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A lavish account of pioneering polar photography and modern portraiture, "Face to Face: Polar Portraits" brings together in a single volume both rare, unpublished treasures from the historic collections of the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), University of Cambridge, 'face to face' with cutting-edge modern imagery from expedition photographer Martin Hartley. This unique book by Huw Lewis-Jones is the first to examine the history and role of polar exploration photography, and showcases the very first polar photographs of 1845 through to images from the present day. It features the first portraits of explorers, some of the earliest photographs of the Inuit, the first polar photographs to appear in a book, and rare images never before published from many of the Heroic-Age Antarctic expeditions.
Almost all the historic imagery - daguerreotypes, magic lantern slides, glass plate negatives and images from private albums - that have been rediscovered during research for this book have never been before the public eye. Set within a 'gallery' of 100 double page-spreads are 50 of the world's finest historic polar portraits from the SPRI collection alternated with 50 modern-day images by Martin Hartley, who has captured men and women of many nations, exploring, working, and living in the Polar Regions today. Each gallery spread, dedicated to a single individual, gives a sense of the isolation and intense personal experience each 'face' has had in living or travelling through the polar wilderness, whether they be one of the world's greatest explorers, or a humble cook.
AUTHOR DR HUW LEWIS-JONES is a historian and Curator of Art at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. Formerly Visiting Fellow at Harvard University, and Curator of Imperial and Maritime History at the National Maritime Museum, London, Huw is also Research Curator of the FREEZE FRAME historic photography project and a consultant within media and broadcasting. PHOTOGRAPHER MARTIN HARTLEY specializes in documenting the most inaccessible parts of the planet. His commitment to capture the beauty of unadulterated landscapes and remote communities has taken him to some of the most challenging locations in the world. His work has been published in many major newspapers and magazines, including The Times, National Geographic. He has worked on 17 different polar expeditions.
