Marc Riboud

Surprises of every kind lie in wait for the photographer - they open the eyes and quicken the heartbeat of those with a passion for looking. Published to coincide with a major retrospective of Marc Riboud's work, this is the first work in English devoted to the entire career of this outstanding twentieth-century photojournalist. Riboud has created some of the iconic images of our time: workmen balanced like dancers on the powerful metal girders of the Eiffel Tower; a young Vietnam war protester facing down a rank of riflemen with a flower in her hand. Riboud took his first photographs at the age of 14 with his father's Vest Pocket Kodak. Eager to investigate the complexities of contemporary reality, Riboud worked for the legendary Magnum agency, alongside Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and Chim (David Seymour). Starting in 1955, he traveled all over the world, from Nepal to Alaska, Mexico to Algeria, his camera always at the ready. While many of his shots reveal the anguish of war, others capture the fleeting delights of a swim in a sun-dappled river or children learning to whistle in a Shanghai street. Here are Riboud's best images, presented by those who know him.