Biography of one of the great British photographers of the twentieth century.

Containing photographs taken in and around the author's North Devon home over the past 25 years, this book records the people and landscapes of rural England. It evokes a view of rural English life that is still to be found in every village and country town: local trades, a village wedding, children waiting for the school bus, and farming life.

Award-winning photographer Stuart Franklin's exploration of how we, as humans, are driven to visually document our experiences and the world around us. Stuart Franklin took one of the most powerful photographs of the twentieth century - the 'tank man' in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 1989. From his insightful position as a photographer, Franklin explores why we are driven to visually document our experiences and the world around us. He focuses on photography but traces this universal need through art, literature and science. Looking at photojournalism, war photography and work recording our culture, Franklin identifies some of its driving impulses: curiosity, outrage, reform and ritual; the search for evidence, for beauty, for therapy; and the immortalization of memory. As our understanding of 'documentary' continues to expand, Franklin considers photographic staging - where, perhaps, the future of the genre may lie: in search of truth over fact. "This book traces what I shall call the documentary impulse. Here I mean the passion to record, with fidelity, the moments we experience and wish to preserve, the things we witness and might want to reform; or simply the people, places or things we find remarkable... Photography (and journalism) practised respectfully has the power to educate us all towards a greater understanding and empathy towards others." —Stuart Franklin

Celebrating the life and work of English artist Eric Ravilious (1903-42), ‘A Country Life’ (the third book in the Ravilious in Pictures series) features twenty-two beautiful watercolours painted in north-west Essex and on the East Anglian coast. Accompanying essays by James Russell explore the artist’s home life, introducing the people and places he know around the villages of Castle Hedingham and Great Bardfield, and offering insights into the culture and customs of 1930s England.--Publisher.

'Ravilious in Pictures: The War Paintings' celebrates and commemorates the wartime career of Eric Ravilious, who died on active service in Iceland at the age of 39. One of a series of books, it creates a vivid portrait both of the artist himself and of life in wartime Britain.