Life Library of Photography. The Great Themes

Revised ed. — Time-Life Books, 1982. — 256 p. — (Life Library of Photography)The Life Library of Photography series consists of 17 volumes. The books cover all the main aspects of photography: technology and equipment; shooting methods; film processing and photo printing; history of photography; photography as an art form.In the century and a half since a bleary view of a barnyard in France became the first image captured by photography, millions of photographers have taken billions of photographs of everything from babies to lunar soil. However, the efforts of artist-photographers can be grouped generally into six great themes: portraits, still life, the nude, nature, war and the human condition.Each theme presents a different challenge. To portray the human condition requires not only that the photographer be sensitive to the complexities of the way people feel and the way they live, but that all his camera techniques be second nature: When a scene occurs, there is no time to fuss about proper exposure settings. A photographer of still lifes, on the other hand, does have time — spending hours or days perfecting the details of a single shot, patientty seeking an arrangement of objects that is esthetically pleasing and also sparks the imagination.