Book excerpt: "This first monograph by Matthew Pillsbury offers a paean to the craft and visionary potential of large-format, black-and-white photography as well as to the vibrancy of the cultural landscape at a transitional moment - a moment in which our very relationship to that landscape is increasingly mediated by omnipresent screens. Over the past decade, Pillsbury has built several extensive bodies of work - Screen Lives, Hours, and City Stages - that deal with different facets of contemporary metropolitan life and the passage of time. Working with black-and-white 8-by-10 film and long exposures, Pillsbury captures a range of psychologically charged experiences in the urban environment, from isolation - tuned into the omnipresent screens of our tablets, laptops, televisions, and phones - to crowded museums, parades, cathedrals, and even protests. Working primarily in New York the precise and concrete rendering of cityscapes, iconic landmarks, and interior spaces in his images provides a stage-like setting for the performance of human activity."--Publisher's website.