An eclectic list of personal favorites — Specialists from all over the world name their top photobook picks from 2018, spanning everything from classical forms to experimental objects.

Bodies caught falling in motion, this tender celebration of the last days of youth looks at the ritual of cliff jumping in Furlong. 

A timely, multilayered fable (with photos, video, comics and more) about what it means to be an unwanted outsider in today’s global reality.

What does human progress look like from above? These striking landscapes give us an unusual bird’s eye view of our surroundings.

After stumbling upon a photo studio ready to close its doors forever, this photographer took over its daily maintenance to preserve its local stories.

By reconstructing scenes and settings from her subjects’ dream journals, this photographer transports us into the unsettling dimension of nightmares and reverie.

What happens to the objects in our house behind close doors? Step into the weird and wonderful world of Yurian Quintanas Nobel’s deconstructed home. 

This light-soaked street photography spotlights passersby as main characters in a classic theatrical performance.

Across nearly a decade’s worth of candid imagery, this photographer created a melancholic story of what it means to be a modern woman.

Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible in this new exhibition of vernacular Chinese food photography.

Prominent photography specialist Francis Hodgson speaks about his relationship to the medium—the most immediate form of storytelling.

This small Japanese village might appear commonplace, but its residents are as quirky as they are isolated.

In the far reaches of the Arctic tundra, fire and ice coexist in expansive natural gas fields.

In this small Russian village, no distinction is made between the physical and intellectual differences of its forty residents.

Myths and legends are more important than modern reality in this small village, located in the extreme north of Russia. 

Travelling through the US one bedroom at a time, Barbara Peacock gives us an intimate glimpse of the American experience.

This photographer documented the lives of six American individuals who fooled the public and media into believing stories about themselves—stories that turned out to be untrue.

A new book traces the history of hip-hop imagery by focusing on the outtakes of famous faces and photoshoots.

Starting from a mysterious photograph of her great-grandparents, Rebecca Topakian embarks on a journey to discover her own relationship with Armenia.

VOP’s founder and Editor-in-Chief Wei-I Lee talks about the importance of bringing together multiple perspectives on our favorite medium.