Name: CCCP Underground
Brand: Frank Herfort
Price: 39.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Thomas Kierok

The Magic of Japanese Zen Gardens

$59.95

A meditative journey of kyoto's zen gardens through all four seasons by photos and poems

A Zen garden is the symbiotic fusion of Japanese philosophy and the art of garden design, a spiritual place of meditation and inner reflection that teaches mindfulness and brings joy to the eyes. If you want to get to know this garden culture, you won't find as many wonderful gems in such a small area anywhere in the world as in Kyoto.

Thomas Kierok photographed these unique gardens in all four seasons. Through encounters with important Zen garden designers, he was able to develop his own photographic perspective inspired by the spirit of Zen. Poems by world-renowned Zen poets Dogen, Basho and Ryokan complement the visual masterpieces. The book is a a meditative journey, a sanctuary for the soul, a retreat between two covers whenever the need for calm, inspiration and grounding arises.

Jürg Stünzi

Rotography

$39.95

Instead of the horizontal panning movement used to create a classic panoramic image, the author experiments with curves as well as vertical or parallel shifting. A fixed camera recording of turning objects leads to surprising results and a whole new dimension of imaging. The results simultaneously show multiple sides and angles of an object, offering a fascinatingly deconstructed perception. Artifacts and objects unravel into new sculptures, at the same time familiar and irritatingly different – stylized and estheticized by rotography.

The perspective dissolves as photographic boundaries are exceeded to a new extreme. This illustrated book takes the reader through this creative experiment with the iPhone into a new dimension of panorama photography and invites to explore one’s own creative ventures, and to immerse contemplatively in the world of rotography.

Heinz M. Gut

Golden Eagles: Legendary Birds of Prey

$79.95

For centuries, the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) has been the archetype of the majestic bird of prey. The awe-inspiring birds have fascinated people of all cultures around the world with their proud appearance, the impressive wingspan of six to eight feet, amazing flying skills and much more. They are omnipresent in numerous fairy tales, myths, symbols, coats of arms, and state insignia.

The book is a stunning homage in black and white to the sovereign of the skies. The reader is presented with and captivated by well-founded background knowledge, remarkable personal anecdotes and reflections, as well as fairy tales, poems, quotes and short stories.

The fact that Heinz M. Gut only takes pictures of wild animals in their natural environment without any intervention lends a special quality to the book. The range of images extends from almost anatomical studies of the golden eagle, via pictures in which light reflections on the plumage play a central role, to poetic-looking images depicting the bird of prey in its spectacular rough and rugged habitat.

Frank Herfort

CCCP Underground

$39.95

Fighters made of bronze, gigantic wall reliefs depicting heroic cosmonauts, and socialist pomp: If you immerse yourself today into the subway systems in countries that formerly belonged to the USSR and of Eastern Europe, time seems to stand still. The stations are chronicles of the history and art of a long vanished world power, conceived as prestige projects, thousands of kilometers apart, and created under different conditions in different times. In this volume, photographer Frank Herfort presents around 20 metro systems of the Soviet era from Moscow to Bucharest, from Baku to Tbilisi and Kiev.

Thanks to the sharpness of his eyes, the images bring amazing details to light. His photographs come together to form a holistic and comprehensive representation of socialist art that at the same time relates strongly to the modern residents of the cities, skillfully snatching elusive but precious moments from the whirlpool of everyday life.

Gabriel Mauron

Homes on Hold

$39.95

At first glance, this illustrated book appears to present a mishmash of the widespread, in some cases unauthorized, unfinished buildings that make a decidedly striking mark on the barren landscape of southern Italy – without which something would almost be missing. On closer inspection, these symbols of stagnation are thought-provoking, a fact that is addressed in this book: from an anthropological-cultural and socio-economic level, via architecture and esthetics, to the existential foundations of life plans and their fragility. In most cases, the stories behind the building projects have been lost forever. Driven by the idea that houses and people belong together, the author always portrays someone, usually from the neighbourhood, in front of or next to it. Curiosity, anger or simple disregard, pity for the owners or incomprehension about the failure of the building authorities – Gabriel Mauron spoke with each of them about their personal view of the monuments of the abandoned with which they, in a sense, live together.

Dominik Baur

The Flow

$44.95

“Flow describes the feeling of a blissful mental state of complete absorption in an activity that happens as if by itself.” Join us on an adventurous road trip to the best surf spots in Europe along the Atlantic coast, which is also a trip in search of the soul of surfing in which you will meet and get to know unique and exceptional people from all over the world. With this illustrated book of authentic portrait photographs and very personal, sometimes touching, sometimes crazy stories, the artist couple shows a variety of motivations and lifestyles, far away from palm trees, beach bars and other clichés. As different as their protagonists and their stories are, they all have one thing in common: the desire and longing for the sea, the wind, and the waves – in search of adrenalin and freedom. The book is an inspiring and emotional journey for the search of one’s own “flow”.

Markus Gisler

Stille Magie der Alpen The Alps Compelling Silence

$69.95

Nowhere is the question of existence so tangible as in the solitude of the mountains. Photographer Markus Gisler has an eye for the unusual, the surprising and the poignant. He is fascinated by shades and nuances: foggy, snowy or rainy days, mystically overcast mountain chains, dramatic cloud formations and eerie twilight moods. Gisler’s photographs are powerful images of nature that allow the observer to actively share in the diversity and intensity of the Alpine world. The sublimity of nature reverberates throughout this volume.

Stille Magie der Alpen The Alps Compelling Silence

Simon Walther

Alps Upsidedown

$49.95

When mountains are reflected in water they stand on their heads. This illustrated book by Simon Walther presents color photographs of mountain panoramas, lake refelctions, and whimsical cloud formations. All are based on the pleasure of tuning things upside down until illusion and reality are confusingly intermingled. A book to leaf through and wonder, but also an example of the fascinating phenomenon of symmetry in the playful interaction of hard facts and the gentle flow of reflection.

Cornelia Wilhelm

Shot by Both Sides

$49.95

New York has always attracted and still attracts fortune seekers, artists and modern nomads from all over the world. Just as Cornelia Wilhelm who at the age of 19 set out in 1985 from Switzerland to seek her fortune in the city that never sleeps. While her day job was to play assistant at shootings for the Pirelli calendar, at night she photographed the low nightlife, the offbeat music scene, as well as the everyday world of the Bronx and Harlem. Her place of retreat was Coney Island, where yesterday’s aging amusement parks were lined up one after the other and the funfair showmen hyped their appeal with rough charm to the working class visitors. In her photographs Wilhelm captured numerous little moments, creating a portrait of New York from the perspective of a hungry-for-life young woman, but also a documentary of people living on the other side of glamour in an always fascinating place at a very special time.

Max Schmid

Swiss Wilderness

$59.95

Mysterious stone formations, overgrown primeval forests, arctic ice floes – Max Schmid’s photographs bear witness to the fact that Switzerland is not just a land of Alpine idylls and snowy mountains. These pictures show the wild side of Switzerland, untamed nature in all its dramatic power. One might be in Australia, Greenland or some other unexplored area of the planet forgotten by humans. Sublime, bare, lush, colorful, romantic or even apocalyptic – this volume proves just how incredibly diverse Swiss landscape can be.

Luca Zanier

Power Book

$59.95

Photographer Luca Zanier casts a look behind the curtains of the energy industry. His images open the doors to hidden universes, usually inaccessible to the public, highly protected as they are against accidents and terrorism. Abandoned worlds of concrete and steel reveal themselves to us, cathedrals of the modern age, temples of an energy-devouring society that radiate a cold logic. His images of imposing halls, endless corridors, massive floodgates and cryptic signs are as intimidating as they are fascinating. They seem extraterrestrial and surreal at times, as if taken from a science fiction movie; their aesthetics make us forget that we are looking at highly complex industrial systems. Systems that serve as well as threaten us.

Willi P. Burkhardt

PANORAMA

$79.95

An astonishingly dense series of photographs Willi P. Burkhardt circles Lake Lucerne, the cradle of the Swiss Confederation. In impressive panoramic shots he shows this unique landscape with its villages and towns from the bird's as well as the worm's eye view. Text in English and German.

Marco Paoluzzo

China Memories

$29.95

Photographer Marco Paoluzzo first became interested in China decades ago, yet the passionate world traveller refused to visit the country for political reasons until 1998. At that time, two friends invited him to collaborate on a book about Shanghai. He was quickly fascinated by the land, and it was here that he met Feifei, now his wife. He has returned to China almost every year since then, and each time he has made new discoveries. This book is the fruit of numerous exploratory journeys that he has randomly taken through the countryside. It is the photographer's personal travel log, documenting China's leap from the Maoist era into the 21st century and capturing life in China in all its simultaneous complexity and simplicity.

Naomi Leshem

Runways

$29.95

"Runways" addresses disappearance and death in sites of personal loss in Israel's landscape. These are images of ambivalent beauty, so close to both life and death. In these photographs, which she took with medium-format cameras, the photographer Naomi Leshem tells stories of disappearance and death. A road in the Arabah Desert where a young woman died in a motor-cycle accident. A place in the Negev Desert where, despite a twelve-hour trip by car, parents drive several times a year to mourn the loss of their son. Or the Sea of Galilee, where a military pilot lost control of his plane and crashed at top speed into the water's peaceful, deep blue surface. Leshem searched for such sites of disappearance and death. Like memento mori, they are symbols in the midst of life and its always incomplete transience.

Marco Paoluzzo

France Atlantique

$29.95

With its spectacular forms and lines, France's atlantic coast holds a unique, understated beauty. The photographer Marco Paoluzzo has captured austere, almost bleak scenes of sand, cliff and sky. Silhouettes that imply the presence of humans. The sea stretches desert-like from Dunkirk in the far north of France to Biarritz in the south. A lighthouse, a tree, a ship, the spray of the Atlantic – the photographs read like an ancient saga and seem to harbor endless secrets.

Marco Paoluzzo

Terra Borealis

$49.95

In 1991 the Swiss photographer Marco Paoluzzo discovered Iceland, its dramatic light conditions and impressive sceneries. Mesmerised by the mysterious north, he would gradually expand his travels to include Norway, the Faroe Islands and even Greenland. That triggered his idea to combine the isles and countries in the 60th parallel north into a photo collection. "Terra Borealis" contains photographs that were taken on Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetlands, Norway, Greenland and Svalbard. The book offers an enchanting and magical journey in black-and-white.

Marco Paoluzzo

North Nord

$49.95

For Marco Paoluzzo the "North" means above all Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the black landscapes, the rigours of the weather and the feeling of loneliness accompanying the idea of the end of the world. He returns again and again on his journeys to his favourite places where each time in the magic of the light his pictures there became a little simpler, clearer and more personal. Text in English, German and French.

Anthony Caronia

Afro Cuba

$29.95

Four years of research preceded this black-and-white photographic documentary into the mysterious world of Afro-Cuban religion. The purpose of this photographic project is to carefully report on a complex religion, its different ceremonies and rich folklore; a window into a magical world, a world where African spirits manifest their presence in everyday Cuban life. Besides an historical introduction chapter by Ania Rodriguez Alonso descriptions of the religious rites and beliefs accompany the photos.

Robert Bösch

Moments

$79.95

Born in Switzerland, Robert Bosch ranks among the most celebrated landscape photographers in the world. Nature and especially mountain landscapes have always had a magical appeal to him. In 2001 he even scaled Mount Everest. This book presents a selection of his most striking photographs, taken in the course of his numerous journeys across all seven continents. The images show that not only the extreme conditions of the Himalayas or Patagonia offer remarkable motifs, but that unique locations can be discovered right in one's own backyard. Landscape pictures often only reveal themselves for a few seconds before vanishing again. Robert Bosch is a master at recognising and capturing these images with his camera before they are lost forever. Text in English & German.

Michael von Graffenried

35 mm Leica Film

$29.95

Michael von Graffenried believes in the power of the photographic image, in his talent to provoke, to surprise, to inform, to reveal. With his photographs he breaks taboos, peeks behind the scenes, or picks at the wounds. His black-and-white pictures do not follow any esthetic rules – they authentically illustrate the story behind, touch the viewer and make one think.

Patrik Fuchs

Schneezeichen

$79.95

Placing large sticks in the snow is most likely the oldest method in the world for marking a way in winter. The ancient method has remained unaffected throughout centuries, and in modern Switzerland snow posts are as commonplace as ever before. Their use is not subject to any regulations as neither size nor color nor material are specified and every community is free to apply its own rules and systems. This box of cards, "Schneezeichen", presents this particular aspect of Swiss culture. For many years, the author has collected a large number of these prototypes of visual communication and photographed them individually. The undefined white-gray background is a connotation of snow that maintains the familiar color scheme of the theme, while at the same time deleting and decontextualizing any practical aspects. In this ambiguity the signs can gain their own language, revealing their true nature to the observer.

Peter Olpe

Out of Focus

$79.95

Peter Olpe has been manufacturing customized pinhole cameras since 1978. In 2012 he donated 90 of his cameras to the Swiss Camera Museum in Vevey where the collection will be exhibited. In images and texts the book "Out of Focus" presents these cameras and, in addition, tells the story of the author‘s ever-changing interests in pinhole photography – a written documentation of Peter Olpe’s work as a designer, photographer, illustrator and teacher. Furthermore, the creative work of 36 photographers is presented, all of whom Peter Olpe invited to take photos with one of his pinhole cameras in a kind of „art barter“. His offer was simple. If the resulting images were of a quality to be used in the book and the exhibition in Vevey, the camera would pass into the possession of the artist. During the project, Olpe designed many unique tailor-made cameras for the artists – and just as many diverse and surprising photographs were created using them.

Julie Decker

I am Inuit

$49.95

Arctic communities are faced with powerful forces bringing pressures on Inuit culture and society. Global climate change is having a profound impact on the Arctic, its sensitive ecosystem and the communities that rely upon the region’s natural resources. The impacts are real, immediate, physical and psychological. Beginning in 2015, Iñupiaq photographer Brian Adams has been traveling through Alaska, capturing the Inuit and their individual stories and finding out how they spend their individual lives in the 21st century. Visiting 21 communities, he took portraits of the residents and recorded their narratives of change, adaption and resilience, sharing these across social media and compiling a remarkable selection for this book.