PHOTO-EYE BEST BOOKS 2018

Owen Kobasz's favorite book from 2018

Most photographers release their work in series, but Vivian Maier’s came as a tidal wave. The sheer quantity of her work makes it difficult to digest, but this publication stands out as it features her color work for the first time. The 150 some featured pictures are effectively a highlight reel. Through them, however, emerges a beautiful survey of one of the most interesting and important photographers to surface in the last decade. In his introduction, Joel Meyerowitz appropriately concludes: “Maier was an early poet of color photography.”

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Owen Kobasz edits the blog & newsletter at photo-eye. He holds a BA in the liberal arts from St. John's College and takes photos in his free time. Currently based of Santa Fe, New Mexico, you can find him on Instagram and Twitter.

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Owen Kobasz's favorite book from 2018

Sohrab Hura’s fourth book, The Coast, is comprised of flash heavy, unsettling, absurd photographs. In images, Hura uses metaphorical imagery to photograph the 'beating pulse' of the world he was living in. The subjects range from beautiful and life-affirming to dark and bloody — the later of which hint to India's nationwide rise of violence, and, even more disturbingly, its normalization.

The Coast utilizes a unique design and sequence to arrange its powerful subject matter. Each image appears twice, so that after turning the page it repeats itself in the next spread, creating an almost cinematic effect. The result is a series linked into a strong narrative that, as Nina Strand said for the Aperture-Paris Photo Awards, “works on the same level as a challenging work of fiction.”

The story itself, however, is open to interpretation. Each time I return to The Coast, I end with a different feeling, a different takeaway.

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Owen Kobasz's favorite book from 2018

Living under the omnipresent cloud of lockdowns, closures, and distance, it's difficult to be young these days. It's awkward to rebel on zoom. To fall in (and out) of love from six feet away. As individuals in the new generation carve out spaces for themselves, they do so as mediated by a pandemic. Depressing.

The city and all it holds, Roni Ahn’s first book, is then a refreshing testament to the youth of today. Or, in her words, "an intimate reflection on human connection at a time where isolation is encouraged and sometimes mandated". Light hearted and hopeful, it’s a joy to view.

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Owen Kobasz is photo-eye's Newsletter, Blog and Social Media Editor. He lives in Philadelphia and likes to take photos in his free time. You can find him on Instagram as @owenkobasz.

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Owen Kobasz's favorite book from 2018

This is probably Fukase’s silliest series, and almost feels forbidden. Not because of the image content (unlike some of his contemporaries), but because of its obscurity. From Window was notably omitted from the major Fukase retrospective in 2018, and to date has only been printed in fragments (most recently by akaaka-sha in the compact Fukase retrospective they released this year). Seeing these images monograph form is like being let in on an inside joke, except the joke isn’t a joke at all. Rather a document capturing care-free highs of a relationship whose dissolution famously inspired Fukase’s Ravens.

There’s a lot more to say about the nuance of Fukase and Yoko’s relationship as mediated by the lens, and how this series is important within the context of Fukase’s life, but mostly the pictures are really, really good. Unfortunately the small edition of 120 flew out of print, but hopefully there is another edition to come.

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Owen Kobasz edits the blog & newsletter at photo-eye. He holds a BA in the liberal arts from St. John's College, is currently enrolled in a masters program at the University of Pennsylvania, and likes to build and ride bikes in his free time.

@owenkobasz