Kent Hall (@windsorknot on Instagram and Twitter, and stop what you’re doing and go follow him NOW) is doing incredible, inspirational, wonderful things with Instax and Polaroid, grease pencil, marker, chalk, cardboard, stamps, paint, and various other media. I’m a fan and (secretly) jealous, want to find some way to do some things like that, but in my own way and without copying him.
Continue reading “Kent Hall – ‘she said’”Dave Rothschild – ‘Healing’
Dave Rothschild dedicated Healing to “all the clinicians and doctors out there who have compassion and honest intention to help their patients heal.” It’s a strange book to be dedicated to doctors, sorta, what with the pictures of forests and suburban-looking parks, mostly in the fall and winter, and it’s really a zine mostly concerned with healing, with dealing with illness, the benefits of wounds, and it’s really pretty good.
Continue reading “Dave Rothschild – ‘Healing’”Romy van der Burgh – ‘Through the Timeless Windows of Havana’
Romy van der Burgh’s Through the Timeless Windows of Havana is/was the first second of Let’s Explore magazine‘s occasional journal series.* The zine combines van der Burgh’s journalistic account of her late 20-teens visit with photographs she made there, and works something like one of those long photo essays from Life magazine or something, without all the ads and other articles and whatnot (or like a single, somewhat longer one-off from Let’s Explore).
Julián Péter – “Blue Mosque” & “まる” (maru)
I saw some mention of Julián Péter’s “Blue Mosque” zine on Instagram, and quickly ordered what, at the time, were his two most recent zines. The “Maru” project is on his website; “Blue Mosque” sorta came and went, maybe like zines should.
Continue reading “Julián Péter – “Blue Mosque” & “まる” (maru)”11 Café Royal zines…
It was March or April, 2019, and I remembered Café Royal Books, publishers of fine zines from from the British Isles. It may have been something on Twitter, though I only followed the account while working on this review. At the website, I once again found a bewildering array of zines and somehow stumbled into a £27 grab bag of 10 zines. I ordered it straight away. I mean, £27 (+£3.50 shipping) for 10 zines from 9 photographers? Come on! How could I resist?
Continue reading “11 Café Royal zines…”Noah Kalina – ‘Tiny Flock’
If you appreciate good photography and dry, sly humor, and you’re not subscribed to Noah Kalina’s superlative newsletter, do yourself a favor. I subscribed awhile ago, probably about a year after it started, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every weekly email. It’s also how I came to hear about Tiny Flock (and Bedmounds before it).
Continue reading “Noah Kalina – ‘Tiny Flock’”Noah Kalina – ‘Bedmounds’
2014 was the tail end of the Obama years, which was a time in our country where there was relative domestic peace and prosperity.
Kalina, Noah. Newsletter #47: “Bedmounds.” electronic mail, MailChimp. Retrieved from https://mailchi.mp/noahkalina/newsletter47 June 15, 2021.
I could bunch up a mound of sheets and it was fun and meaningless. Back then we smiled. Back then joy was possible.
If things changed since 2014—and they have, without doubt—one thing remained: Kalina’s sense of humor and playfulness, even when making serious political commentary. And Bedmounds is a reminder: even in times of slow-motion national catastrophe, there is beauty and joy and even silliness to be had.
Continue reading “Noah Kalina – ‘Bedmounds’”