Wonderful photographs...

The photos in this book are marvelous. I did read some, but not all, of the commentary. Mostly, I just enjoyed the pictures. They really tell a story and it was so interesting just to pore over them and examine them at leisure. Wonderful.


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.

Portraits are truly what National Geographic does better than any other magazine on the market, and this book is the solid proof. Though it doesn't really get truly impressive until the chapter on the '70s and '80s, it's still a fantastic statement of artistic achievement on behalf of what has become the magazine most sensitively attuned to the human condition.

Beautifully presented, a stunning history of some of the most outstanding NG images.

My favorite was the Afghan Girl with piercing green eyes.

Excellent portraits in these pages. This is a great book for photographers at any level & it's a must-have in one's library for constant revisiting.

Though many of the photographs are memorable and striking, I was most impressed by a few of the written articles. One described the dramatic effect that changes in the portability of cameras and speed of film have made in the general format and subject matter of content and visual material in Nat Geo over the years. Another piece reflected on the rather distanced stance that the magazine seemed to take over the yrs toward such earth shaking events as the Depression and WWII. At points there was an inferred taking to task such an editorial attitude and at other times a justification of it given the need for a centered, balanced more upbeat attitude during such rough times. It's of note that Nat Geo didn't experience a down turn in its business over the depression.

I enjoyed all 502 pages of this fabulous book thoroughly! A glorious glimpse into the history of National Geographic, what makes a portrait great, insight from some of the best National Geographic photographers, and the photos are simply marvelous. <3

Photographs are great, but start to look the same after awhile

how do you rate a book of pictures? i don't know how you do it, but i'll tell you how i did.

it has some really iconic nat geo photos and is a great coffee table book. it has a handful of essays on photography/portraits from today's nat geo all-stars. those were interesting. it's certainly a quick and relaxing 'read.' so that's alot of good.

that said, i object to some of the photographs being called portraits. they're not. i totally embrace a wider application of the term, and being more-encompassing. but the team was a little too liberal. and! and! with just shy of 100 years of photos, there could have been some better ones here and there too. there were a handful of fantastic photos, but on sum i'd swap about a quarter of the pictures.

so... 4.

This large (and heavy!) volume showcases decades of National Geographic portrait photographs. As with all photos collected for a printed book, those here are a mixed bag. There are a number of technically first-rate photos plus a few that are iconic but many are not that interesting when divorced from the articles they were originally published with. I did find the essays excellent though with their ruminations on photography and portraits and especially on the history of and philosophy behind photography at National Geographic.

A beautiful display of the world's best photographers in one delightful coffee-table book. Each page is another journey down the visually literate path.