When President Calvin Coolidge was asked to choose between the artist John Singer Sargent or the photographer John Garo to make his official presidential portrait, Coolidge chose Garo. Although unknown today, in the early years of the twentieth century, Garo was a nationally acclaimed photographer, a leader in the thriving Boston photographic community. Cultured and charming, Garo also painted watercolors, wrote poetry and counted among his friends luminaries in the worlds of music and theater. It was to this humanistic atmosphere of Garo's sky lit studio that the fledgling photographer, Yousuf Karsh, a survivor of the 1915 Armenian Massacres, was sent by his uncle George Nakash, to be Garo's apprentice. Garo was a nurturing and encouraging mentor. His three years with Garo transformed young Karsh's life and influenced his original desire to portray those personalities who made a positive impact on our world. Garo died in 1939, a victim of the Great Depression, ill health and changing photographic taste. Karsh, then still a struggling photographer in Canada, was devastated to discover Garo's studio ransacked, and many of his portraits missing. Thus began a forty-year odyssey by Karsh to discover his mentor's portraits, and preserve them for posterity. Drawing on meticulous research and on Karsh's personal correspondence, Mehmed Ali brings to life this intensely human journey, and the little known story of Garo's stellar role in the history of photography in New England. Mehmed Ali's "Yousuf Karsh & John Garo: The Search for a Master's Legacy" (Benna), illustrated with 100 photographs, most of them by Garo or Karsh, offers an inside look at the early years of celebrity photography. (The Boston Globe) This is also a story of a master and apprentice, a mentor and mentee, with Karsh investing himself in the restoration of Garo's legacy as one of New England's notable photographers. Ali's discovery of Garo while doing research on Armenian political activists in Lowell led him to Karsh's widow, Estrellita, who encouraged Ali to pursue the story. Ali immersed himself in the subject, revealing the extraordinary accomplishments of both Garo and Karsh. The book is beautifully produced with high quality reproductions, mostly in black and white with a few color images. (The Lowell Sun)

Seventy-five camera studies of world famous people, with the photographer's "brief biographical notes of [his] various subjects together with personal accounts of the adventures [he] had when photographing them."

Forty-eight past and present world figures are included in this collection of photographic portraits which includes Karsh's recollections of his intercourse with each subject

The renowned photographer reveals the stories behind his iconic images in this definitive collection of portraits and personal reflections. Portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh captured some of the twentieth century’s most influential personalities—from Winston Churchill to Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa, and many others—in photographs that became as recognizable as their subjects. Karsh: Beyond the Camera presents a chronological overview of the photographer’ work, paired with his own reflections about each image and the time he spent one-on-one with the subject. Edited by veteran curator David Travis, Karsh: Beyond the Camera is a fascinating study of the photographer’s technical and stylistic development over the course of his career. Drawing on extensive interviews between Karsh and his long-time assistant, Jerry Fielder, it also shares a rare and intimate look at the man’s life from surviving the Armenian genocide to becoming one of the world’s most sought-after portrait photographers. “Famously reticent about his work, this is a rare invitation to learn the stories behind Karsh’s most famous meetings with great men and women, and of his aesthetic choices when met with the challenge of capturing them as they were.” —Publishers Weekly

'Never does that old maxim "the harder I practice, the luckier I get" ring truer.' - Matt Stuart Street photography may look like luck, but you have to get out there and hone your craft if you want to shake up those luck vibes. Matt Stuart never goes out without his trusty Leica and, in a career spanning twenty years, has taken some of the most accomplished, witty and well-known photographs of the streets. From understanding how to be invisible on a busy street, to anticipating a great image in the chaos of a crowd, Matt Stuart reveals in over 20 chapters the hard-won skills and secrets that have led to his greatest shots. He explains his purist and uniquely playful approach to street photography leaving the reader full of ideas to use in their own photography. Illustrated throughout with 100 of Stuart's images, this is a unique opportunity to learn from one of the finest street photographers around.