DEAR SANTA, PLEASE DELIVER THESE…
As the holiday season is very much upon us, it’s time to start dreaming of gifts that inspire you, ignite creativity, and add a touch of magic to your everyday.
For photographers and book lovers alike, there’s nothing quite like unwrapping a beautifully curated photobook to lose yourself in, right?
This year, I’ve compiled my ultimate Santa wish list of photobooks for 2024—works that promise to transport, challenge, and captivate me with all their beauty.
Ready to see what’s on my list? Let’s go!
Australian photographer Narella Autio has spent years documenting and photographing around the beaches of Australia. In this book, she compiles images she has made of pier jumpers under the surface of water around South Australian jetties.
Through her lens, Autio reveals a surreal, dreamlike realm where light dances on water, human forms float in weightless suspension, and the line between reality and abstraction blurs. It’s a celebration of the ocean's magic and mystery, offering a profound connection to the aquatic world that surrounds us.
As a fellow water lover and one who also loves the magic that happens with light as it cuts through water, I couldn’t adore this body of work more. This one is top of my list for very good reason!
The two sequential photobooks The Adventures of Guille and Belinda by Alessandra Sanguinetti chronicle the lives of two cousins, Guille and Belinda, growing up in rural Argentina. These works blend documentary and poetic storytelling to explore themes of childhood, adolescence, and the passage of time.
Together, these photobooks form a tender, deeply personal narrative about growth, friendship, and the enduring bond between two individuals over time.
Let’s be real - i’d give pretty much anything to own any of Cig Harvey’s photobooks. Harvey’s work is rooted in the everyday, turning ordinary moments into extraordinary, dreamlike compositions. She frequently incorporates nature, domestic spaces, and symbolic objects, creating images that feel intimate yet expansive. Her photographs often evoke a sense of wonder, nostalgia, and quiet mystery.
You an Orchestra You a Bomb promises to be a a visually stunning photobook that delves into the fragility and vibrancy of life. The title itself hints at the dualities explored throughout—life's beauty and its impermanence, the tension between joy and fear, and the human capacity for resilience.
Both The Age of Adolescence: Joseph Sterling Photographs 1959-1964 and Joseph Szabo's Teenage are iconic photographic works that delve deeply into the lives and experiences of teenagers.
Despite their different eras and approaches, these collections share notable similarities such as their focus on teenage identity, candid, documentary style and cultural references.
A truly iconic book, Catholic Girl by Andrea Modica delves into themes of youth, identity, and the rituals of adolescence. Set against a backdrop of Catholic school life, the work captures a series of staged yet deeply evocative portraits and vignettes that explore the tension between innocence and maturity, faith and doubt, conformity and individuality.
The entire body of work was created using an 8x10” large format camera, which brings an added layer of brilliance and appeal to this book!
Rineke Dijkstra’s Portraits and Carolyn Mendelsohn’s Being Inbetween series both focus on capturing the essence of their subjects, yet they differ in approach, style, and thematic emphasis. Both series align closely to series of work I am currently building and am very much drawn to.
Dijkstra’s subjects, photographed against a beach backdrop, are presented with a raw honesty that highlights their vulnerabilities and strength. The simplicity places full emphasis on the subject, allowing their expressions and body language to take center stage. This neutrality amplifies the universality of her themes.
Mendelsohn’s Being Inbetween focuses on pre-adolescent girls, capturing the unique and often overlooked phase between childhood and adolescence. Mendelsohn’s portraits feel intimate and vibrant, often including subtle environmental or stylistic elements that reflect the personality and story of each girl. Her work feels warm and approachable while still exploring deeper themes.