Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"Everything in the world must be shown and people around the world must have an idea of what's happening to the other people around the world. I believe this is a function of the vector that the documentary photographer must have, to show one person's existence to another."—Sebastião Salgado

Illustrated with a compelling image from each photographer, Witness in Our Time traces the recent history of social documentary photography in the words of twenty-two of the genre's best photographers, editors, and curators, showing that the profession remains vital, innovative, and committed to social change. Featuring interviews with Hansel Mieth, Walter Rosenblum, Michelle Vignes, Wayne Miller, Peter Magubane, Matt Herron, Jill Freedman, Mary Ellen Mark, Earl Dotter, Eugene Richards, Susan Meiselas, Sebastião Salgado, Graciela Iturbide, Antonin Kratochvil, Donna Ferrato, Joseph Rodriguez, Dayanita Singh, Fazal Sheikh, Gifford Hampshire, Peter Howe, Colin Jacobson, and Ann Wilkes Tucker

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Tremain, Kerry

Product Details

• Paperback: 211 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian (September 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560989483
• ISBN-13: 978-1560989486
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,646 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #16 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Professional
  #54 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Photojournalism
  #91 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Media Studies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique and Valuable Resource, October 24, 2000

By	joshua dautoff (oakland, ca United States) - See all my reviews

Witness in Our Time gives readers a rare glimpse into the minds of some of the most talented contemporary documentary photographer. Editor Ken Light offers a valuable resource to any professional or student photographer, or anyone with an interest in documentary photography. Witness in Our Time provides personal accounts by photographers such as Sebastião Salgado, Mary Ellen Mark and Eugene Richards of how each has made it in the challenging field of documentary photography. Witness in Our Time offers an inspirational and sometimes sobering view of the past, present and future of this important field.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the views/mindsets of prominent photojournalists, June 23, 2001

By	T. Tom (SF Bay Area, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a great book. If you are at all interested in documentary photography/photojournalism, then you will not be able to put this book down!

It is jam-packed with a collection of personal essays by the worlds most prominent documentary photographers. They speak about why and how they do what they do, their path in life and their experiences seeing the world up close and personal.

The book has at least one black and white image example per photographer, but it's not a coffee table photography book. It's a relatively small size and can be carried with you in a bag quite easily.

I'm going to go back and read this book again. It is full of reasonings and inspirations and as a published photographer, it makes me want to grab my Leica and hit the streets with some black and white film...

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I need a new copy, July 21, 2001

By	Steve White "[e-mail]" (Toronto, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This will be the second time I'm buying this book. I've lent it out to one of my staff and somewhere down the line it's disappeared. I think that's says a lot about this book. It's nice to have around to read through on a Saturday morning with a mug of coffee or flip through for inspiration.

It has definitely helped not only the way I see the world, but with my own photography.