Home > Reviews > The World's Top Photographers: Portraits

The World's Top Photographers: Portraits

and the stories behind their greatest images

RotoVision is a publisher with an extensive catalogue of books in the field of visual arts. The World's Top Photographers: Portraits is part of a series showcasing the work of some of the best photographers around. Other subjects in the series deal with Wildlife, Landscapes, and Nudes. The size of the book (176 pages of 10" x 10" or 25 x 25cm) means that there was space to print the photos at a reasonable size. However, the publisher chose to show more work of each of the 35 photographers represented, rather than print all portraits full page. In some cases I would have liked to see a bigger print, but as the book is an overview of the work of the top photographers in this field I don't mind sacrificing size for quantity in this case. If you are interested in only one or two of the artists in this book you would be better off buying a larger format monograph about their work.

Each chapter starts with a short bio and interview of about 400 to 500 words. This sort of 'places' the photographer in his or her context. The real value of this book lies in the pictures, between 5 and 9 for each photographer, and their captions. The subtitle refers to the 'stories behind' the images and that is exactly what these captions are. If you are looking for technical information, apertures, shutter speeds, lighting set-ups, to learn from then this is not the book you want. If you want to improve your technical skills as a portrait photographer you need to look elsewhere. The captions are more about the circumstances in which these pictures came about, what drew the photographer to this particular subject, the mood of the subject, etc. Most of the pictures are of celebreties and sometimes the way the image has been set up and created surprised and amused me, like the image of Brad Pitt with a 20% discount price tag on his T-shirt, by Tony Duran. Other portraits are more formal and confirm our ideas about the subject, like the 'state portrait' of Margaret Thatcher by Terence Donovan.

I would recommend this book if you are looking to get an idea of what different styles of portrait photography are being practised now. You will find some of the best photographers, some iconic portraits, some that you will love, some that will leave you cold. I think it shows portrait photography as an art form in development, still looking for what produces success.

I do not pretend to fall into the same category as the photographers mentioned in this book, but you can have a look at my attempts to photograph people here.

Rating: