Here is the first systematic attempt - for beginners, students and professionals alike - to find out how photographers of world stature approach their work, and what it is that makes them succeed. Unlike any other photography book to date, it uses in-depth interviews of established photographers from the fields of fashion, art, portraiture and documentary photography, as well as the new generation, but also of picture editors, curators and art book publishers in order to find out what they look for when choosing an image. Who are the makers and who are the takers? Readers can judge for themselves.

2007-05-20 finally i know

I recommend this book to anyone who has somehow, in any way, to do with photography. The way the author gets intimate with the photographers and curators etc. is really captivating and different to anything I've read so far. The author, Anne-Celine Jaeger, knows a lot of details about the photographers, editors, gallery owners etc. and how to get even more fruity details out of them. Whether you want to know about what lighting Mary Ellen Mark uses in her pictures or whether William Eggleston had someone to talk to about his work when he first started doing pics (that's more my thing), you'll find it here. My favourite section is the one on newcomers in photography, because it shows how they find their own technique and how they came through. It gives people like me, who are still unseen and struggling and doubting their own work some hope. I also always wondered how to make it into New York Times Magazine, now I know...