This is not a "best photobooks" list. We heard a rumor that the photo community is getting sick of them. Next year, perhaps. Jokes aside, we opted to move away from the aforementioned language we've used in the past. There's too many to count, and the notion that our small team would have the umbrella-eyes to survey enough photobooks and narrow down a truly democratic list of favorites is unrealistic, at best. In its place, we compiled some "really good" photography books we enjoyed this past year (excluding our own Humble Cats, which of course, it would be in bad taste to include, right?) Some we own, some not yet, but we've poured through them all enviously. We encourage you to check them out and support the artists by purchasing them.

Without further ado....

Kokomo by Michael Marcelle
Publisher: Matte Editions

From the publisher:
Kokomo explores the surreal aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The book is not only a deeply personal exploration of trauma in a small town in the Northeast, but also an intense, hallucinatory journey into the very meaning of family and home in the face of unbelievable destruction.

In 2012, while making pictures in his hometown in New Jersey, Hurricane Sandy hit, devastating and wreaking havoc on many local towns and communities on the Jersey Shoreline. By imagining the hurricane tore a literal hole in time and space, Michael's images capture the sense of disorientation left in the wake of this unimaginable destruction. Once-familiar places — his home and surrounding neighborhood — were turned into strange, uncanny inversions of themselves.

Incorporating many different approaches to picture-making, the photographs draw from the aesthetics of 1980s horror films and homemade special effects to conjure an alternate reality layered atop our own.

A Place Both Wonderful and Strange by various photographers
Publisher: Fuego Books

From the publisher:
A Place Both Wonderful and Strange is a photographic anthology that brings together the work of 12 international photographers in a narration inspired by Twin Peaks and the work of David Lynch. Photographers include Anna Beeke, Carl Bigmore, Melissa Catanese, Cristina de Middel, Salvi Danés, Enrico Di Nardo + Valentina Natarelli, Antone Dolezal, Philippe Fragniere, Jason Fulford, Rory Hamovit, Sara Palmieri and Sarah Walker.

Remnants by Julie Weber
Publisher: Skylark Editions

From the publisher:
In the early 2000s, Julie Weber was working as a photo technician for a popular retail chain when the first wave of digital printers was making its way to one-hour photo-counters across the country. REMNANTS examines the materiality of photographs at a moment when the medium transitioned from analog to digital. Weber created the imagery for REMNANTS by layering, folding, cutting and creasing material byproduct from the photo lab printer. The artist’s book is a portfolio of 12 unbound sheets: on one side, twelve individual images are presented, and on the other side, the twelve pieces can be arranged to form a single, composite image.

Blind Spot by Teju Cole
Publisher: Random House

From the publisher:
Journey through more than 150 of Cole’s full-color original photos, each accompanied by his lyrical and evocative prose, forming a multimedia diary of years of near-constant travel: from a park in Berlin to a mountain range in Switzerland, a church exterior in Lagos to a parking lot in Brooklyn; landscapes and interiors, beautiful or quotidian, that inspire Cole’s memories, fantasies, and introspections. Ships in Capri remind him of the work of writers from Homer to Edna O’Brien; a hotel room in Wannsee brings back a disturbing dream about a friend’s death; a home in Tivoli evokes a transformative period of semi-blindness, after which “the photography changed. . . . The looking changed.”

Miss Solitude / Cuttings by Birthe Piontek and Marguerite Pigeon
Publisher: Access Gallery

From the publisher:
Miss Solitude: Cuttings is a limited edition printed folio comprised of images from Birthe Piontek’s Miss Solitude series and poems composed by poet and novelist Marguerite Pigeon.
The project Miss Solitude consists of found photographs, assemblages and installations. Through manipulations of vintage prints, embellished household objects, hair, and textiles, Piontek investigates the photograph's role as assistive device in both the fabrication and disavowal of femininity, beauty, memory, and desire.

Front Line Towards Enemy by Louie Palu
Publisher: Yoffy Press

From the publisher:
Front Towards Enemy is a deconstructed photobook showcasing the distinctly different ways award-winning photographer, Louie Palu, documented the war in Afghanistan over the course of five years. The power of Palu's images extend beyond one specific conflict to make a statement about the chaos of war and the ways media influences our perception of armed conflicts. Cardboard slipcase with four components: accordion fold image set, soldier portrait cards, newsprint publication, and staple-bound zine. The entire publication can also exist as a pop-up exhibition

The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer by Amani Willett
Publisher: Overlapse

From the publisher:
A curious tale spun from the life of mysterious hermit Joseph Plummer, who lived in the woods of central New Hampshire in the late 1700s. Two centuries later an unsuspecting man purchased the mythical loner’s land and built a hideaway cabin for himself – only to discover the legend of Joseph lurking deep in the seclusion of the forest. This atmospheric photobook explores our human desire to escape and find peaceful solitude, far from the burdens and apparatus of modern society.

Julio's House by Orestes Gonzalez
Publisher: Kris Graves Projects

From the publisher:
As an architect, Orestes Gonzalez takes us on a tour of his late uncle’s Little Havana home via interior photographs, exploring the space in itself; as a photographer, he offers an intimate approach allowing viewers to “sort through” the relics Julio Santana left behind after his death; and as a relative, he includes elements of memory, nostalgia and discovery, sharing newfound details of his uncle’s life.

The images within Julio’s House are not simply about recording the extravagant decor of the home or trove of mementos scattered throughout it, but rather about creating a portrait of his Cuban-American uncle, one that deconstructs his preconceived narrative of Julio’s life he formed as a child, and reveals an entirely new biography Gonzalez only learned of when sorting through his uncle’s belongings with another family member.

Tori by Yamamoto Masao
Publisher: Radius Books

From the publisher:
As a small boy growing up in the Japanese countryside, photographer Yamamoto Masao enjoyed looking up at the sky. From his classroom window, he would gaze at the windblown clouds, mesmerized by airborne creatures such as birds, butterflies and winged insects. He sometimes dreamed of riding on the back of a bird and flying away to faraway places.

Yamamoto’s career as a photographer began in 1993. One of Japan’s most important living photographers, Yamamoto has taken many different approaches to photography over the past 20 years. But what has remained constant is the artist’s belief that humans are just a small part of nature, united with it and part of it. Throughout his career, Yamamoto has often returned to animals, particularly birds, as a subject, reflecting his childhood fascination with the creatures and his eternal commitment to the unity of humanity and nature. With Tori, the photographer departs on yet another artistic journey, with a new series of quietly moving animal images (tori means “bird” in Japanese). Yamamoto asks himself, and his viewers: What do we see, and what do we identify with, in birds?

A Beautiful Ghetto by Devin Allen
Publisher: Haymarket Books

From the publisher:
Devin Allen asks us to see beyond the the violence and poverty that all too often defines the "ghetto." On April 18, 2015, the city of Baltimore erupted in mass protests in response to the brutal murder of Freddie Gray by police. Devin Allen was there, and his iconic photos of the Baltimore uprising became a viral sensation.

In these stunning photographs, Allen documents the uprising as he strives to capture the life of his city and the people who live there. Each photo reveals the personality, beauty, and spirit of Baltimore and its people, as his camera complicates popular ideas about the "ghetto."

Hidden Mother by Laura Larson
Publisher: Saint Lucy Books

From the publisher:
Hidden Mother tells the story of the adoption of Larson’s daughter from Ethiopia as mapped through nineteenth-century hidden mother photographs. The term “hidden mother” refers to the widespread but little-known practice in 19th-century portrait photography of concealing a mother’s body as she supported and calmed her child during the lengthy exposures demanded by early photographic technology. In the final portrait of the child, the mother—often covered from head-to-toe in a black drop cloth—appears as an uncanny figure. A practical strategy deployed by the photographer unintentionally yielded an evocative representation of the mother; never meant to be seen, her presence nonetheless haunts these images. Part photography book, part essay, Hidden Mother enlists these strange and powerful images to present a lyrical account of becoming a mother through adoption.

Deep Springs by Sam Contis
Publisher: Mack

From the publisher:
The images in Sam Contis's Deep Springs were made in a remote desert valley east of the Sierra Nevada. The work centres on a small, all-male liberal arts college, founded in 1917 by the educational pioneer L. L. Nunn. The college and its surroundings provide a stage on which Contis explores the construction of myth, place, and masculine identity. Bringing together new photographs with pictures made by the first students at the college a century ago, Deep Springs engages with the enduring image of the American West––one that Hollywood, mass media, and the history of American photography have imprinted into the collective psyche.

Found Polaroids by Kyler Zeleney
Publisher: Ain't Bad

From the publisher:
Found Polaroids is a collection of the best stories from the Found Polaroid Project, a personal archive of over 6,000 orphaned images collected since 2011. The concept behind the project is simple, to breathe new life into long-forgotten images by asking creative minds to write stories about them. Eerily distant yet warmly familiar, the stories, and the Polaroids that inspired them, have a way of not only transporting us to a different time but also into the intimate lives of complete strangers. By exploring a colorful range of narratives and emotions, these images allow us to glimpse into a fictional, but paradoxically universal, reality that can only be found through
storytelling. More than simply for storytelling, the project has also become a platform
to advocate and explore the cultural importance of found and material photography as well as the iconic Polaroid. This is addressed in the book by essays from FP’s founder Kyler Zeleny, as well as Dr. Peter Buse and a preface by Dr. Lisa Jaye Young.

Natural Deceptions by Natalie Krick
Publisher: Skylark Editions

From the publisher:
Inspired by magazine spreads and celebrity pinups, Natural Deceptions, the first book by Seattle-based photographer Natalie Krick (who recently won the Aperture Prize!), is a biting yet witty sendup of popular portrayals of feminine beauty and sexuality. Krick’s photographs are fueled by a conflicting attraction and aversion to images of glamorous women. Along with her mother and sister, she poses for the camera, reimagining the highly formalized images that taught them what it meant to be beautiful. Krick favors a harsh flash and vivid color to accentuate the superficiality and the façade of glamour that are the hallmarks of fashion media. The resulting images, piercing portraits and fragmented studies of their stylized bodies, mimic the allure and artifice found in magazines while mocking the idea that such images are easy on the eyes. Krick’s charged photographs, enthralling as any glossy picture, portray beauty as at once synthetic, flawed, threatening, seductive and garish.

Aramco: Above the Oil Fields by Ayesha Malik
Publisher: Daylight Books

From the publisher:
Ayesha Malik delivers a personalized account of life within Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, a gated community originally created as a home for American employees of the Arabian American Oil Company (now known as Saudi Aramco). This small town houses the world's wealthiest company, which also owns the world's largest crude oil reserves. In 2018, as part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan, the public sale of a percentage of the company is expected to be the biggest IPO in history, valued at around $2 trillion. Malik shares the surprising warmth, familiarity, and timelessness of this 22-and-a-half square-mile place that so many Aramcons call home. Malik's photographs provoke conversation about the perception of and preconceived ideas about a home that is neither fully Saudi nor fully American -- a home unlike any other.

Cats & Plants by Stephen Eichorn
Publisher: Zioxla,

From the publisher:
Cats & Plants is the debut book from Chicago-based artist Stephen Eichhorn. The 152-page book includes more than 200 rich color images of the artist’s curious cat collages, and features felines balancing plants (and sometimes shells or minerals) on their furry heads. There are Calicos and cactuses, Siamese and succulents, and so much more.

The Many Lives of Erik Kessels
Publisher: Aperture

From the publisher:
The Many Lives of Erik Kessels presents the highly anticipated first illustrated survey of this pioneering and influential curator, editor, and artist whose varied experiments with photography and photographic archives have allowed us to reconsider the medium’s vernacular and narrative possibilities in today’s inundated image landscape. “People consume photographs,” says Kessels, “they don’t look at them anymore.” This volume is a primer on how to look—and how to better understand the hybrid practice of this artist who defies categorization. Including more than twenty of the artist’s series and features essays by Simon Baker, Hans Aarsman, and curator Francesco Zanot, The Many Lives of Erik Kessels is published in conjunction with a major mid-career retrospective at Camera: Italian Centre for Photography in Turin, Italy.

Fantasy Life by Tabitha Soren
Publisher: Aperture

From the publisher:
In 2002, Tabitha Soren first began photographing a group of minor league draft picks for the Oakland A’s—young men coming into the major league farm system straight from high school or college. Since then, she has followed the players through their baseball lives, an alternate reality of long bus rides, on-field injuries, friendships and marriages entered and exited, constant motion, and very hard work, often for very little return. Some of the subjects, like Nick Swisher and Joe Blanton, have gone on to become well-known, respected players at the highest level of the game. Some left baseball to pursue other lines of work, such as selling insurance and coal mining. Others have struggled with poverty and even homelessness.
Fifteen years after that first shoot, Fantasy Life portrays a selection of these stories, gathering together a richly textured series of photographs taken on the field and behind the scenes at games, along with commentaries by each of the players and memorabilia from their lives—from kindergarten-age baseball cards to x-rays of player injuries. Dave Eggers contributes a five-part short story that compellingly condenses the roller-coaster ride of the minor-league everyman, from youthful pursuit of stardom through the slog of endless hardscrabble games, to that moment of realization that success may not be just around the corner after all. Additonally, a number of the featured players add their own real-life experiences of trying to make it to “The Show.” Together, these elements evoke the enduring spirit of this quintessential American fantasy of making it in the major leagues.

Past Humble Photobook Lists:
The Best Socially Concerned Photobooks of 2016
The 16 Best Photobooks of 2015 According to Humble Arts Foundation's Best of 2014
The 17 Best Photobooks of 2014 According to Humble Arts Foundation

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Stack of books header photo: Shutterstock

A Number of Really Good Photobooks Published in 2017