NEW YORK, NY.- American photographer Michael Somoroff's much anticipated book of portraits of some of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, most of them taken over 30 years ago and never published before, will have its official launch at Aperture Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, 4th floor, New York, on Wednesday, October 3 at 6:30pm. Somoroff will be in conversation with some of the photographers in the book followed by a book party and signing. During Paris Photo there will be a special exhibition of the work at the Art District Gallery, located at the fashionable Royal Monceau Hotel, 41 Avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris, from November 12 through 18, with an artist reception on November 16.

A Moment. Master Photographers: Portraits by Michael Somoroff published by Damiani, presents Somoroff's classic, exquisitely executed portraits of 25 icons of photography who played a dominant role in shaping the medium during the climax of analog image making. They include Lilllian Bassman, Brassaï, Elliot Erwitt, Andreas Feininger, Ralph Gibson, André Kertész, Mary Ellen Mark, Duane Michals, Arnold Newman, Helmut Newton, and Jacques Henri Lartique, among others.

Somoroff was first introduced to many of these artists through his father, Ben Somoroff, who studied under Alexey Brodovitch, and was one of the most influential still life photographers in the history of the medium. Michael was in his early twenties when most of these artists sat for him. The images were made in a spirit of comradeship, collaboration, and experimentation between apprentice and master, and are remarkable for their emotional impact, composition, and creativity. They were deeply personal, and it was never the photographer's intention to make them public, until recently several colleagues saw them, and convinced him otherwise.

This exquisitely designed and printed volume is accompanied by an essay by internationally respected curator and author William A. Ewing, which contextualizes Somoroff's work within the fertile and expansive period from which it emerged. Also included is a preface by Julian Sander, who is the owner of Feroz Gallery in Bonn that represents Somoroff, and the great grandson of the great portrait photographer August Sander. Somoroff contributes a personal and candid essay in which he reminisces about coming of age as a photographer during this extraordinary moment in the history of photography.

List of Featured Artists:
Frances McLaughlin-Gill, New York City, 1978 • Cornell Capa, New York City, 1978 • Art Kane, New York City, 1979 • Bert Stern, New York City, 1979 • Ben Somoroff, New York City, 1977 • Sid Kaplan, New York City, 1979 • Herman Landshoff, New York City, 1979 • Arnold Newman, New York City, 1979 • Horst P. Horst, Oyster Bay, New York, 1980 • Elliott Erwitt, East Hampton, New York, 1980 • Ernst Haas, New York City, 1980 • Ralph Gibson, New York City, 1980 • Andreas Feininger, New York City, 1980 • Alfred Eisenstaedt, New York City, 1980 • Duane Michals, New York City, 1980 • André Kertész, Paris, 1982 • Jeanloup Sieff, Paris, 1983 • Jacques Henri Lartigue, Paris, 1983 • Brassaï, Paris, 1983 • Robert Doisneau, Paris, 1983 • Helmut Newton, Monaco, 1983 • Fritz Kempe, Hamburg, 1983 • F. C. Gundlach, Hamburg, 2011 • Lillian Bassman, New York City, 2011 • Mary Ellen Mark, New York City, 2011