THE PHOTO ESSAY

I wrote the text for this book, part of the Masters of Contemporary Photography Series for Thomas Y. Crowell publishers and published in 1974. The series was produced by Alskog, a book packager run by Lawrence Schiller, a well known photojournalist. The book explored the photo essay form as pioneered by F. Eugene Smith and focused on the work of two contemporary practitioners: Paul Fusco, an American photographer and Will McBride, an American ex-pat living in Germany. The two offered highly contrasting styles, Fusco being a classic documentary photographer while McBride scripted and choreographed fantasy dramas for capture by his cameras. It was a heady time working with top notch professionals like Schiller, book designer Will Hopkins, art director Vince Tajeri, and editor John Poppy. I learned a great deal about photography enabling me to do much of the work later needed for the Lerner books.