NZ PHOTO BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

Finalists 2017

+ Carbon Empire by Allan McDonald; Rim Books - W I N N E R
+ I Will Be My Dream by Constance McDonald -   C O M M E N D E D
+ Mimetic by Mark Purdom; Ramp Press -   C O M M E N D E D
+ Nothing Ever Happens by Robyn Daly -   C O M M E N D E D
+ At Rest. A Road Trip To Anthropocene. by Howard Greive - P E O P L E ' S   C H O I C E
+ Complements by Michael Mahne Lamb
+ Hand-Coloured New Zealand: The photographs of Whites Aviation Photographs by Peter Alsop; Potton & Burton
+ How are things. How things are. by Jamie Bowering
+ Missing Wife by Dana Chisholm & Mary Tanner
+ Retrograde Motion by Yvonne Shaw & Tim Mackrell; The Essence Archive
+ The Lament by Harvey Benge; Dewi Lewis Publishing UK
+ Valpo by Chris Leskovsek

W I N N E R

Carbon Empire
by Allan McDonald
rimbooks.com

Published by Rim Books
Edited by Allan McDonald
Design by Allan McDonald / Fiona Lascelles
Printed by Rocket Print
Pages 40
Edition of 100
Size 280mm x 320mm
ISBN 978-0-473-39349-6

Artist Description
Allan McDonald works in the space between documentary and art photography with issues of place and social history. He works with old and new images to curate narratives of New Zealand social and vernacular history.

Book Description
Carbon Empire juxtaposes images of closed petrol stations with a series of staged photographs of a ‘man in the street’ in Auckland’s industrial suburbs. They reflect the effects of the deregulation of the petroleum sector in 1998, which led to the demise of many small operators. The book also comments on society’s move away from fossil fuels and what could be the end of an era.

Judges' Comment
An outstanding publication where photography, design, editing and production come together to support an original and contemporary concept. The work takes great care with its available materials, utilising an almost beautiful restraint to address global issues via local photographs of abandoned petrol stations, and a figure alone in the street.

NZD $50.00
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C O M M E N D E D

I Will Be My Dream
by Constance McDonald
constancemary.com

Self Published
Pages: 152
Edition of 148
Size: 165mm x 185mm
Binding: Section sewn hardback with debossed cover

Artist Description
McDonald recently completed a Bachelor of Design with First Class Honours at Massey University, Wellington, during which time she also studied in Nottingham, England.

Book Description
While teaching English in a central Tokyo high school she photographed students to showcase the confidence and individualism of a new generation of Japanese women who reject the Western submissive ‘Japanese Schoolgirl’ stereotype. The title comes from a conversation with a student who wanted to work for the U.N., “It will be very difficult. But I will be my dream.”

Judges' Comment
A joyful abundance of pictures, superbly sequenced to take the viewer right into this classroom of Japanese girls. It uses the language of repetition in a deliberate and successful manner, and makes you want to turn and look over the pages many times.

NZD $80.00
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C O M M E N D E D

Mimetic
by Mark Purdom
markpurdom.com

Published by Ramp Press
Design by Alan Deare / Area Design
Printed by Gravitas Media
Pages: 34
Edition of 250
Size: 210mm x 297mm
Binding: Unbound pages of varying sizes
Paper: Silk White Gloss 150gsm, B & F Bond Cyber Green 75gsm, Eco100 Natural White 135gsm

Artist Description
Purdom’s work comments on people’s influence on the environment and society’s preconceptions of the picturesque. He was co-winner of the New Zealand Photobook of the Year Award 2015, and is currently lecturing at the School of Media Arts, Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton.

Book Description
Mimetic is an examination of nature’s survival strategies of mimicry, camouflage and deception, and of how humans have adopted these activities into their everyday lives. The book features pages of research ephemera, poetry, technical illustrations and text that influenced the aesthetic and conceptual direction of the project.

Judges' Comment
Mimetic is complex, provocative and playful. The design and the photography talk to each other beautifully, so that the design successfully alters the meaning of the photographs in a positive way. The minimal budget and modest production values still resulted in a great work.

C O M M E N D E D

Nothing Ever Happens
by Robyn Daly
robyndalyphotography.com

Self Published
Pages: 26
Edition of 100
Size: 155mm x 200mm
Binding: Perfect bound softcover
Paper: Pages Eggshell 180gsm, Cover Eggshell 300gsm

Artist Description
Daly graduated with an Honours Degree in Photography from Massey University, Wellington in 2013, and is now based in Melbourne. Her work presents urban environments where she searches for moments of serendipity and stillness amongst the chaos of daily life.

Book Description
“Heaven, is a place, where nothing ever happens” sang David Byrne in 1979. Daly applies this nihilistic framework to her photographs from locations around the world. Captured on black and white film, the photographs can be viewed as tiny fragments of internal reflection, hedonism, oblivion, existential desire and the inherent loneliness of the human condition.

Judges' Comment
Nothing Ever Happens is photographically fresh and edgy. The offbeat emptiness of the images and narrative are appealing, while the restraint in the materiality and presentation works successfully. Incorporating the analogue process errors in the images creates a more powerful result.

AUD $25.00
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F I N A L I S T + P E O P L E ' S C H O I C E

At Rest. A Road Trip To Anthropocene.
by Howard Greive

Published by Karaka Books
Edited by Donna Cross / Howard Greive
Designed by Donna Cross / Len Chesseman
Printed by Pivotal
Pages: 44
Edition of 100
Size: 297mm x 420mm
ISBN: 978-0-473-41831-1
Binding: Hardback with embossed linen cover
Printing: Digital

Artist Description
Greive spent his professional career working in advertising for organisations including Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington. He has now moved on to more rewarding briefs - his own projects. At Rest is the first of them.

Book Description
This book sets out to explore the new climate epoch anthropocene. While anthropocene is the result of many interventions by man on earth’s eco systems Greive looks at just one aspect - the modern transport industry. In so doing he questions what psychological drivers are behind this impact.

Judges’ Comment
A quiet, serene and powerful study of the anthropocene. It pursues a subject not easily considered through photographs. The counterpoint of road kill images with graves of motor industry moguls is simple but compelling.

NZD$115
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F I N A L I S T

Complements
by Michael Mahne Lamb

Self Published
Co-edited by Julia Lamb
Printed by Wakefield Digital
Pages: 72
Edition of 3
Size: 200mm x 280mm
Binding: Hardbound with a digitally printed linen cover
Printing: Digital
Paper: New Silk Matt 150gsm

Artist Description
Michael Mahne Lamb is a Wellington based artist with a Bachelor of Design (Honours) from Massey University. His recent photographic work explores how images can stimulate the mind through the activation of amodal perception.

Book Description
Lamb’s first monograph, Complements, is inspired by Rudolf Arnheim’s seminal work on art and psychology, Visual Thinking. By using the book format Lamb adds an extra layer to the theory through the mise-en-page, where the pairing of two equivalent photographs create a micro-narrative on each spread.

Judges' Comment
Every page sings! The superbly shot witty and complex images, combined with space and rhythm, make this a simple, effortless and elegant read.

AUD $90.00
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F I N A L I S T

Hand-Coloured New Zealand: The Photographs Of Whites Aviation
by Leo White & Clyde Stewart
pottonandburton.co.nz

Published by Potton & Burton
Edited by Peter Alsop
Design by Peter Alsop, Gary Stewart
Printed by Midas Printing International
Copyright: The Alexander Turnbull Library
Pages: 408
Edition of 3000
Size: 276mm x 305mm
ISBN: 978-0-947-50315-4
Binding: Hardback
Printing: Offset

Artist Description
Peter Alsop is the author, curator and researcher of this important historical document that tells the story of long-running Auckland company, Whites Aviation Ltd, and its pivotal role in turning photography into an art form in New Zealand.

Book Description
It reveals the work of two key local photographers, Leo White and Clyde Stewart, who together produced some of the country’s best hand-coloured photos, and created iconic vistas that have adorned offices and lounges around the land for over 40 years.

Judges' Comment
A celebration of a hugely important New Zealand icon, in a solid book design with elegant typography, high production values and beautiful reproductions.

NZD $79.99
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F I N A L I S T

How Are Things, How Things Are
by Jamie Bowering
jamiebowering.com

Self Published
Design by Christopher Doyle
Printed by Special T Print
Pages: 24
Edition of 300
Size: 297mm x 420mm
Binding: Machine-folded
Printing: Offset

Artist Description
Jamie Bowering (b.1977) is an Auckland based photographer who captures the silence and timelessness of urban landscapes. He takes otherwise ordinary moments and turns our attention to the beauty of their simplicity.

Book Description
Bowering documented a series of swings and roundabouts devoid of any life or activity, in suburban New Zealand, to create a publication that would promote his photography. The resulting images take the reader on a journey from casual enquiry about mood, to considered observations on the built environment.

Judges' Comment
A simple idea beautifully realised. A complete package with brave subject matter, excellent photography and a quirky design.

F I N A L I S T

Missing Wife
by Dana Chisholm & Mary Tanner

Self Published
Pages 128
Edition of 1
Size 196mm x 272mm
Binding: Hardback with embossed spine

Artist Description
Inspired by Roland Barthes theory that, “The Operator is photographer. The Spectator is ourselves. And the person or thing photographed is the target,” Chisolm’s photographic projects involve all three roles and emotions. By interfering with her family’s photographic records, she becomes a part of the history rather than just a witness to it.

Book Description
Chisolm has taken photographs of her mum found in her grandmother’s photo albums, and obscures the face with graphics that remove identifying features, therefore disrupting the meaning of the original photograph. The resulting collages are combined with text from an interview with her mother, to create a fictional narrative about a falling out with her in-laws.

Judges’ Comment
The deeper we went into this the more we found ourselves empathising with the disappeared wife. The edits to the original photographs were a design decision played to great affect.

F I N A L I S T

Retrograde Motion
by Yvonne Shaw & Tim Mackrell
yvonneshaw.com
the-essence-archive.com
timmackrell.com

Published by The Essence Archive
Printed by PDQ Print & Skar Image Lab
Text by Lisa Shaw
Pages 48
Edition of 10
Size: 195mm x 243mm
Binding: Section sewn hardback with linen cover

Artist Description
The Essence Archive is an art collective founded in 2016 by Auckland-based photographers Tim Mackrell and Yvonne Shaw. Both artists incorporate found images, places, and constructed scenes within their photography practices. Retrograde Motion is their first collective project.

Book Description
‘Retrograde motion’ is an illusion observed by astronomers when the outer planets appear to reverse course in the sky. It also forms the title of this non-linear narrative in which photographs of domestic interiors and public spaces are sequenced with archaeological landscapes and text to evoke a sense of impermanence. It is a response to the vanishing luminosity of photos in an increasingly digital era.

Judges’ Comment
The interaction between the images sets up space for the story to be revealed and, while the production values are not extravagant, they are perfectly suited to the purpose of the work.

F I N A L I S T

The Lament
by Harvey Benge
harveybenge.com
dewilewis.com

Published by Dewi Lewis Publishing UK
Printed by EBS Italy
Pages 96
Edition of 900
Size 207mm x 290mm
ISBN: 978-1-911306-15-3
Binding: Hardback with printed cover
Printed: Offset

Artist Description
Benge is a prolific photo book maker who moves between Auckland and Paris. His pictures explore the strange anthropology of cities, the overlooked in the human landscape, as well as the idea of parallel lives - when one thing is happening here, something else is happening over there.

Book Description
The Lament is part fiction and part autobiography. The photos look at the unusual and the perverse, they make obscure connections and exploit the unexpected. Nothing is as it seems, though we nevertheless sense there is a truth in everything. A dry sense of humour runs through the work and if you look hard enough you might even spot a sense of optimism. It asks the viewer to bring their own life experience to the reading of the work.

Judges’ Comment
Weird, nasty, beguiling and beautiful. Compelling images and brilliant sequencing create a mysterious storyline that seems to make sense until you put the book down.

£25.00
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F I N A L I S T

Valpo
by Chris Leskovsek
chrisleskovsek.com

Pages: 56
Edition of 100
Size: 148mm x 210mm
Binding: Saddle stitched. 3 panel with die cuts
Paper: Pages 100gsm uncoated bond. Cover 200gsm uncoated bond

Artist Description
Chris Leskovsek was born in 1982 in Santiago, Chile. He now lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. He has self published numerous photo books, and in 2017 he won the People’s Choice Award at the Miami Street Photography Festival.

Book Description
Valparaiso is a coastal port of Chile that is growing old and so are its people. This photo portrait strives to encapsulate everything that Valpo offers - beauty in its bare simplicity. There’s nothing pretentious about it, its strategically printed on cheap paper, and its quirky covers are a nod to the steep and endless stairs that greet anyone who visits. Its postcard size also makes it easy to share and post around the world.

Judges’ Comment
Valpo dares to do something different. It is very much a moment in time, a journey through everyday vernacular. It captures the quick poetry of the city honestly and without being forced. The well considered design matches the book’s intention to bring the city to life. Valpo is extremely touching.

USD $15.00
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