Redheads
Joel Meyerowitz
Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1991, 100 pages
ISBN 0-8478-1451-3

This unusual collection of portraits of people with red hair was photographed by Joel Meyerowitz with a large 8" x 10" view camera. Most of these portraits were not shot in a studio with controlled lighting, but were shot outdoors, often at a beach, using whatever lighting was present whenever he found a willing subject. Amazingly, he generally only took one exposure of each subject.

This use of available light leads to a lot of variation in the quality of the photos. The best ones are simply stunning, but others have faces partially or wholly in shadow, which thus look kind of amateurish. It's a tribute to Meyerowitz's skill as a photographer that even the "bad" portraits can be striking to look at.

These color photos are beautifully reproduced at full size, except for one photo enlarged to a two-page spread, and another (a group portrait) enlarged to a three-page foldout.

There are no captions; the only text is a three-page introduction by Meyerowitz where he describes the origins of this project and gives some personal reflections on the nature of portraiture.

Recommended.