Faces That Click

Local photographer Mark Edward Harris traveled the world to meet, interview and photograph 20 master photographers, all of whom have shot memorable iconic images that helped define the 20th century. The result is “Faces of the Twentieth Century: Master Photographers and Their Work” (Abbeville Press, 1998), a coffee-table book that combines Harris’ pictures of these photographers with five of their own classic images, in addition to lengthy interviews.

Artists represented in the book range from Annie Leibovitz and Herb Ritts to Alfred Eisenstadt and Sebasti~ao Salgado. Many of them discuss the stories behind some of their most famous pictures.

A labor of love--and a chance for Harris to meet many of his idols--”Faces of the Twentieth Century” took six years to complete. But it turns out to have been well worth the effort: The book was just awarded “Best of Show” and “Photo Book of the Year” at the 13th annual New York Book Show.

“The rewards for this project started way before this award--when I got to meet face to face with the living legends in the book,” the author says. And Harris, whose photographs have appeared in People, Life and the New York Times, is now at work on “Faces, Volume II,” which is taking him even further afield, to India, Africa and other stops.