From photography's role in society, such as photojournalism and fashion photography, to more traditional and purely artistic shots, this book explores all aspects of contemporary photography--photographers' obsessions, unusual formats, differing methods, and the vast range of genres depicted. This densely illustrated title makes it easy for the novice photography enthusiast to recognize different styles and place them in clear historical context, assimilate the essential technical vocabulary, and identify thirty key artists and their works. From the still life to Japanese eroticism, portraits to cityscapes, the diverse schools and forms of photography around the world are put into focus, and chronologies of technical innovations and major dates enable readers to understand how and why our relationship with the photograph has developed since the 1960s.