Time-Life books

The 250-odd photographs in this book had to run an arduous gantlet of editorial selection. For each one that was chosen for publication, thousands were examined, some never before seen in this century. Those that survived represent the work of 68 great photographers; hence, the title of this book. What makes a photographer great? Not one great picture; hundreds of people, by design or accident, have achieved or stumbled upon an image that others consider great. Rather, inclusion in this collection signifies that a photographer accumulated a body of great work during his career. In photography, as in any field, greatness is a quality more easily demonstrated than defined. Yet in researching this volume, the editors encountered several factors that, taken in combination, appeared to form a definition. The first is intent. What did the photographer have in mind? When Alexander Gardner shows us an empty Civil War battlefield, he intends us to feel the sense of loss and tragedy he found there; when Lewis W. Hine poses a child beside an open door he intends us to ask, "Where does that door lead?" And when Yousuf Karsh shows us the broad brow of Nikita Khrushchev he intends that we feel the public power, wisdom and aggressiveness that are stored up behind it. The second factor is skill. A great photographer must be able to execute his intention. He has to master all the tools at his command. He must exploit the qualities of light and film; must understand human nature, and know how to be patient at one moment, spontaneous at another. Without these skills even the noblest intent is unfilled. Finally, the great photographer must execute his intention with a consistency lesser photographers cannot approach. The great photograph is no accident in the hands of these men and women. Whenever possible, the editors have looked at the whole life's work of each photographer represented here: with only a few exceptions, the early pictures and the late ones share the successful mark of their maker. Intent, skill, consistency: however different the photographers in this book seem, they all share these qualities.

We have all been there in our own childhood -- stationed in front of the inescapable camera and staring into its inscrutable eye -- long before we ever got around in back of it. So the topic of this book should be familiar to us all. And yet familiarity can breed complacency. We grownups take more pictures of children than of anything else; still we manage to miss, all too often, the excitement, the emotion, the infinite diversity that is there for the taking. The aim of this book is to open up the reader's eyes and mind anew to the whole complex and fascinating subject of photographing children. The great cliché pictures are here, sturdy representatives of all the tried-and-true approaches that worked a century ago and frequently work today. The how-to-do-it pictures are here, spelling out the techniques of recording the expanding life and personality of the child, from the brand new baby to the teenager. The creative, innovating pictures are e here too, proving that the subject is broad and deep enough to challenge the with and imagination -- and, above all, the heart -- of any photographer. The real authors of the volume are not the editors who wrote the explanatory text, useful as we hope it is, but the scores of photographers whose work with children is represented in the pictures. Many of these photographers are accomplished professionals whose own children have put their parents' skills to the test. The results, and all the funny and sad, dramatic and quiet interactions between child and camera that the pictures on these pages disclose, speak louder than any words.

Picture and text survey of the cultural and intellectual achievements of American civilizations before Columbus.