Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers

by Ken Light

Book Overview

Documentary photographers explore the crucial issues and events of our time. Building on the traditions and passions of their predecessors, they are devising new strategies to address the obstacles... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560989483
• ISBN13: 9781560989486
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books (DC)
• Length: 211 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Must read!

This book is a great read for anyone interested in photography an photojournalism. You cant beat the first hand accounts in this book, they are great!

Should be required Photography reading!

This book introduced me to many documentary photographers that were ignored by my art school. I am glad to have discovered it and have shared it with friends. The author, Ken Light, is also a photographer and has completed many excellent documentary projects, most notably Texas Death Row. Very inspiring!

I need a new copy

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.

Exploring the views/mindsets of prominent photojournalists

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...

A Unique and Valuable Resource

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.