“photo-eye is happy to present our Best Books of 2012. This is the time of year when nearly every publication comes out with at least one year-end list. Some people love them, some hate them, and their value is nearly always up for debate, yet they seem irresistibly interesting. What we strive for with our list is a little different from most, and this year we thought we’d clarify our process.”  Click here to read the full article and to see the extensive list of books.

“Pyramid Atlantic Art Center presents the 12th Biennial Book Arts Fair and Conference, the preeminent book arts event on the east coast. Now in its third decade, the fair will showcase a dynamic array of innovative book art, limited edition prints, fine papers, and specialty tools along with a rich program of notable speakers, demonstrations, and special exhibitions. This three day event will connect international artists, scholars, collectors, publishers, and art lovers. Serving to inform and inspire, the Book Arts Fair and Conference is a celebration of the printed form and the book as art.”

Conference includes: Speakers, Demonstrations and Exhibition Hall
Book Arts Fair includes: Exhibition Hall (book art and prints)

1 Day Conference: $30 | Student/Senior/Pyramid Members: $25

1 Day Book Arts Fair: $10 | Pyramid Atlantic Members: Free”

Silver Spring Civic Center
One Veterans Place
Silver Spring, Maryland  [map]

The daily photography news journal, Le Journal de la Photographie, dedicated Wednesday, September 19, 2012 to the best photo books of the season.   To see the selection of books and read more about them click here.

In summary, these are the books they mention:

Mark Shaw The Kennedy’s

Doug Rickard A New American Picture

Dennis Hopper  The Lost Album

Carl de Keyser Moments Before the Flood

Thierry Boccon-Gibod  Michel Berger

Annd Golaz  Metsästä

David Drebin Beautiful Disasters

Sergei Mikhailovich Nostalgia

Brian Finke Master Photographers

Alec Soth Looking for Love, 1996

The Birth of Photography: Gernsheim’s Collection

Wendy Paton Visages de Nuit

San Francisco, Jazz 2012

Ken Schles Oculus

Jim Lee Arrested

Steve Schapiro Then and Now

“Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation announce The Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, celebrating the book’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography.

A final jury in Paris, including Els Barents, Director of the Huis Marseille Museum of Photography; Roxana Marcoci, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and Curator of the Paris Photo 2012 Platform; Edward Robinson, LACMA associate curator of photography; Thomas Seelig, Curator of the Fotomuseum Winterthur, will select the winners for both prizes, which will be revealed at the opening of Paris Photo on November 14, 2012.

First PhotoBook
A $10,000 prize will be awarded to the photographer/artist* whose first photobook is deemed by an independent jury to be best of the year.

Criteria for Eligibility

• A book in which the dominant content is photography, produced in physical form, and distributed either for purchase or free of charge.
• A book which is the first by the given photographer/artist is eligible for entry, whether a first self-published book, a first limited-edition book, a first gallery-published collection, a first book made available by print-on-demand, or a first book published by a publisher for release in the book trade. A first book published by an established publisher is eligible for entry even if the photographer/artist previously released a self-published book or a limited-edition book for distribution outside the trade. However, once a photographer/artist has had a book published by a mainstream publisher in the book trade, a subsequent book (whether self-published or not) is not eligible for entry.
• May be released by a publisher (in a trade or limited edition) or self-published.
• First books eligible for entry include those produced via print-on-demand.
• A book released by a publisher is eligible if it is the first trade book by the given photographer/artist, even if an earlier limited-edition or self published book has previously been made available by that artist/photographer.
• Books must be produced or published between September 1, 2011, and September 8, 2012. Books produced before September 8, 2012, but not due for release or publication until a later date in 2012, are also eligible.

PhotoBook of the Year
The PhotoBook of the Year Prize will be awarded to the photographer/artist*, and publisher responsible, whose book is deemed by an independent jury to be the best of the year.

Criteria for Eligibility

• A book in which the dominant content is photography, produced in physical form, and published in an edition of no less than one hundred copies.
• Books must be produced or published between September 1, 2011, and September 8, 2012. Books produced before September 8, 2012, but not due for release or publication until a later date in 2012, are also eligible for entry.

*Books by or featuring the work of more than one photographer/artist are eligible in both categories.

Entry Fee
First PhotoBook: $30 per book
PhotoBook of the Year: $60 for first entry from a given publisher, $30 for each subsequent entry from the same publisher”

Click here for the submission guidelines.
Click here to apply online.

“Open to all photographers who have an interest in photo books and the process of self-publishing. Held in celebration of the Indie Photobook Library, a selection of which is on display at the PRC this month.

Neal Rantoul is a career artist and teacher. He has taught photography since 1971. He is currently head of the Photography Program at Northeastern University and taught for thirteen years at Harvard University as well as at the New England School of Photography. Rantoul is member of the Board of Directors of the PRC.”

PRC Gallery
832 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts   [map]

Reception: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 6:30 to 8:00 pm
Exhibition will be on view until November 12, 2011.

“In the last decade various technologies have enabled artists to publish not only small editions of a book, but individual volumes when needed. Now, instead of a few books being made in large quantities, many books are being made in small quantities. The Indie Photobook Library (iPL), founded by Larissa Leclair in 2010, is committed to cataloging and preserving examples of the multitude of books that may never find their way into conventional library catalogues because of their modesty, or because they were often created by individual artists whose practice doesn’t include conventional distribution.

“Threefold” reflects the idiosyncratic interests of three curators — Shane Lavalette, Larissa Leclair, and George Slade — each adopting a unique focal point in an attempt to represent a remarkable moment in contemporary independent publishing.”  (From the PRC’s website.)

Photographic Resource Center at Boston University
832 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
617-975-0600

Among the many photographers who attended:

and the one and only Kat Dalager, one of the best art buyers EVER!

I was honored to present to my friends, family, and colleagues!

Excelsior Bay Books

Before and after the signing: SOLD OUT!

My childhood best friend, Cathy Hurd Senescall.