Daido Moriyama is one of two new books this season in Thames & Hudson's acclaimed 'Photofile' series. Each book brings together the best work of the world's greatest photographers in an attractive format and at an easily affordable price. Hailed by The Times as 'finely produced', the books are printed to the highest standards. Each one contains some sixty full-page reproductions, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography.

The Landscape of Murder documents all the sites where murders occurred in London between January 1st, 2011 and December 31st, 2012. In total 209 murders were committed over this two year period. Most murders make the news for only a fleeting moment and the landscape in which they occur reverts back to normality very quickly after the forensic teams leave. Yet the scars remain, sometimes subtle, sometimes very open, whether a single solitary flower or the gathering of grieving family and friends. Sometimes nothing remains to show that a life has ended violently in a particular location. Antonio Zazueta Olmos seeks to give memory to what are mostly forgotten events, in unseen places where great violence has occurred. A violence that is mostly silent, private and unseen by the wider public. The project has taken him to parts of London he knew little or nothing about and in the process he has created an alternative portrait of London, one shaped by violence and inequality.

'Afghan Box Camera' documents a living form of photography in danger of disappearing forever. Known as the kamra-e-faoree ('instant camera'), Afghanistan is one of the last places on earth where it has continued to be used by photographers as a way of making a living. Hand-made out of wood, it is a camera and darkroom in one, and generations of Afghans have had their portraits taken with it, usually for identity documents. Under the Taliban, with the banning of photography, it was even outlawed, forcing photographers to hide or destroy their tools. Spanning decades, from peacetime to war, box camera photography in Afghanistan exists within a more sophisticated photographic history. The same photographers who ply their trade with the humble kamra-e-faoree may also make large format black and white portraits, which are then hand-coloured with exquisite artistry. With the help of dozens of Afghan photographers, 'Afghan Box Camera' illustrates the technique and artistry of a previously untold and visually enthralling photographic culture.

One of the twentieth century's most significant artists, Cindy Sherman has quietly uprooted conventional understandings of portraiture and art, questioning everything from identity to feminism. Critics around the world have taken Sherman's photographs and extensively examined what lies underneath. However, little critical ink has been spilled on Sherman's only film, "Office Killer," a piece that plays a significant role both in Sherman's body of work and in American art in the late twentieth century. Dahlia Schweitzer breaks the silence with her trenchant analysis of "Office Killer" and explores the film on a variety of levels, combating head-on the art world's reluctance to discuss the movie and arguing instead that it is only through a close reading of the film that we can begin to appreciate the messages underlying all of Sherman's work.
The first book on this neglected piece of an esteemed artist's oeuvre, "Cindy Sherman's "Office Killer"" rescues the film from critical oblivion and situates it next to the artist's other iconic works.

A substantial retrospective on one of the world's most remarkable and critically acclaimed art photographers. Separated into four parts, Ballenesque takes readers on a visual, chronological journey through Roger Ballen's entire oeuvre, including both iconic images and previously unpublished photographs. Part I explores his formative artistic influences and his later rediscovery of boyhood through photography, culminating in his first published monograph, Boyhood, in 1979. Part II then charts the period between 1980 and 2000, during which time his deeper search for the elemental self found its way into the 'Dorps', or small towns, of South Africa and concluding with the release of his seminal monograph Outland. Part III covers the years 2000-2013, when Ballen achieved global recogition with Shadow Chamber and Boarding House and his work began to veer away from portraiture altogether. Finally, in Part IV, Ballen reflects upon his career in its entirety. With over 300 photographs and an introduction by eminent academic Robert J. C. Young, this book provides both an entirely new way of seeing Ballen's work for those who already follow his career and a comprehensive introduction for those encountering his photographs for the first time.

"Everyday Dada" is a weird and wonderful take on the world of interior design. Using everyday items of food, Sian Bonnell reconstructs the home environment in a way that is both surprising and humorous. Fried-egg bathroom mats, pasta tablecloths and sliced meat floor-tiles abound, whilst other foodstuffs take on new character - a plate of mash and peas becomes the distant landscape of some undiscovered continent; and carrots, parsnips and bananas become surreal candles in a candelabra of the absurd. As Sian Bonnell says: "I am intrigued by the absurd. Life and the reality of our lives is steeped in absurdity so although my images may look surreal, to me they are more a kind of absurd reality."

Art, war, carnival or cult — masks have two sides: They conceal and hide, and at the same time create new personalities, strange and captivating at once. So, too, do masks reveal world views of time and place: cult masks from Africa, mediaeval knight helmets, fantasy masks of famous film heroes like Darth Vader, or gas masks and VR glasses as modern functional objects. In this new photo book, Russian photographer Olga Michi traces our millennia-old fascination with masks. Her expressive pictures place the masks centre-stage, creating a new, surrealistic aesthetic. With fascinating texts on each mask’s cultural-historical significance, this high-quality photo book delights, informs, and ignites the imagination. Text in English, French, German, and Russian.

Michael Katakis has spent his life travelling with a camera and writing a journal. This is the resulting book. For the past 25 years he has collaborated with the social anthropologist Kris Hardin in work spanning continents and cultures. Their initial project was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, photographing and interviewing veterans and civilians alike, the result of which was a moving portrait of America's strengths, sacrifices and errors during a profoundly divisive time in the nation's history. A different and disturbing portrait of the country emerges in 'Troubled Land: Twelve Days Across America' where Michael Katakis sought to have a dialogue with ordinary people right after September 11 2001. In between these projects were two periods of fieldwork in Sierra Leone documenting the people of a village before their bloody civil war began. His fine photographs were given an added, unintended significance by the awful events that followed. From Michael Palin's Introduction: 'Michael Katakis is an indefatigable traveller. Driven by a restless curiosity and a belief in the importance of the individual against the system he puts his humane and enquiring ear to the ground and picks up signals that are salutary, precise and stimulating. His thoughtful words and pictures confer dignity and provoke indignation in equal measure. He guides our eye and our conscience without ever having to resort to hustle or harangue. There is a peacefulness at the heart of his work which gives us time to think.'

Eye-opening and candid, David Bailey's Look Again is a fantastically entertaining memoir by a true icon. 'Rollicking . . . with roguish tales as vivid as his era-defining photos' – Daily Mail 'Brilliant' – Telegraph David Bailey burst onto the scene in 1960 with his revolutionary photographs for Vogue. Discarding the rigid rules of a previous generation of portrait and fashion photographers, he channelled the energy of London's newly informal street culture into his work. Funny, brutally honest and ferociously talented, he became as famous as his subjects. Now in his eighties, he looks back on an outrageously eventful life. Born into an East End family, his dyslexia saw him written off as stupid at school. He hit a low point working as a debt collector until he discovered a passion for photography that would change everything. The working-class boy became an influential artist. Along the way he became friends with Mick Jagger, hung out with the Krays, got into bed with Andy Warhol and made the Queen laugh. His love-life was never dull. He propelled girlfriend Jean Shrimpton to stardom, while her angry father threatened to shoot him. He married Catherine Deneuve a month after meeting her. Penelope Tree’s mother was unimpressed when he turned up on her doorstep. ‘It could be worse, I could be a Rolling Stone,’ Bailey told her. He went on to marry Marie Helvin and then Catherine Dyer, with whom he has three children. He is also a film and documentary director, has shot numerous commercials and has never stopped working. A born storyteller, his autobiography is a memorable romp through an extraordinary career.

Zygmunt Bauman is known internationally as the sociologist of postmodernity and ‘liquid’ society. But he was also a serious photographer. This book presents a selection of his black-and-white photographs, together with a range of essays by colleagues, friends and family about his work with images. The book features a mixture of short pieces on individual photographs and longer essays addressing aspects of Bauman’s photography and the life and work of his wife, Janina. These include an essay of Bauman’s from 1989, in which he considers Monika Krajewska’s photographs of abandoned Jewish graveyards in Poland. Also reprinted is an essay by Bauman’s daughter Lydia, taken from the catalogue of an exhibition of the photographs in 2010, and an essay by Keith Tester about Bauman’s interest in film. Jack Palmer discusses the relationship between Bauman’s sociology and his photography, while Peter Beilharz, Janet Wolff, and Antony Bryant and Griselda Pollock offer personal reflections on some of Bauman’s photographs. The book concludes with an essay by Karl Dudman, one of the Baumans’ grandchildren, based on a series of photographs he took in the family home shortly after his grandfather’s death. Janina Bauman appears in a number of ways in the book. Some of the photographs are of her, and several of the short essays discuss her place in Zygmunt’s life and work. Izabela Wagner, biographer of Zygmunt Bauman, presents new material on Janina’s work in the Polish film industry in the post-war period. -- .

Originally published in 1982, Stephen Shore's legendary Uncommon Places has influenced a generation of photographers. Among the first artists to take colour beyond the domain of advertising and fashion photography, Shore's large-format colour work on the American vernacular landscape stands at the root of what has become a vital photographic tradition over the past thirty years. Uncommon Places: The Complete Works is the definitive collection of this landmark series. An essay by noted critic and curator Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen and a conversation with Shore by fiction writer Lynne Tillman examine his methodology as they elucidate his roots in the pop and conceptual art movements of the late sixties and early seventies. The texts are illustrated with reproductions from Shore's earlier series American Surfaces and Amarillo: Tall in Texas.

Now back in print, this stunning, award- winning visual odyssey encapsulates the essence of Tom Waits’ enigmatic persona and Anton Corbijn's distinctive photographic style.

Spanning over three decades, this extraordinary book showcases the enduring collaboration between a legendary musician and a renowned Dutch photographer—a creative symbiosis that has produced some of the most memorable images in rock and roll history.

Structured chronologically, it traces Waits’ evolution as an artist alongside Corbijn’s development as a photographer whose starkly evocative images capture Waits in a multitude of settings, from gritty urban landscapes to intimate studio sessions.

Through Corbijn’s lens, Waits emerges not just as a musician but as a multifaceted character, embodying the spirit of the troubadour, the poet, and the raconteur. A final section features Waits’ own photography along with poems, stories, and collages.

As Jim Jarmusch comments in the introduction, “A collection of images of Tom Waits seen through the eyes of Anton Corbijn is something special, some kind of vortex, an axis of evil geniuses.” Tom Waits fans, photography enthusiasts, and anyone seeking insight into the joy of collaboration will find much to discover in this inspiring partnership between two artistic visionaries and friends.

Toiletpaper is an artists' magazine created and produced by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, born out of a passion or obsession they both cultivate: images. The magazine contains no text; each picture springs from an idea, often simple, and through a complex orchestration of people it becomes the materialization of the artists' mental outbursts. Since the first issue, in June 2010, Toiletpaper has created a world that displays ambiguous narratives and a troubling imagination. It combines the vernacular of commercial photography with twisted narrative tableaux and surrealistic imagery. The result is a publication that is itself a work of art, which, through its accessible form as a magazine, and through its wide distribution, challenges the limits of the contemporary art economy.