Selected as Book of the Week by Aaron Schuman

Inspired by the late, great cartoonist William Steig and his classic book,The Lonely Ones (which pairs Steig’s line-drawn characters with simple one-liners of dialogue-to-self), photographer Gus Powell (born 1974) made his own “lonely ones” — quiet but evocative color photographs of interiors and landscapes, inhabited by people, animals and inanimate characters. Every photograph is paired with a suggestive text, functioning here as the opposite of a caption — each of the 40 color photographs in The Lonely Ones is hidden by a gate fold, on which is printed the single phrase. Every photograph is revealed individually behind its gate fold. “Which way to the symposium?,” paired with a photograph of a butterfly in midair. “Let’s not ruin it by talking.” “Mistakes were made.” “This might hurt.” “Another small victory.” “I am the host of this misadventure.”

The First Edition of The Lonely Ones has sold out. To order the New Edition click here.