.
https://kaptur.co/ethical-issues-in-ai-graphic-design-bias-plagiarism-and-ownership/
They want to overturn the “unconstitutional” photo permits in U.S. National Parks.
Nature and sports photographers Alexander Rienzie and Connor Burkesmith filed the lawsuit against NPS, with the aim of overturning its “unconstitutional permit-and-fee scheme that charges Americans for the right to film in public spaces.”
Alleged editorial chats published by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein suggest the paper tried to limit the publication of photos of the accused shooter.
via Hyperallergic: http://hyperallergic.com/976150/nyt-reportedly-sought-to-dial-back-luigi-mangione-photos/
“We’ve had Mangione leading the site overnight (and the pic is very strong), but as more details have emerged, his profile matches one of a mass shooter more closely than anything else (mental health questions, shocking crime, manifesto, etc. etc.),” the photo editor said in the messages. “The news value and public service of showing his face are diminishing, compared with concerns of amplifying the crime and inspiring others — something we avoid with mass shooters in particular.”
https://hyperallergic.com/976150/nyt-reportedly-sought-to-dial-back-luigi-mangione-photos/
Photographers captured historic moments of war, grief and wonder that defined the year.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/world/year-in-pictures.html
This year was made up of such extraordinary moments. And Times photographers captured them in extraordinary images. The Year in Pictures brings you the most powerful, evocative and history-making of those images — and allows you to see the biggest stories of 2024 through our photographers’ eyes.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/world/year-in-pictures.html
Barney’s large-scale portraits show the secret world of the haute bourgeoisie—and the way certain poses are handed down across generations.
via Aperture: https://aperture.org/editorial/how-tina-barney-became-an-astute-observer-of-the-upper-class/
The photographer’s signature large-scale portraits show the secret world of the haute bourgeoisie—and the way certain poses are handed down across generations.
https://aperture.org/editorial/how-tina-barney-became-an-astute-observer-of-the-upper-class/
I first met Anne Eder when taking her Plant-Based Photography workshop. I was instantly intrigued by her work, which is in deep conversation with the natural world. Once I entered Anne’s virtual classroom, I found out what an incredible educator she was, too. Since then, I’ve had the great fortune of working as the facilitator
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2024/12/187573/
My background. Well, I was always a sort of square peg in a world of round holes. I’m a messy artist, and my practice includes sculpture, installation work, and storytelling in addition to photography. I received my first camera (a Kodak Brownie!) as a hand-me-down from a relative when I was eight years old, and immediately began to use it to document all kinds of daily minutia. So, I was shooting medium format film as a kid and developing my own from the time I was about 18. It was both how I saw and how I mediated the world around me, which was often a very unsafe place for me as a child
The W. Eugene Smith Fund has announced the recipients of its 2024 grants, issuing $72,500 to photographers, the most in 45 years.
via PetaPixel: https://petapixel.com/2024/12/12/the-spectacular-winners-of-w-eugene-smiths-72500-photography-grants/
Adriana Loureiro Fernández from Venezuela is the recipient of this year’s $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for her project, Paradise Lost, which Fernández says is a tribute to her generation’s search for change. The Fund explains that Paradise Lost encapsulates several stories happening at once, amounting to “an untenable situation framed by both tragedy and splendor.”
The artist has illustrated more than one contentious New Yorker cover in his career, chronicled in a new film, and his next project will be no less gutsy.
via Hyperallergic: http://hyperallergic.com/973444/art-spiegelman-wont-shrink-back-from-controversy/
The artist has illustrated more than one contentious New Yorker cover in his career, chronicled in a new film, and his next project will be no less gutsy.
https://hyperallergic.com/973444/art-spiegelman-wont-shrink-back-from-controversy/
https://thephotosociety.org/marco-vernaschi-in-limbo-the-endless-struggles-of-mapuche/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=marco-vernaschi-in-limbo-the-endless-struggles-of-mapuche
For Milei’s right-wing government, the Mapuche communities represent a fabricated threat. Officials frequently paint them as impostors staging indigenous identity to make false ancestral land claims, labeling them “terrorists” and criminalizing their efforts to reclaim or occupy land. This narrative has fueled aggressive state actions and public distrust, further alienating these groups from mainstream society.
Wanda is a friend of the family. She became sick and qualified for the Compensation Act of $150,000. Plutonium-239 looks unnatural. Its bright fluorescent green poses a radioactive danger to anyone working with it or living in the region. Its effects are slow and silent. The line of green here represents the depth of damage
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2024/12/bootsy-holler-contaminated/
It’s a profound exhibition and the work of Bootsy Holler is a stand-out. CONTAMINATED is a layered historical exploration of the people affected by the secrets that the United States Government kept during the Manhattan Project, their subsequent illnesses, and the polluted land in eastern Washington State at the Hanford Nuclear site.
Cansu Yıldıran’s galvanic images of women activists and queer communities portray the pressures of a society in transition.
via Aperture: https://aperture.org/editorial/a-photographer-captures-the-experience-of-dispossession-in-turkey/
Cansu Yıldıran’s galvanic images of women activists and queer communities portray the pressures of a society in transition.
https://aperture.org/editorial/a-photographer-captures-the-experience-of-dispossession-in-turkey/
There are images of place, and then there are images about place. All photographs have to be made somewhere, yet the way photographers incorporate this layer of information could not be more varied. For some, conveying a sense of place is the central purpose for the work; for others, it is a concern secondary to,
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2024/12/photographers-on-photographers-conner-gordon-in-conversation-with-gregory-halpern/
There are images of place, and then there are images about place. All photographs have to be made somewhere, yet the way photographers incorporate this layer of information could not be more varied. For some, conveying a sense of place is the central purpose for the work; for others, it is a concern secondary to, or even distracting from, other narrative or conceptual goals. Yet some of the best photographs manage to thread the needle between these approaches, allowing place to inform the work without reducing it to an expression of geography alone.
The pioneering artist was one of the first to reckon with AI. Now he’s happy the rest of the world is catching up.
via Aperture: https://aperture.org/editorial/trevor-paglen-on-artificial-intelligence-ufos-and-mind-control/
The pioneering artist was one of the first to reckon with AI. Now he’s happy the rest of the world is catching up.
https://aperture.org/editorial/trevor-paglen-on-artificial-intelligence-ufos-and-mind-control/
As the year draws to a close, an annual tribute to some of the exceptional photobook releases from 2024 – selected by Editor in Chief, Tim Clark, with words from Editorial Assistant, Thomas King.
via 1000 Words: https://1000wordsmag.com/top-10-2024/
As the year draws to a close, an annual tribute to some of the exceptional photobook releases from 2024 – selected by Editor in Chief, Tim Clark, with words from Editorial Assistant, Thomas King.
A photo sharing startup founded by an ex-Google engineer found a clever way to turn Google’s tech against itself.
via WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/website-google-ai-photos-ente/
One of the first photos Mohandas tried uploading was a selfie with his wife and daughter in front of a temple in Indonesia. Google’s analysis was exhaustive, even documenting the specific watch model that his wife was wearing, a Casio F-91W. But then, Mohandas says, the AI did something strange: It noted that Casio F-91W watches are commonly associated with Islamic extremists. “We had to tweak the prompts to make it slightly more wholesome but still spooky,”
Smith Galtney was first a writer, and then a photographer. Words and images are often at odds with each other, leaving a moment in between where ambiguity fizzles into its own daydreaming world. The tired saying that “a picture says a thousand words” raises the question: how important are those thousand words in conveying an
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2024/12/smith-galtney-in-conversation-with-douglas-breault/
I used to take pictures of people more surreptitiously – go for a more journalistic “shoot first, ask later” approach. I guess I thought that was more authentic or something. But after some uncomfortable encounters that made me question everything, I started asking first and that felt so much better. You can still get something honest and I enjoy the sense of connection. People are genuinely touched by the request and the whole exchange feels generous, even when they say no.
http://lenscratch.com/2024/12/smith-galtney-in-conversation-with-douglas-breault/
In the ongoing evolution of my artistic journey, I find myself engaged in a profound process of self-examination, mental health and sadness – using the camera to explore the essence of who I am and my connection to the art of photography. – Dana Stirling As we enter December Holiday madness, it’s a good time
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2024/12/dana-stirling-why-am-i-sad-2/
In the ongoing evolution of my artistic journey, I find myself engaged in a profound process of self-examination, mental health and sadness – using the camera to explore the essence of who I am and my connection to the art of photography. – Dana Stirling
Ali Al Shehabi’s images of the Gulf kingdom dwell on the texture of a homeland he felt alienated from for most of his life.
via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/a-bahraini-photographer-returns-home
Ali Al Shehabi’s images of the Gulf kingdom dwell on the texture of a homeland he felt alienated from for most of his life.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/a-bahraini-photographer-returns-home