A Few Of The Legends

By Peter Adams.
“Peter is one of the few who understands
that a portrait needs a bit of
the photographer and a bit of the subject.
The trick is finding the right balance between the two.”
– Arnold Newman, USA.

608 pages, 150,000 words and over 500 iconic photographs!

“In 1982, when I commenced working on A Few of the Legends, I had no idea how a seemingly simple idea – born with a bunch of inebriated photographers during a boozy lunch – would result in such a fascinating and extended journey through the valleys and peaks of photography.

“Attending that lunch were half-a-dozen luminaries of photography and, along with the coffee and after-dinner mints, we started playing our own version of Photographic Trivial Pursuit. The raising of the flag at Iwo Jima? The Hindenburg disaster? The Kent State massacre? The general executing a Viet Cong in Saigon? Who made those pictures? What did the photographers look like? Were they still alive? And from the ensuing conversation the idea for A Few of the Legends had its conception.

“Had I known then, what I know now, the outcome might have been different.”

40,000 film negatives later…

“I had no idea, for example, that I would travel more than 370,000 miles, or that in the course of photographing around 500 photographers that I would expose approximately 3000 rolls of film. Not every photographer made it into the book, but more than half of them did.

“Someone once wrote ‘Put two photographers in a room and you will have a conversation. Put six photographers in a room and you will have an argument. A room containing 100 photographers may quickly descend into a battle!’ But that of course is the charm of photography: because every photographer thinks differently, no two images – even of the same subject matter – will be alike.)

A great Christmas gift!

Individually signed by the author and in a presentation slipcase.

“It is my privilege to know Peter Adams, whose work I enthusiastically admire and respect.”

Ruth Bernhard, USA.

“Probably the most in-depth contextualisation of global photography ever undertaken.”

Rob Imhoff, Australia.

“No one has produced – or even attempted – a book as outrageously ambitious as this,
and to produce so many outstanding portraits too is truly remarkable.”

Paul Hill, UK.

“As the founder of the Recontres of Arles, I have a deep appreciation of what Peter has done.”

Lucien Clergue, France.

“What an extraordinary collection of portraits of so many true characters and photographic legends.
This book is a testament to Peter’s talent as a photographer and his dedication over so many years.”

Anne Geddes, New Zealand.

Other books by the author

Click here.

Exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, December, 2020.