Between the covers of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008 catalogue is the best of the best in contemporary portrait photography from across the globe, each photograph being either a winner or official selection by the esteemed panel of judges. An essay by Ben Okri accompanies these transfixing, full-color reproductions, articulating the singular appeal of this diverse genre; Okri explains how, despite the wide variety of approaches these artists and documentarians employ, "[portrait photography] is always time travel. It is a time travel that keeps all the secrets of its time concealed behind the subject. It freights over to us only the image, mute with all the passions of life." The images in this catalogue are often powerful, full to the point of bursting, yet chronically impenetrable.

Highlights from the catalogue include first-place winner Lottie Davies, whose darkly fascinating psychological portraits reenact her subjects' nightmares, and runner-up Hendrik Kerstens, who was prominently featured in the Dutch Seen exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York (Jun 10–Sept 13, 2009), contributes a portrait of his daughter with a plastic shopping bag on her head that somehow manages to be both a little bit silly and evoke the sumptuous beauty and confrontational intensity of Vermeer's Girl with a Peal Earring. The contrast between these two strategies demonstrates the breadth of work at play within this volume. Davies and Kerstens are joined by the other runners-up, Catherine Balet and Tom Stoddart, as well as Godfrey Argent Award-winner Vanessa Winship, with each plate section featuring a short interview with the showcased artist conducted by Richard McClure.

For those interested in photographic portraiture, this catalogue presents a cohesive peek at the best in the field, demonstrating the genre's artistic merit and range of possibilities. Previous winners of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize include Jonathan Torgovnik (1st-place winner in 2007), whose book, Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children of Rape (Aperture, 2009), is one of the most moving of our recent publications and a testament to the power of the portrait. —EL

A limited supply of signed copies are available exclusively through the Aperture Curated Collection.