If, as was stated in the late 60s, the author is dead, why do contemporary photographers insist on telling us their life stories in pictures?

Happiness and pain, falling in and out of love, the transcendental and the everyday...these are the essential themes of much of the photography made these days. Everything seems to revolve around the photographer's self. Their tales are told in the first person singular and they are articulated in images that seem to draw viewers in, inviting them to get involved, seeking identification or provoking rejection. They can be considered or read as fiction novels.

Some depict their families who virtually end up becoming our own. We see their children crying, playing, bathing and sleeping. We watch their teenage flings and their awakening to adulthood. Others tell us about their journeys. They create travel journals in which they tell us what to look at, what attracts their attention, what matters to them...Many focus on their love-life. Their girlfriends and boyfriends, one-night or one-day stands and husbands and wives inhabit their images. Love and especially heartbreak become the protagonists.

These stories about others are etched in our minds and become our own.


Editorial:
Concerning Myself. Rosa Olivares

Essay:
If the Author has Died... Sergio Rubira

Portfolios: Olivia Bee - Nigel Shafran - Alberto García-Alix - JH Engström - Jacob Aue Sobol - Elinor Carucci - Sheiichi Furuya - Ignacio Navas - Miyako Ishiuchi - Ana Casas Broda - Gillian Laub - Bertien van Manen - Chris Shaw - Andrew Hetherington - Daniel Blaufuks - Corey Arnold.

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