I’ve been meaning to write for the past few months about two books I have been ‘distantly involved with’.
Around April this year Anthony Lamb asked me if I would write an intro to his book. I had known of Anthony’s work for about a year, as I had been researching Dubai as a photographic destination and I loved his images.
About a month later, Hans Strand asked me to write an intro to his new book as well. Wow. I seemed to be very popular last April I thought !
Then in the summer the publisher Kozu books got in touch with me to tell me that they were printing both books. So I just want to be clear that this all came around organically, and I don’t even know if Kozu knew that both photographers had asked me to write an intro to their books.
Sand - by Anthony Lamb
Anthony Lamb has been making intriguing images of the Dubai desert, and his book (which I now have a beautiful copy of), is really nicely printed by Kozu books.
I found the roads seemingly going to nowhere intriguing. And it was really refreshing for me to see a desert that hasn’t been photographed much done really well. There is a hue and softness of palette to Anthony’s work.
More info about the book can be found here: https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/sand-by-anthony-lamb
Beyond Landscape by Hans Strand
The second book is by Hans Strand. I’ve been a long time admirer of Strand’s photographs from Iceland. In my view, Strand deftly intermixes close up landscapes with aerial shots. Whilst looking at the work in his book, I was aware that there is an intentional ambiguity in the work. A shot that I may think is from overhead may actually be a macro section of a stream, when I thought it might be a massive sea. He understands texture and the graphic.
Hans’ book is also available from Kozu books: https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/beyond-landscape-by-hans-strand.
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I’d just like to finish today’s post by saying how honoured I was to contribute to these fine books. I love photographic books and I encourage keen photographers to buy as many monographs as they can. You can immerse yourself in another world with a book in a way that isn’t possible by staring at a website.
Being the producer of photographic books, I am a strong advocate that photographers should publish their work in book format.
In my view, images are never finished until they’re printed.
Congrats to Anthony and Hans for two very fine books.