by National Geographic Society
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Product Description
National Geographic Greatest Portraits tells the story of portrait photography through the eyes-and words-of five accomplished National Geographic photographers. The book showcases images never-before-seen alongside award-winning favorites. New and fascinating text reveals photographers' individual experiences photographing people and their evaluation of NG portraits produced during each decade-from the late-19th century until today. National Geographic Greatest Portraits opens with a beautiful and surprising look at National Geographic's contribution to the knowledge of the world's peoples through photography. Five chapters follow, each spanning approximately two decades and covering an era in world history and photographic style. The chapters are: Before 1930 (Exploring the power of photography), 1930s-1940s (The Great Depression and World War II), 1950s-1960s (Bright colors and perky smiles), 1970s-1980s (Back to realism), 1990s-Present (Everything is relative). Each of these chapters is a portrait of the world.
Amazon.com Review
Through the years, National Geographic magazine's staff photographers have often elevated stock depictions of "exotic" cultures into haunting glimpses of other lives. In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits presents a century of captivating images of ordinary people from around the world--280 photographs of pleasure, grief, stoicism, shyness and sheer endurance. In thoughtful essays, five photographers frankly assess changing notions of authenticity and discuss their own methods of capturing a stranger's personality on the run. In the beginning, the magazine showed people stiffly posed in their native costumes, viewed as anthropological specimens. Advances in camera technology created a greater degree of intimacy and spontaneity. Then came color film, which ushered in an era dominated by corny themes and perkily posed subjects in brightly hued clothing. The 1970s marked a new honesty in portraiture, a willingness to go beyond the superficial to investigate the small moments that make up daily life everywhere. In Focus draws upon the magazine's complete archives to raise intriguing questions about how editorial choices help define our understanding of the world. For example, in 1981, National Geographic published Sam Abell's elegiac portrait of Rosa--the last of the Yahgan Indians of Terra del Fuego--wreathed in atmospheric smoke against a dark background, in the stately tradition of Edward S. Curtis. We also see one of Abell's unpublished photos of Rosa in her modest home, grimacing as she stands in the blue light of her TV, next to a poster commemorating the restoration of Chile's constitution in 1980. The gallery of portraits in this splendid book includes many memorable faces, from the unnerving grin of the Wodaabe tribesman in Niger (who wears colorful makeup as part of a courtship ritual) to the sunny self-possession of a child in Murmansk who holds up four tiny fingers to indicate her age. Beautiful women abound--they have helped sell the magazine from its earliest days. As the decades go by, people everywhere seem more at ease being photographed. But they remain as fascinating as ever, perhaps because we'll never know what they were thinking when the shutter clicked. —Cathy Curtis
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Captivatingly Beatiful, 2008-12-10
In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits is a deeply inspiring collection of images, some spontaneously collected and some organized for the sake of composition illustrating the lives of people around the world. Although some photographs, are composed to make a clean, easy to read picture, many others contain an element of "snapshot" quality, which successfully increases the unprompted spirit within each picture.
This book introduced many different lifestyles to me that I had not previously known about or had the chance to research myself. Some photographs show the pristine beauty in certain rituals, and others, the gritty reality of everyday life.
I am inspired to look farther into the cultures of these people I have just perceived. However politically correct or not, I was still spellbound, particularly by a portrait of an Amish teenager working early in the morning out in the fields of a farm. I wonder what his life is like, where this image was taken and who this person is. The book is only a catalyst, exposing the reader to the lives of people from around the world. Another striking image is of a Japanese Geisha taking a cigarette break from applying her makeup. I wonder how the photographers were able to put themselves in these intimate situations and what they said to the subjects in order for them to take the picture.
Overall, I found In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits to be a book full of vibrant, clear, some shocking, some familiar, and all together beautiful images.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Lost art of bookbinding., 2008-11-24
I am used to top quality when buying products of the National Geographic. This book, however, doesn't meet the high standards I've learned to expect.
If we think of the multitude of amazing photographs NG printed, owns, distributes... the content of this book are very mediocre in comparison. Yes, there are a lot of fine photos but there are too many 'blah, so what' ones too.
Still, for this price, it is a very good deal, to get a giant hardcover full of photographs in colour.
And here comes the biggest drawback of the book: the brand new hardcover simply fell apart in my hands the first time I opened the book. The book is too big and heavy for the lame method of attaching the body of the book to the cover they used.
I pray NG rediscovers the lost art of fine bookbinding.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits, 2008-11-19
National Geographic magazine has always displayed photographs with real meaning and I don't think anybody would disagree with me. Gratest Portraits takes things to another dimension. The depth of feeling in these photographs take you to another place. You can see into the very soul of the people involved, sheer beauty, intollerable suffering and everything in between. Every photograph told it's own story, the photographers created real magic. It would be a blessing indeed to have the skills to create even one photograph as beautiful as these. As I look at each portrait, some for much longer than others, running my hand over the page and try to feel what these people are feeling, you will become totally absorbed with the contents. I love this book and will treasure it forever. It is a masterpiece to say the least.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Here is the way to take photos of people., 2008-10-16
National Geographic has, of course, always been noted for outstanding photography. The book In Focus is certainly no exception. It offers outstanding portraits from every corner of the Earth. Some of the subject matter seems ordinary, but these skilled photographers are able to turn the ordinary into photographs that you will not forget. This is an excellent book to go through slowly while perusing the photos at length. The skill and the vision of the photographers is evident throughout.
The book is a companion volume to two other National Geographic books - Through the Lens and Wide Angle. All the books are excellent.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Good book. , 2008-08-25
Good, solid quality book with the pictures one has come to expect from National Geographic. A very good value.
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