My books are attempts to preserve the ephemeral – places, people, atmospheres, memories, thoughts, writing, and moments already slipping from view.
In a world shaped by speed, distraction, and digital impermanence, the printed book remains a quiet act of resistance. Each book can be held, revisited, lived with, and passed on.
Each book is a record of attention – a way of giving form and words to what will otherwise likely disappear.
DOCUMENTARY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS
by Joakim Lloyd Raboff
Click on each book cover to order it.
SAFARI – Unique Wildlife Photography from Botswana, Kenya & South Africa
A photographic journey into the wild landscapes of Botswana, Kenya and South Africa, where animals, light and atmosphere take centre stage. From elephants and lions to giraffes, leopards and countless encounters in between, SAFARI captures both the drama and the profound stillness of being close to nature on its own terms.
Abandoned – The Beauty in What Remains
Across continents, buildings empty, industries disappear and once-busy places slowly surrender to time. Abandoned explores the strange beauty that remains, from Chernobyl and California ghost towns to forgotten factories, hotels and homes. These photographs are less about decay than memory, presence and the traces people leave behind when they move on.
PHOBIAS & FEARS – Your Guide to Phobias & Fears
What makes a rational mind suddenly terrified of spiders, elevators, flying or something far stranger? Combining humour, empathy and personal reflection, Phobias & Fears looks at the origins, symptoms and possible ways of managing some of our most common and unusual fears. A book for anyone who has ever quietly wondered: “Is it just me?”
Österlen – Där själen finner ro / Where the Soul Finds Peace
A visual love letter to Österlen, the quietly beautiful corner of southeastern Sweden where rolling farmland, fishing villages, gardens and the Baltic Sea meet under an extraordinary Nordic light. Created from years of returning with a camera, the book celebrates a landscape that invites you to slow down, look carefully and simply breathe a little deeper.
MALMÖ – Highlights From a Swedish City in Perpetual Evolution
Malmö is a city of contrasts, where centuries of history coexist with ambitious architecture, migration, industry, beaches, parks and constant reinvention. This photographic portrait explores familiar landmarks and less obvious details through the eyes of someone who has observed the city for decades. A visual introduction for visitors and a keepsake for those who already know it.
L.A. – A Photographic Journey to the Urban Groove of Los Angeles
Los Angeles is less a single city than a collection of worlds stitched together by freeways, light and restless ambition. From Downtown and Hollywood to Silver Lake, West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice, this personal photographic journey explores a metropolis that is glamorous, chaotic, beautiful and contradictory, and one that has remained a lifelong source of inspiration.
The Aging Man’s Survival Guide – From Fitness & Finance to Sex & Sickness
Growing older is inevitable. How we deal with it is another matter entirely. Written with candour, humour and plenty of self-examination, The Aging Man’s Survival Guide explores the physical, emotional, sexual and psychological realities of male ageing, including the subjects many men would rather avoid discussing. A personal book about ageing without quietly surrendering to it.
PORTUGAL – Ephemeral Moments Through an Insatiable Traveler’s Serendipitous Lens
Created from photographs gathered during many journeys through Portugal, this book moves between cities, coastlines, vineyards, villages and the quieter spaces in between. Rather than attempting to catalogue a country, it collects fleeting observations of colour, light, architecture and everyday life, forming a personal visual impression of a place that continually rewards curiosity and wandering.
BANGKOK – A Unique Photographic Exploration of Iconic and Everyday Scenes
Bangkok rarely stands still. Temples, traffic, street kitchens, markets, riverside communities and glittering towers coexist in a city where everyday life constantly spills into public space. This photographic exploration looks beyond the familiar landmarks to the textures, people and fleeting encounters that give Thailand’s capital its unmistakable rhythm, intensity, warmth and endlessly rewarding visual energy.
Västra Hamnen – Mosaic of Memories
For more than two decades, Västra Hamnen has been both home and an enduring photographic subject. This book gathers moments from a neighbourhood transformed from industrial waterfront into one of Malmö’s most distinctive districts. Architecture, sea, changing seasons, construction and everyday life form a visual mosaic of a place whose identity has continually evolved alongside the people living there.
Varvsstaden – Borta Men Inte Glömd
Before Malmö’s former shipyard became Varvsstaden, generations worked inside Kockums’ enormous workshops and industrial buildings. Granted access to spaces that have since disappeared, Raboff documented the surviving machinery, structures and traces of working life. The result is both a photographic record of Malmö’s maritime heritage and a farewell to an industrial landscape being transformed into something entirely new.
Urban Serendipity – A Visual Journey Through New York City
New York rewards the wandering photographer. From monumental skylines to seemingly insignificant moments at street level, Urban Serendipity explores a city built from movement, chance encounters, architecture, characters and contradictions. It is a personal visual journey through a metropolis that constantly rearranges itself, offering something unexpected around almost every corner and another reason to keep walking.
Re:Surfaced
What happens when posters, notices, advertisements, weather and time accumulate on the same urban surface? Re:Surfaced turns these overlooked layers into abstract compositions discovered in cities across Europe, Asia and America. Created over several years, the project explores public surfaces as accidental collaborations, continually rewritten by strangers and transformed into temporary works of art hiding in plain sight.
Heavy Metal – Talat Noi’s Sieng Gong
Deep inside Bangkok’s historic Talat Noi district lies Sieng Gong, a dense world of old shophouses, machine workshops, stacked engine parts, scrap metal and narrow alleys. Photographed repeatedly over more than a decade, Heavy Metal documents an extraordinary working neighbourhood whose raw industrial character, Chinese heritage and relentless sensory intensity continue to resist the polished city growing around it.
Silhouette Surfers
Born from an accidentally underexposed photograph made at Venice Pier in Los Angeles, Silhouette Surfers developed into a long-running photographic exploration of surfers around the world. By reducing figures to shape, movement and gesture, the images strip away individual identity and concentrate instead on the elemental relationship between surfer, board, water and light.