Possession

Following 'Secret City', Jason Langer’s sold-out, debut monograph, comes 'Possession', a volume of 42 images made between 1990 and 2012. Over the past two decades, Langer has established a reputation for his masterful black and white photography representing contemporary urban life. Evoking the lustrous style of the symbolist photographers, his carefully crafted images, rich with lush, black tones, exude an air of vintage, timeless mystery – “as much Hopper and Raymond Chandler as Steichen” (Bomb Magazine). Langer follows in the tradition of the flâneur-photographer. His images are, as he puts it, the product of “walking the streets alone as a stranger in a strange land.” To shadow Langer on his walks is to visit the haunts of amusement parks, lonely bars, nighttime streets and alleys, beautiful women and their chaperones, gardens, hotels, and supper clubs. Both the still life and the intimate figure study are frequent objects of his quiet gaze. Regardless of their subject, Langer's images return us to a place where what happens in front of the lens is unanticipated and distinctly photographic. 'Possession' is printed in an oversized 11"x14" format on uncoated paper and bound in cloth. This first printing is limited to 1,000 casebound copies.