RICHARD MISRACH: CHRONOLOGIES

I recommend a good cup of coffee while flipping though this behemoth. At 280 pages Chronologies spans about 30 years of Richard Misrach's photography career and is his most comprehensive publication to date. But according to Misrach, this book doesn't come close to summarizing his work. There's a great interview with Misrach here where the photographer says he still has over 35,000 unprinted 8x10 negatives.
Regardless, Chronologies contains many stunning photographs which have garnered Misrach quite a large following in the contemporary art community. In my opinion, Misrach's influence on the medium of photography is on par with Stephen Shore and William Eggelston - he's a forefather of contemporary photography. More of his images can be seen at Fraenkel Gallery.

NADAV KANDER: YANGTZE, THE LONG RIVER

Start your new year off right - go get this book. Nadav Kander's latest monograph Yangtze, The Long River is a beautiful upstream journey through China featuring some of his best work (in my opinion). There's also a wonderful section of artist's notes for many of the images - particularly interesting for an artist of this caliber. 2011 is looking good.