Image Makers, Image Takers

In this new and expanded edition five new interviews have been added, including a chapter on web and digital that highlights the importance of blogging and online galleries, bringing the content right up to date. Through her intelligent and perceptive interviews and selection of over 240 images, journalist and critic Anne-Celine Jaeger delves into the working practice of famous photographers, unveiling the mysterious process of artistic creation involved in making and taking a photograph. Here is the background on how Mario Sorrenti was inspired to capture a naked Kate Moss draped over a sofa for the iconic Calvin Klein campaign, how Fabrice Dall’Anese came to do a photo shoot with George Clooney in a hotel bathroom and how Rineke Dijkstra gets the best from her subjects.

Once the images have been taken, or commissioned, how are the photographs then selected? How are the photographs chosen to be hung on the wall of The Photographers' Gallery in London? How does the picture editor of the New York Times Magazine decide which photographer should shoot the next fashion spread? How did Pascal Dangin start pioneering high-end photographic technology and go on to become a world-renowned retoucher?

From questions on what to look for in an image to views on cropping and the use of colour over black-and-white, the shapers and makers of taste provide a unique and indispensable account of their working methods.