Product Description

"Masters of Photography" is an indispensable and comprehensive guide to over 70 of the world's best-known photographers, from the pioneers of the early part of the century to the experimental artists who will take us into the future. Arranged in alphabetical order by photographer, each entry contains a selection of sumptuous reproductions of some of the photographer's most interesting and representative works. In addition there is an incisive appreciation of each of these most well-known or groundbreaking artists, including the technical background to their pictures, and a key facts panel detailing biographical details and the development of each photographer's career.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10091 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Reuel Golden is senior editor of the world's biggest magazine for professional photographers, the New York-based Photo District News. Prior to this he was editor of the British Journal of Photography for six years. During his time there he transformed the publication from a conservative trade journal to a magazine that truly reflects the dynamism and diversity of the photographic world. He is also the author of Carlton's Witness. He lives in New York. Foreword-writer Holly Stuart Hughes is editor-in-chief of Photo District News, the monthly magazine for professional photographers based in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Good introductory book
"Masters of Photography" contains a good introduction to the life and work of many important photographers. For each photographer, the book includes a few key facts, half a page with biographical and background info, and 3-5 typical images. With several dozens of photographers covered, the book focuses on presenting a broad number of photographers, rather than on an in-depth approach of the work of the greatest of them. This makes the book particularly suitable as a beginner's guide. I have some minor doubts on the selection of photographers (I would expect to find e.g. Josef Sudek in the book) and images presented (the images of Cartier-Bresson are not his most typical, I feel), but overall the book is fine as an introductory book and a guide for further reading. The presentation of the photographers is done in alphabetical order; personally, I would prefer some more elaborated classification (e.g. by genre). The accompanying texts are well-written and concise.

The price is attractive and the print and binding quality are good. My biggest complaint is the format of the book, which is unnecessarily small. This results in many photographs being split in two pages, which severely damages their aesthetics.

Overall, the book is a good beginner's guide to the masters of photography, with a very good value for money.

Nice, but...
Agree with Dimitris. The big problem with this book is its small format, which is just not suitable for these types of books. The second problem is the bad selection of artists' works in some cases, such as Atget and Kertesz. But, overall it's a nice and short introduction to many of the classics.

The Power of Imagery
I have thoroughly enjoyed basking in the splendor of this amazing and distinct photographic art. It depicts scenic depth and truly conveys a telling narrative beyond any utterance. Whilst the images stand alone the accompaning history greatly enhances the perspective of the story told. I was truly captivated.