"Summer Nights, Walking"

by Robert Adams

8" x 8",

hardcover.

50 photographs.

In this book, Adams captures a certain in-between place. Both in time of day and in subject, he captures a place less often seen.

The images are foreboding, yet manage to draw you in. Very few images are printed with white, and many are largely black. This reversal of photographic norms gives the reader a certain unease, which is likely what Adams was trying to convey; the uneasiness of traveling through rural Colorado on foot.

The book itself is beautifully printed and designed. The body of the book is purely square pictures of the same size, one-by-one, on square pages, with a 1" margin, without even page numbers to distract. By removing distractions, the book lets you join him on his walks as much as it can - perhaps by diminishing the 'book-ness' he can allow the reader a bit more curiosity into the world he depicts.

From it's conception, this seems to be a work about consideration. The book's simple layout puts the reader face-to-face with Adams' world and allows a distraction-free environment, much like the one in which the photos were taken, to consider what is before them. The images feel like they warrant some contemplation; the pictures call for the extra time given as your eyes adjust to the night exposure.

"South Central"

by Mark Steinmetz

12" x 10", hardcover.

57 photographs.

This book feels like a documentary. More of a place than of the people in it; or perhaps of how these people each relate to their space. Though often appearing as awkward people, they all show a definite comfortability with themselves and with their surroundings. The book also has several themes which it carries through. There are phones throughout, and cracks, stray animals and old cars. Presumably this repetition exists to unify the many aesthetically different images. The book definitely feels as though it is a whole work of art to be considered, rath

er than individual works that have been collected. The book uses occasional blank pages for rhythm and separation.

Each individual pictured in the book conveys a very realistic emotion. The people often look dismayed and simultaneously they look as though they've given up trying to do anything with their lives. In "South Central," a geographic region most likely dreamed up by the photographer, the people have settled on who they are in life, but are not ashamed.

"A Series of Disappointments"

by Stephen Gill

9" x 12", hardcover.

36 photographs.

Published by Nobody.

Call # TR 655 G557 2008

ISBN 978-0-9556577-0-2