Customer Reviews

Work: The World in Photographs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Length:: 0:41 Mins

The 190 evocative, wonderfully varied images collected from here span well over a century, from photography's early decades in the 19th century to the first years of a new millennium.
- A section from the book jacket

The collection of photographs showcases people of different jobs going about with their daily chores.

I like how each photo transports me to the scene where the photographer stood. One moment, I'm beside people cycling to work in the rain, the next, I'm watching workers mine sulfur. And it goes on and on. Although I might never visit these places, the feeling of being there just by looking at the photos is satisfying enough.

This book is not just about the different occupations, it's about religion, culture and people's way of life.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

WORK: THE WORLD IN PHOTOGRAPHS is another in the fine series of National Geographic books that gathers a group of phenomenally beautiful and touching and tender and humorous photographs from around the globe with the center subject being 'work' - man at his labors. While this may not sound as though it would be an artistic creation, the photographs contained in this large book are some of the finest color images you will see from our global neighborhood.

Ferdinand Protzman has curated these dramatic depictions of the various forms of work, both familiar and esoteric, and with great care has placed them in a non-judgmental sequence. The photographs include vistas of bleak desert hunting scenes, water labor such as fishing (one image of men on stilts surrounded by water is especially lyrical), American sports events, and forms of labor from what seems to be every country in the world.

The pleasure of this book, aside from the exquisite photography, is the manner of presentation. All forms of work are examined as universal means of supporting life. This is a collection of images that will resound with any viewer and will serve as an emotional attachment to the brotherhood of man. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, September 06

If a picture can tell a story better than a thousand words here you have the ultimate and more fascinating treat about the different shapes that this human activity that we call work can take. A wonderful and wide-ranging collection of photographs from the incredible National Geographic's collection.

Here you will find the most comprehensive assemblage of images that portrait people at work in all kind of situations, places, geographic locations, and from different social, economic, political, and racial composition. You will travel in time from the 21st-to the 19th-century while being transported all over the world from one picture to the other.

Ferdinand Protzman bring us again a marvelous collection. A truly most have if you liked his previous work (also from National Geographic): "Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places" (2005) and "Landscape: Photographs of Time and Place" (2003).

Cultural writer Ferdinand Protzman explores some of the world's finest images of men, women and children at work, packing in almost two hundred images spanning some 150 years from the beginnings of photography to modern times. Eighty top photographers from around the world are featured - and some aren't even affiliated with National Geographic, either - making for a collection celebrating all kinds of work situations from farming and bullfighting to begging and snake charming and beyond. A powerful tribute to the world of work makes for an exceptional celebration.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL BOOK WITH INCISIVE COMMENTS BY PROTZMAN ABOUT HIS FANTASTIC CHOICE OF PHOTOS.

This book may be about work but it's also gives you interesting ideas about how to take a good travel photograph. It presents balanced and varied views of everyday scenes from around the world taken by the worlds best photographers. From Portuguese business men getting a shoe shine in 1936 to a tannery in Morocco taken in 1990 you'll see a very human side of the world. Beautiful work.

Sometimes with Geographic, the editorial staff choses images and as the reader im like 'What is going on here?'
There are very strong images in this book. I know some of the photographers as well, but some images ghave no relation to the theme of 'work' here. Geographic includes images that stimulate the viewer to think and that process is walking a thin line sometimes because some images need to be apparent and show the theme--in this case 'WORK' and they simply do not, in my opinion. I was disappointed. Redo this book and hire a different photo editor.

Nice book with cool pictures that got me thinking about how bland and crappy my job is. The pages pic up oil from my hands much more than other books though and leave permanent smudges on them. So if you leave it for people to look through on a table or something it will not be in mint condition very long.

Un bel libro fotografico, con immagini di buona qualità; solo alcune foto sembrano mal contestualizzate, ma nel complesso è un libro di piacevole intrattenimento.

The only problem of the book is its size. Too small for a book of photographs.