Arles, Paris...And

Boris Mikhailov is a mystery to me. This is the only book by him that I own and I don't really know much about it aside from the title and the photos (I should probably read the essay). My personal feeling is that Boris is kind of like a European/Russian Araki. I don't know if they have a word in Russian for Photo Maniac (the word Araki uses for himself in Japanese)but that describes Boris.

This book is comprised of mostly panoramic photos that Boris has drawn and/or painted on. Aside from a few places I recognize, I am only guessing that this book was shot in Arles and Paris.

At some point the book changes to the "And" section which maybe is not Arles or Paris. There is definitely a stylistic shift in the photos to non-panoramic and color photos with less embellishment on them.

The book ends with some photos of Boris himself. Like Araki, he appears often in his own work.

A New Map of Italy

Today's book is A New Map of Italy by Guido Guidi.

Guido Guidi is an Italian photographer who primarily shoots color with an 8x10 camera. According to Martin Parr, " All photographers love his work but it remains so under the radar and underrated, it hurts." Guido is another one of those photographers who show the great democracy of the image. Nothing is more important than anything else, everything is beautiful and worthwhile and thus, worth pointing the camera at. Guido has had a lot of good work come out the past little while but this is my personal favorite of the few I own.

I don't always check to see if they have things in stock, but I tend to tell people to buy from photoeye if at all possible.

Ex Voto

I decided recently to revive this blog to share some thoughts on some of my favorite photo books. I'm going to start with Ex Voto by Alys Tomlinson

As a secular person myself it was very interesting to find out that Alys Tomlinson was also secular. One of my parents grew up Catholic and I have a very large non-immediate Catholic family. I have always been drawn to the imagery and iconography of Catholicism and Christianity while not really being part of it (I even have a Virgin Guadalupe tattooed on my arm). Pair that with the fact that Alys Tomlinson shot this with a view camera and black and white film over a period of many years and you got me. This book immediately appealed to me. As for a deeper explanation of the book itself, it follows sites of Christian Pilgrimages throughout Europe. The main sites of pilgrimage are Lourdes in France, Ballyvourney in Ireland and Grabarka in Poland. A lot of the portraits seem to be of nuns and members of the Order of Malta (a sovereign order of Christian hospitallers, military and nobility) among others. The title Ex Voto refers to the notes and votives (voto....votive...latin root words get it?) pilgrims leave at these sights to show their faith.

If you decide to get this book, please support photoeye if at all possible.