Rob Hornstra - 49 Billionaires, The Sochi Project, free stuff

Rob Hornstra

101 Billionaires, The Crisis Edition - Self published, limited edition book, 2009

Here are 2 new old things. Rob was kind enough to make a book trade with me and, as always with Rob, I feel like I always get the better end of the bargain. I (as well as a few hundred others) have posted already about how good "101 Billionaires" is. It was on my best of 2008 list, as well as almost every "best of" list last year so it is no surprise the the first edition has sold out. The timing of the second edition coincides directly with the financial crash, hence the title of the second book, which is the same but with a cancelation "x" through the title. We come to find out that the initial announcement from a Russian publication listing the 101 Russian billionaires which gave the title to the book has recently announced that that list is cut down to a "mere" 49. That is still alot of Billionaires, but like Rob says, the Russians in the hinterland saw little of this exorbitant wealth anyway.

So, if you missed the first edition, don't miss out on this one.

Get them here.

Support the Sochi Project...

The Sochi Project, which is already underway, is an ambitious project by Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen. They will be documenting the changes that are happening to this Russian town and its surroundings as it prepares for the Olympic games in 2014.

Here is a link to my previous short post about it.

Rob has sent me a small stack of these newspapers in which he and Arnold flat-out ask for money, you can't get more direct than this:

but when you know Rob's work, and the tenacity which it contains, you can be sure it is money well invested.

The Sochi Project Newspaper is a large-format news print with 3 double page pull-out poster images.

I am going to try to do my part in spreading the news. If you want one of the magazines that Rob sent me, simply send an email to 20 of your friends, linking this post, and asking them to take a look and consider joining and supporting the Sochi Project. CC me to the mail, and include your address and I will send you one, postage paid by me.

AND, in the spirit of giving, if you send out the mail with the longest list of recipients, I will send you a set of Rob's christmas cards from last year.

Rob Hornstra, Christmas Cards from 2008.

Bernhard Fuchs, Nicholas Gottlund - The high and the low road

I'm not usually one to compare apples and oranges, but I had an interesting confrontation today when I looked through my two latest acquisitions (one given, one bought). They both took me to the same beautiful place, though they couldn't be more different in their form, printing quality and lastly, their production costs. From my experience, I am guessing there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000.- euro difference in the total production costs for these 2 books. Thats not so interesting. What is interesting, and what is often forgotten, is some books just find the right form they need, others seem to miss the mark. I was equally pleased with each book as each photographer found the form needed to experience the work in the right way.

Nicholas Gottland

Wild Prayer - Limited edition signed book/newspaper/pamphlet , 2009

The Gottlund Verlag production of Nicholas Gottland's Wild Prayer is a 16 page newspaper print. It feels like a newspaper and doesn't try to be anything more or less. Surely a few of the images would be easier to read if they were in a high-end duotone print, but thats not its intention. It is an "..experiment with loosing consciousness, the fading effects of light over time..." These pages will fade, and become yellow; rightly so.

not so with...

Bernhard Fuchs

Strassen und Wege - book, 2009

This Bernhard Fuchs book, from Koenig Books, is at the other end of the scale. It is as about as classic as you can get in its style, materials and a printing quality that probably can't be topped. You know his portraits, you know his cars, these are the trails trodden by those folks, and sped along by those cars. Keeping in his tradition of not wandering too far from his upper-Austrian hometown, Bernhard has collected 53 streets and trails, beautifully composed and quiet.

What is interesting, is that Hassla published a slim version of Strassen und Wege last year, titled Streets and Trails.

Christoph Lingg - Shut Down

Christoph Lingg

Shut Down - Limited edition book and print, 2007

The Vienna based photographer Christoph Lingg was kind enough to offer me trade of his special edition of Shut Down. The book was published in 2007, but it is a new discovery for me, a bit late, but such is often the case with such special artist's books. This isn't a book you will just find on a book store shelf, although I saw that Dashwood has had them in the past.

Each is unique through the rusted metal covers, each one created by the artist. The book, beautifully printed, is hand-bound and comes in a card-stock slip-case.

Christoph traveled to 120 abandoned industrial sites from 2003-2006. Countries including Albania, Azerbaijan, China, former East Germany, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and several more are represented in this tribute to the ideologies of what once stood for progress and growth, but now left to decay.

"One of the most striking paradoxes of "real existing socialism" is that this society, which loved to portray itself in the form of smoking factory chimneys, rows of combines across the fields and red-hot iron pouring out of smelters, never manufactured or produced anything."

Richard Swartz

Of the 120 sites visited, 68 of them are represented in the book, in 104 color images. Abandoned factories must be on the list of things, such as grave-yards, churches and puppies that are the things difficult to photograph without becoming kitsch, contrived, over loaded with pathos. Even with so many in the edit, the images avoid romanticizing. There are 3 strong texts which accompany the images from Susanne Schaber, Richard Swartz and Serhij Zhadan.

This is the special edition image I chose out of the 9 to select from.

Its a fantastic c-print, 30x40 cm in an edition of 7, so it is rather limited.

Be sure to check out Christoph's other books on his homepage.

You can order them directly through the publisher, Edition Aufbruch, in Vienna.

There is also a german version available called STILLGELEGT.

Thanks Christoph.

Michael Lundgren - Transfigurations 20x200

Michael Lundgren, Yuha Basin.

A while ago I posted about Michael Lundgren's book Transfigurations published by Radius.

I just got word that the 20x200 edition is still available.

Another place, officially launching tomorrow with a similar strategy as 20x200 is the Nova Gallery.

They are starting with 3 interesting photographers, so it looks promising and tomorrow will tell.

Certainly worth checking out tomorrow.

Andrew Phelps - Not Niigata special edition

Photographers, like birds, greedily peck away at the world, digesting the occasional pebble as well as the intended breadcrumb. While nibbling away in Niigata Japan, Andrew Phelps has gracefully assembled a poetic journey which, factual to Niigata or not, has me lingering by his side, hoping for a delay of my return flight to the real world.

Jeffrey Ladd

My forthcoming book NOT NIIGATA, will be released in the late summer with the Kehrer Publishiers in Heidelberg, who also published HIGLEY a few years ago. You can read a bit about my travels here.

To help finance the book, we are offering, for a short time only, a "print of choice" special edition, limited to 100.

NOT NIIGATA, 2009

28x28 cm, hardbound

ca 112 pages

ca 40 color images

Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg

Special Edition, 100+5 e.a.

30 x 40 cm, C-print + book

128,- Euro + shipping

By purchasing a Special Edition, you will receive a copy of the book before it is officially released. You can then choose from any image in the book. Each image is signed as a Special Edition image and is outside of the normal editions for this work.

To reserve a copy, please send an email with your complete mailing address to one of the following:

aphelps@gmx.net

contact@kehrerverlag.com

To see a preview of a few images, go to:

www.andrew-phelps.com/niigata

Thanks

RJ Schaughnessy - Your Golden Opportunity is Coming Very Soon

4 images, RJ Schaughnassy.

RJ Schaughnessy

Your Golden Opportunity is Coming Very Soon - Limited edition book, 2009

This book has already had several reviews and blog postings, but I want to do my part in passing it along.

RJ Schaughnessy sent me this book without much warning. I get alot of stuff in my mailbox (real mail) and though I catalogue all of it, only a fraction of it makes it to the Buffet, not necessarily out of quality reasons, but sometimes I just don't find the right take on it at the right time. Its always great to get something that not only immediately catches my attention and stays with me all day, but that also fits well into the parameters of what I want to try and keep the Buffet situated in. This is a self-published book with a limited print of 500, which isn't necessarily small, but when you add that to each one signed and numbered and a distribution which seems to be very narrow, this might be your "golden opportunity" to get something special.

This book is cryptic  from the start. The title suggests nothing of what is inside and I have seen it spelled 2 ways; with the misspelling as it is on the cover (comeing) as well as the so called "correct" way, (coming). I somehow don't even want to know the story behind the title. I'm afraid I might find out it alludes to some piece of pop-hip-youth-sexy-cultural phenomenon that I should know about, but don't.

That said, the pictures are a great collection of what appear to be accident sites and they all seem to be in Los Angeles. There is so much done about cars, especially in LA, but this one is a refreshing dark-humor look at things out of control. With each picture, though not hoping bodily harm, I can't  help but imagine a BMW wrapped around a lamp. They are always at night and one can just imagine a young Weegee roaming the streets with a strobe, arriving just a bit too late.

When you see RJ's homepage, he seems to do alot of advertising work; colorful, flashy, expected, but this seems to be a meditative, typological study of beautiful yet disturbing still-lives.  Although Deathcamp is now on my wish list, I appreciate the "one-step-back" which RJ has taken with this work. 

RJ lists only 2 places to order the book, Dashwood and Colete. 

Thanks RJ.

Rob Hornstra - The Sochi Project

Rob Hornstra

Rob Hornstra, the photographer behind 101 Billionaires, one of my favorite books of the year, has started a new long-term project to coincide with the Olympic games in Sochi in 2014. He is working with the filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen. There is a chance to become a part of the project by supporting the venture with 3 different options, ranging from 10-1000 euro per year, each with a very generous offer of prints and special offers available only to the supporters.

I am going to go for Silver, thats 100 euro each year, surely well spent.

Details here.