Face to Face - Polar Portraits

Face to Face - Polar Portraits, published by the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in association with Polar World, is a lavish account of pioneering polar photography and modern portraiture. Featuring contributions by expedition leader Sir Ranulph Fiennes and polar historian Dr Huw Lewis-Jones, Face to Face brings together in a single volume rare, unpublished treasures from the historic collections of the SPRI, University of Cambridge, alongside cutting-edge modern imagery from expedition photographer Martin Hartley.

Face to Face features the very first polar photographs, the first portraits of explorers, some of the earliest photographs of the Inuit, the first polar photographs to appear in a book, and rare images never before published from many of the Heroic-Age Antarctic expeditions. Almost all the historic imagery - daguerreotypes, magic lantern slides, glass plate negatives and images from private albums - that have been rediscovered during research for this book have never been before the public eye.

Alongside 50 of the world’s finest historic polar portraits from the SPRI collections are 50 modern-day images by leading expedition photographer Martin Hartley, who has captured men and women of many nations, exploring, working, and living in the Polar Regions today. In addition to this remarkable collection will be a foreword written by respected adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, two fascinating essays examining polar photography ‘then’ and ‘now’ by polar historian and curator of art at SPRI, Dr Huw Lewis-Jones; and an afterword by the bestselling author Hugh Brody.