Book Review: Age of Silver: Encounters with Great Photographers

You have seen their photos now see their faces

John Loengard really started his ambitious project to capture some of the world's greatest snappers in 1989. In these pages he presents fifty-nine of them though this does need some clarification. To capture these creative folk he took two options: either a portrait or (and probably unique to this book) a shot of a negative reflecting the photographer's most famous work.

In some cases you can see both options: Alfred Eisenstaedt is here and his hands holding a negative strip showing a sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square, 1945; Cartier-Bresson and in his hand with the 1932 negative of 'Behind the Gare St. Lazare'; Dmitri Baltermants at home and on the facing page he's holding the 1942 negative of his searing 'Grief'. Some photographers, who died some time back, just have their negatives displayed on a light box, held by others.

The 136 pages with 200 duotones (in a 200 screen) are well presented with an elegant straightforward layout. The back pages have extensive biographies of all those included. Page 117 has Loengard's list of living photographers and as he says 183 of them he has yet to capture.

I enjoyed this book because it was a treat to see so many people whose work I had been familiar with and enjoyed for years. Admittedly the negatives idea might not appeal to everyone but it creates an interesting change of pace as you look through the book.

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Review: Age of Silver: Encounters with Great Photographers