We’ve gathered together among the most fun photography books to look ahead to this autumn. From on a regular basis acts of religion in small-town Wales to a candid visual diary of cosmetic surgery and fascinating portraits of Mexico City’s queer community, take a glance through the galleries below for a glimpse of probably the most exciting monographs…

Published together with Viviane Sassen’s upcoming exhibition Phosphor: Art & Fashion 1990-2023 (at Paris’s MEP), the accompanying monograph traces 30 years of the acclaimed artist’s profession. From early previously unpublished images to recent projects and commissions, the book brings together Sassen’s advantageous art practice and her fashion photography, distinguished for its ingenuity and treatment of color, alongside an abiding attraction for the surreal.

Phosphor: Mirrors and Portals is published by Prestel and is out there on October 24 2023 out of your local independent bookshop.

Treasure (published by IDEA Books) documents two major breast surgeries; undertaken by Elsesser and photographed by Sicher. This deeply personal book, of which there are only 500 copies, includes texts by the model and photographer in addition to French artist Orlan. 

The book was Elsesser’s idea and, right from its inception, she had chosen Sicher as the perfect photographer to document her surgery. “We made this book in order that I’d always remember,” Elsesser explained. “Time, trauma, and memory all the time contort my recall. I wanted a record: to give you the chance to revisit the time and know that there was beauty and there was sorrow.”

Through daring close-ups, Treasure is “designed to interrogate autonomy. It’s an imaginative attempt at understanding the pursuit of oneness and asks, who gets to be the arbiter of such subjects; oftentimes, not ourselves; most times, others. What would it not mean to do it for you and nobody else?” Reflecting on the deeply intimate series, Elsesser reflected, “I won’t ever be the identical again”.

Treasure is published by IDEA and is out there here now.

Known for his projects documenting curiosities and subcultures equivalent to Elvis tribute artists in Wales and the LA eccentric generally known as Hollywood Jesus, photographer Roo Lewis’ most up-to-date monograph known as Port Talbot UFO Investigation Club (published by Gost). During the last two years he has photographed the Welsh town of Port Talbot, which in line with actor Michael Sheen, has an “extremely high variety of UFO sightings”.

Nevertheless, the resulting book just isn’t a study of UFO sightings – it’s more of an exploration of the people, landscape and folklore of the town. Capturing day-to-day mundanity in a dreamy, golden hue, Lewis highlights the sort of on a regular basis acts of religion that are so often ignored or ridiculed. “I feel it’s really hard to inform positive stories well, without them seeming a little bit bit contrived. It’s easier to inform negative stories. I would like to have fun the people on this book,” he explained. “I like the thought of looking up into the sky and dreaming, it’s all concerning the pursuit of something. I feel that’s what we connect on, it’s our shared human experience and Port Talbot in itself is a really human story.”

Port Talbot UFO Investigation Club by Roo Lewis is published by Gost Books and is out now. 

Ode, published by Guest Editions, sees Melissa Schriek pays homage to sisterhood and girls’s friendships. Intertwined and overlaid, she combines the true and the staged to conceptualise her unique approach to documentary. This shoot captures each subjects mirroring one another’s poses to relay the deep bond of togetherness experienced in sisterhood. Schriek explains, “It struck me that this bond is usually represented in [popular] media as ‘toxic’, dramatic or hostile. Or there’s even no attention for female friendship in any respect… I desired to create a document of photographs that will show a distinct side of friendship, without losing honesty.”

Ode is published by Guest Editions and is availabe to pre-order here now.

For 17 years, Preston Gannaway has been photographing a boy called EJ following the death of his mother. Her latest book Remember Me (published by Gost) gathers together poignant portraits of memory and loss.  

EJ – who was 4 years old when his mother Carolynne died — became the main focus of Gannaway’s project. He first appears as a small boy and the book traces his progress as he navigates his strategy to maturity in Recent Hampshire. Images of on a regular basis details, landscapes and portraits collectively investigate the impermanence of the human experience. 

Remember Me by Preston Gannaway is published Gant and is out there here now.

Love Me Again by Michella Bredahl (published by Loose Joints) is an immense and complex body of labor concerned, at its root, with exploring femininity and the male gaze. The book comprises highly contrasted and vividly high-saturated portraits of friends and acquaintances, spanning over a decade. 

Created as a response to the photographer’s own modelling days, the book is born from Bredahl’s experience of feeling objectified and commodified after having been scouted at a young age.

Love Me Again is published by Loose Joints and is out there 

Photographer Carlijn Jacobs is, by her own admission, “obsessed” by the “drama and theatre” of eyes. “Eyes are the reality of an individual, the mirror of the soul,” she recently told Dazed Beauty. “I’ve all the time had a fascination with them.” 

Eyes (published by Note Note Éditions) brings together a collection of the photographer’s mesmerising studies of eyes, taken from various shoots over the course of her profession. Drawing on her enduring interest in surrealism, the monograph encompasses otherworldly collaborations with various makeup artists, including a prodigious variety of looks created by Masea Ito. “She is a terrific artist, very creative,” said Jacobs. “And you may see there are numerous Japanese influences. We’re each attracted by dramatic, cinematic looks to offer latest dimensions and shapes to the eyes.”

Eyes is published by Note Note Éditions and is out there here now.

Mayan Toledano shares the stories of her queer community through her reportage, fashion and portrait work, documenting their lives with empathy and respect. Her photography is characterised by its vibrant dreaminess, and he or she often captures her young subjects of their bedrooms. No Mames pays tribute to the local LGBTQ artists, designers and creatives who’re currently contributing to Mexican culture – a lot of whom are couples, roommates, and childhood friends. 

Toledano’s process is twofold – first, she captures her subjects as they present themselves in on a regular basis life; then, she photographs them as they would love to seem, facilitating the development of their fantasy selves. This collaborative act of wish-fulfilment sometimes coincides with real-life transformations; as an illustration, she followed considered one of subjects, Havi, over the course of her gender transition, during which she underwent breast augmentation surgery.

No Mames is published in October by Les Presses du Réel and is out there to pre-order here now.

In 2017, Japanese-born photographer Fumi Nagasaka visited the small American town, Dora within the state of Alabama, for the primary time. Compelled to attempt to make a record of the kindess, humour, and spirit she encountered, Nagasaka produced Dora, Yerkwood, Walker County, Alabama – a poignant and achingly beautiful ode to this fascinating close-knit community.

“[The book] is a photographic record of the incredible experiences I had during my time spent in Walker County,” she writes in a press release accompanying the book. “The areas I visited and the individuals I met were unforgettable and hopefully the pictures on this book show the uninitiated a view of this region as seen by an impartial outsider who got here to view the realm as one other home.” 

Dora, Yerkwood, Walker County, Alabama is published by Gost and is avilable to pre-order here now.

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