A much overlooked photo book in this year’s “best of” lists. Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene by Gerard H. Gaskin Duke University Press and CDS Books of the Center for Documentary Studies, 2013

Best of 2013 Photo Books Lists

Never quite impressed with these lists (due to a lack of inclusion and hence boring repetition), every year I do take a peek to see what the photography industry at large considers to be the best in photo book publishing. Next year I hope to add some diversity to these lists with the Dodge & Burn photo book picks…

Until then, here’s some of the “best photo books of 2013” lists from various online publishers and blogs that I’ve recently perused:

Slate.com’s 8 Amazing Photo Books
TIME Picks the Best Photo Books
Brain Picking’s The Best Photo Books
Mother Jones‘ Photographers Pick The Best Photo Books
The Washington Post‘s 5 Best Photo Books
Martin Parr Picks The Best Photo Books of the Year (via British Journal of Photography)
Photo.net Best Photo Books
PDN Online’s Best Photo Books (3-part series)
American Photo‘s Best Photo Books of the Year
Dazed Digital’s Best Photo Books
Amazon Listmania! List of 2013 Photo Books
Fotografia Magazine’s 10 Best Photo Books
The ICP Library’s Top 10 Photo Books
The Telegraph‘s Best Photo Books (with more links to other lists of 2013 photo books)
WIRED‘s Raw File Blog Photo Books Holiday Gift Guide
LensCulture’s Photobooks of the Year
Jorg Colberg’s Favorite Photo Books (via Concientious)
The Photobook’s Interesting Photobooks of 2013
The Logging Road’s 9 Best Photo Books
Oh Top Book’s Best Overlooked Books of 2013
Phot(o)lia’s Photobooks 2013 (a mega list of other 2013 lists, many of which I haven’t listed here)

Did I miss any lists that you liked? What were your favorite photo books this year? Submit your picks in the comments below.

Terry Adkins’ Video and Solo Show in NYC
I’m mesmerized by Terry Adkins’ Glorioso (from Nenuphar), 2013, a stereoscopic digital video that references both an old photographic practice (19th century stereoscopy) and the contemporary obsession with animated gifs. Check out Adkins’ latest solo show at Salon 94 Bowery gallery in NYC, on view through January 11, 2014.


FotoFest 2014 Biennial
Next year’s FotoFest biennial will focus on Contemporary Arab Video, Photography and Multi Media Art from March 15 – April 27, 2014 in Houston, TX.

The Struggle of Interracial Relationships
In Twitter news, this picture of an interracial couple appeared in my feed this week. It’s always curious (and often painful) to see how race is discussed in social media and though meant to be a joke, this tweet reminded me of an article from The Guardian about film’s inability to render darker skin tones. Perhaps digital photography poses the same challenges? The “struggle” continues indeed…
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Dodge & Burn is a blog dedicated to documenting a more inclusive history of photography and supporting the work of photographers of color with photographer interviews.

This blog is published by visual artist and writer, Qiana Mestrich. For regular updates on diversity in photography history, follow Qiana on Twitter @mestrich, Like the Dodge & Burn Blog page on Facebook or subscribe to Dodge & Burn by email.