Photobooks of 2021: Mark Steinmetz

A Parallel World by Robert Adams, Fraenkel Gallery 

Now in his early 80s, Robert Adams has been spending much of the past decade wandering the bright Oregon shoreline and walking paths down dark woods. At times reminiscent of Atget at Sceaux, and Stieglitz at Lake George, Adams demonstrates a freedom and wildness that is the province of older artists who have played their cards a certain way. He seems to be searching beyond the horizon.

Standing Still by Robert Adams, Fraenkel Gallery

Possibly a companion book to A Parallel World – in Standing Still, Adams stays close to home and takes a simple approach. Adams may have been thinking of Sudek’s work in the garden outside his studio.

The Outlands by William Eggleston, Steidl

This is a fairly expensive three-volume set of previously unpublished work. The books reward us with plenty of photographs that are as startling as his better-known work.

In Plain Air by Irina Rozovsky, Mack

Irina is my wife so some may cry foul but clearly her photographs made in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park make for one of the very best books of the past year.

Paris Revisited by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thames & Hudson

Beginning with the image on the cover, there are many beautiful images of Paris by H. C-B that I hadn’t seen before. There’s some text, but it’s never too lengthy, and the printing and paper are good. Unlike some earlier books on Cartier-Bresson, which have black borders around images to show they’re printed full-frame, these images are presented in a clean manner..

Most anticipated books of 2022

It’s hard to tell if these are more properly 2021 books that are being held up by the global shipping slowdown:-

Baldwin Lee, edited by Barney Kulok (Hunters Point Press)

I’m quite excited to see Baldwin’s wonderful work from the American South finally in print after almost forty years.

Judith Joy Ross: Photographs 1978 – 2015, edited by Joshua Chuang (Aperture)

Her austere portraits rank among the highest achievements in art.


Mark Steinmetz is a photographer who lives and works in Athens, Georgia. Rivers & Towns (Stanley/Barker) will be released this December and ATL (Nazraeli Press) is due in early 2022.


Images:
Outlands by William Eggleston, Steidl
Paris Revisited by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thames & Hudson