The Great Themes (Life Library of Photography)

In the century and a half since a bleary view of a French barnyard became the first image captured by photography, millions of photographers have taken billions of photographs of everything from babies to lunar soil. But the efforts of the artist-photographers have largely been channeled into six areas of special interest: the great themes of portraits, still life, the nude, nature, war and the human condition. In picturing them, more perhaps than in treating any other subjects, the talents of the photographer and the capabilities of the camera are challenged.