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Reading this issue of Aperture’s “Liberated Threads” (No. 259, Summer 2025) has been a visceral experience, pulling me back to my own journey of understanding how an image can not only capture a moment but also carry the weight of history and the echo of personal narratives. I found myself thinking of the early photographs…
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It truly is a curious thing, the way certain books find their way to you, speaking a language you did not even realise you longed to hear. And for me, Jan Čihák’s A few stones from Eastern Front is precisely one of those quiet, unassuming treasures that has, against all expectations, resonated deeply within my…
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There are some books that arrive with a quiet insistence, demanding to be seen not merely with the eyes, but with something deeper in the gut. Sally Mann’s at Twelve: Portraits of Young Women for Aperture is precisely such a book. For a father like me, with a daughter now grown to twenty-four, and a…
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Unveiling the Layers: A Guide to Seeing the Art when Experiencing Photographs and Reading Photobooks
It has been truly heartening to receive such kind messages lately, hearing from so many of you about how my thoughts on photography and photobooks resonate. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that what I pour onto these pages finds a home with you, and it has prompted me to reflect on something fundamental that…
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Stepping away from the raw, often monumental landscapes I’ve been immersed in lately, a new book has landed on my desk, drawing me into a different kind of visual exploration. I’m deep into “The Color of Clothes, Fashion and Dress in Autochromes 1907-1930” by Cally Blackman, published by Thames & Hudson, and even at these…
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There are certain photographic journeys that burrow deep into your consciousness, reshaping how you see the very ground beneath your feet. Victoria Sambunaris’s “Transformation of a Landscape” from Radius Books is precisely one such odyssey. It is not merely a collection of stunning photographs, it is a profound and deeply personal excavation of the American…
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Well, I have to say, this photobook, delving into the world of Guido Guidi, has genuinely captivated me. From the very first page, it feels like an invitation into a way of seeing that resonates deeply with my own appreciation for the overlooked and the truly present. It is not a book to be rushed…
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There is an undeniable allure to places where human ambition collides with the formidable power of nature, creating a landscape at once magnificent and unsettling. It is a sensation I have often felt when encountering the vast, silent giants of infrastructure, each echoing a unique story of ingenuity, necessity, and inevitable consequence. The profound resonance…
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There is a peculiar alchemy that happens when a place, steeped in layers of history and forgotten stories, finds its visual chronicler. It is a process I understand intimately, one that echoes through my own ongoing work, “Echoes of the Past,” where I grapple with the visible and invisible threads connecting memory to the mundane…
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It is strange to admit, but I did not always know how to look at nudes. Not really. I do not mean in that bashful, adolescent way we are told to feel growing up in a culture that censor’s skin while glorifying it in everything from shampoo adverts to gallery retrospectives. I mean really look,…