Wednesday, April 15, 2009  5B4 Photography and Books Year II  I
hope you've all paid your taxes because 5B4 just got slated to
receive a huge bailout as a second anniversary gift. Today marks
two years of 5B4 and the very first post on April 15, 2007 was a
short editorial on the Parr/Badger effect on photobook pricing.
Since I recently let loose a few shots across the bow of book
dealers I thought it would be interesting to open a discussion
and let you know my thoughts about the photobook scene, good and
bad. Please contribute your own thoughts in the comments
section.  I have nothing against people making a living selling
books. Someone has to do it and I have many friends who are
sellers or dealers in one capacity or another. Some are high-end
dealers and others penny-ante sellers supplementing their
incomes. The problem I have is that commerce has become so
wrapped up with photography books that it has clouded people's
own opinions and aesthetic judgments about what they like about
the books themselves. S