I have a soft spot for road trip photography that traces an emotional, historical, or personal journey. Melba Arellano's Carretera National project tracing the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo highway feels as if it was made just for me.

It's not in hand yet, but I'm excited to have the new book Phantom Shanghai on order. The book is a record of Shanghai's vanishing historic architecture by Canadian photographer Greg Girard who has lived in the city for almost a decade. Magenta Magazine has a nice piece on the project which is available as a pdf download. From what I've seen so far, the images are imbued with a palpable melancholic beauty. Can't wait to see the rest of the book

Simon Roberts' Motherland will be hitting bookstores soon. Like Andrew Moore's Russia it is ambitious in it's scope. Roberts' images are a bit less formally elegant than Moore's and have a more of a documentary feel about them, but I like sense of national melancholy they suggest. I hope we see more strong photographers venture out into the Russian hinterlands as there is much to chew on out there.

In addition to the book site linked above, Roberts' personal site includes additional projects from Russia and elsewhere.

p.s. if anyone knows of a good survey of contemporary Russian photography I'd love to check it out.

Sybil Miller put up a nice post yesterday on Helen Levitt's color work along with a links to several images from Levitt's book Slide Show. Slide Show is on my Christmas list in case anyone in my family is reading this.

The NY Art Book Fair.
November 17-19, 2006
548 West 22nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)