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One of the winners of the 2005

Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of

the Iraq War, Anja Niedringhaus

dedicated her life to

photographing warfare. Shot

dead in 2014 while on an

assignment in Afghanistan,

Niedringhaus left a legacy of work

that marks her as one of the most

important war photographers of

the early 21st century.

Publishers Hatje Cantz have

released At War, a stunning

duotone book, to pay tribute to

this gifted photojournalist. The 78 pictures depict how Niedringhaus

largely focused on capturing scenes of what life was like for the

civilians and soldiers when not on the frontline, and those that do

show direct combat have an eerie sense of quietness to them. Often

showing an event just after it had happened, Niedringhaus reveals

the devastating aftermath of war.

As well as being absorbed by her profound pictures, the reader also

gets a true sense of Niedringhaus’ character through the deeply

personal texts written by her closest colleagues.

Anna Bonita Evans

ON THE SHELF

NEWS

In its introduction, this how-to

book with a difference points out

something photographers today

are all too aware of: nowadays

we live in a homogenised visual

culture. With a small number of

camera manufacturers producing

all the equipment we use to record

the world, it can be difficult

to distinguish the individual

photographer’s touch.

Highlighting how photography

can be used as a tool to explore

your own creativity, Experimental

Photography shows the flexibility

of the medium when stripped

down to its purest form: light,

some kind of aperture and a

material that will record the

resulting image.

Each of the five contributors

are members of SHS Publishing,

a forward thinking photography,

design and publishing collective

based in Rome and Berlin. Through their knowledge and passion,

these artists give step-by-step instructions for nearly 40 alternative

processes, including cameraless techniques, post-printing

treatments and quirky hand-built cameras. Additional illustrated

interviews with some of the most exciting practising photographers’

in the field act as an aspirational resource for the reader.

Anna Bonita Evans

Published to coincide with

the exhibition at the Phillips

Collection in Washington

DC, this book shows how the

Japanese photographer’s latest

work is just as intelligent and

fascinating as his previous series.

Inspired by Man Ray’s 1930s

pictures of mathematical

structures, Sugimoto

photographed similar models

held at the University of Tokyo.

Made at the end of the 19th

century from plaster, the pieces

were fragile, so Sugimoto turned

his hand to sculpture and

remodelled them in stainless

steel and aluminium.

Here his B&W studies of the

original models are shown with

colour pictures of his replicas.

Starkly beautiful, the pictures

show the pieces in a way that

makes them seem more akin

to Greek monuments. They are

grand and evocative yet still

retain Sugimoto’s signature

quietness found in his work.

Sugimoto’s poetic introduction

and essay by curator of the show

Klaus Ottmann accompany the

pictures. The exhibition is on

until 10 May.

Anna Bonita Evans

EXPERIMENTAL

PHOTOGRAPHY:

A HANDBOOK

OF TECHNIQUES

Edited by Luca Bendandi

Thames & Hudson

Hardback, £19.

SUGIMOTO:

CONCEPTUAL

FORMS AND

MATHEMATICAL

MODELS

Klaus Ottmann

Hatje Cantz

Hardback, € 35

HASHTAG

Spendel & de Jong

Clearview books

Hardback, £

With phone cameras becoming

all the more sophisticated and

entry level DSLRs being ever

more affordable, it’s no wonder

that photography in recent

years has become one of the

most democratic of art forms.

Harnessing photography’s

ever-growing popularity is the

Hashtag365 project, devised by

Sjoerd Spendel and Lennart de

Jong. Created by the Dutch duo

three years ago, Hashtag365 was

a project simple to understand

but a challenge to complete:

to take and upload one B&W

photograph each day for a year.

Armed with a Tumblr blog

and a vision to encourage people

to pick up their camera on a

daily basis, the project quickly

became an internet sensation.

Establishing a community for

those passionate about taking

pictures, the project now has

300,000 followers. Here we see

just a small selection of the

pictures uploaded – and what

a wonderfully diverse collection

of images it is. With each

photographer finding a unique

shot that symbolised everyday

life to them, this is a celebration

of what can be achieved with raw

talent and dedication.

Anna Bonita Evans

‘Th rough their knowledge and passion, these artists give

step-by-step instructions for nearly 40 alternative processes.’

AT WAR

Anja Niedringhaus

Hatje Cantz

Hardback, € 34

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