The Best Photography Books 0f 2007

Shane Lavalette has a link to Martin Parr's picks of the Best photography books of 2007 in The Times. Parr has some interesting and thought provoking choices. His best of the year seems to be Hackney Flowers by Stephen Gill.

Anyway, you can check out Parr's choices at the link above, but in the meantime, I though I would list my own (probably idiosyncratic) choices for good photobooks from this year. A few even coincide with Parr's...

So, in no particular order (followed by a link to earlier posts on the books):

1. Accommodating Nature - Frank Gohlke (Post)

2. The Day to Day Life of Albert Hastings - KayLyn Deveny (Post)

3. Present Tense - Jo Ann Verburg (Post)

4. A Shimmer of Possibility - Paul Graham (Post - and a very good review here)

5 Obvious & Ordinary - America 2006 (Post)

6. Gabriele Basilico - Work Book: 1969-2006. (Post)

7. Hackney Flowers - Stephen Gill (Post)

I must admit, Hackney Flowers is definitely up there on my choice in the top three or four. I'll leave Parr to review his choice for book of the year:

"The new whiz-kid of British documentary, Stephen Gill, has turned to publishing his own books. And what a treat he has produced in Hackney Flowers, my favourite photography book of the year. Hackney doesn’t sound the most promising territory for a photography project, but this is Gill’s fourth book on his neighbourhood area. He has collected various discarded photos found in the local flea market and combined these with some of his own images interspersed with ones of pressed flowers and berries, also derived from Hackney. The combination of these elements is most surreal. I particularly loved a picture of a tip truck superimposed with flower petals falling out of the truck like debris: the combination is so simple and effective that it sings off the page. Gill has the uncanny knack of finding juxtapositions that defy belief. This may be hard to find – it’s a limited edition – but it can be admired and ordered from www.stephengill.co.uk"

There is also one book which I got this year, but which was published some times ago, but it remains one of the best books I've seen this year: The Romance Industry by John Gossage

Lastly, I have one book yet to see before I make my final decision on my book of the year. I'll let you know once it arrives and I've taken a look...