Family : photographers photograph their families

Family is a poetic exploration of the universal theme of family, a subject which has had a long connection with photography since the medium began in the nineteenth century. Curated by Sophie Spencer-Wood, this book is a collection of 175 photographs taken by photographers, famous and lesser known, of their own families. It is an intimate study of the relationships - tender and awkward, knowing and innocent - that take place between adults and children in the family unit. Recognizable and relevant to us all, these emotions are linked in a symphonic sequence moving from one photographer to the next. With an introduction by Henri Peretz and notes on the photographs by Margaret Walters, Family draws on the same impulses that compel us all to take pictures of our own families.

Sophie Spencer-Wood is a picture editor and researcher. She worked as assistant to Bruce Bernard on Phaidon Press's award-winning book Century (1999). She also worked on Gandhi and Freedom : An African-American Struggle for Phaidon Press, which were published in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

Henri Peretz is a sociologist and writer. Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Paris VIII, he is author of Les méthodes en sociologie : l'observation (1998), contributing writer for The Table of Power by the photographer Jacqueline Hassink (1996) and he also contributed to the exhibition and book Magnum Landscape, published by Phaidon Press (1996).

Margaret Walters is a critic, writer and broadcaster. She has written extensively about the visual arts and culture, and has broadcast frequendy on the BBC. In 1976, her book, The Male Nude : A New Perspective, was published to much critical acclaim. She currently reviews novels for The Sunday Times.