Addressing key questions of photographic practice — was the final image a set-up, or a chance encounter; did the photographer work to extract the potential from a situation, or was the ‘decisive moment’ at play? — this book lays bare the creative methods, strategies and editing processes behind some of the world’s most iconic images.

139 contact sheets, representing 69 photographers, are featured, as well as zoom-in details, selected photographs, press cards, notebooks and spreads from contemporary publications, including Life magazine and Picture Post. Further insight is provided by texts written by the photographers themselves or by experts chosen by members’ estates.

Many greats of photography are included, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliott Erwitt and Inge Morath, as well as Magnum’s latest generation, such as Jonas Bendiksen, Alessandra Sanguinetti and Alec Soth. These photographers cover over seventy years of history, from the Normandy landings by Robert Capa, the Paris riots of 1968 by Bruno Barbey and war in Chechnya by Thomas Dworzak to images of Che Guevara by René Burri, Malcolm X by Eve Arnold and classic New Yorkers by Bruce Gilden.