The Rock: Through the Lens—His Life, His Movies, His World

by Dwayne Johnson

Dynamic, funny, and inspiring photos of global entertainment icon, entrepreneur, and trailblazer, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, featuring twenty years' worth of candids, family moments, and snapshots from film and television sets, many never-before-seen. Hiram Garcia, who has known Dwayne Johnson since college, is a longtime collaborator, producing partner, and talented photographer. As a film and television producer as well as in his role as the President of Production at Seven Bucks Productions, Garcia has unprecedented access to capture images on the sets of Seven Bucks’ films including such blockbuster hits as The Next Level, Jungle Cruise, Fast and Furious Hobbs & Shaw, and more. As one of his closest friends, Garcia knows Johnson inside and out, and that deep relationship informs the photographs he shares in this book. Whether it’s an action-packed photo snapped during an intense film take, or a relaxed and candid shot of Johnson with his daughters, Garcia focuses his lens on the qualities he most admires in his his extraordinary work ethic, his infectious smile, his empathy and sense of humor, and the joy and determination Johnson brings to everything he does. With scores of photos—most of them never been seen before and taken over two decades—The Through the His Life, His Movies, His World is enhanced by captions revealing the inside stories behind these remarkable images.

Genres: Biography, Photography, Nonfiction

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2020

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a photo-memoir of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I didn't realize that when I requested this book, but I did enjoy it. It is full of photographs taken by Hiram Garcia over several decades. He met Johnson in University and was his brother-in-law at one time. Each photo had a caption sharing what was happening at the time. I found myself heading online to check out some information about what was happening at the time of the events pictured. Despite there being little text. I learned several things that I did not know about him prior to perusing this book. The photos were amazing and showed him in so many different situations and different emotions. The fact that his family is so important to him was evident in the photos showing him with his children, wife and even his cousin that you may know as Roman Reigns from the WWF. The photos of him on set in some of his movies were also great and reminded me of some of his movies that I haven't watched yet. If you are a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson fan, you will love this book of photos, if you do not know much about Johnson, this might be a good book to give you just enough of his personality and career to make you want to find out more about him. I was gifted a copy of this book upon request. The rating and opinions shared are my own.

[Natalie S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this would have more information, but it was really just images. Beautiful images full of emotion, mind you. I really enjoyed this behind the scenes view of DJ as a person, instead of as a celebrity. It felt like the perfect way of letting the public get to know him better without feeling like there was prying or personal space invaded.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the rock so much!

[Christina Farr-Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book! Not worth the price though. Save your money and get it from the library.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! ♥ ♥ ♥

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-fiction photo-memoir. I didn't realize when I checked this book out that it was mostly photographs, I just saw that it was about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and decided to read it. While I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a narrative, I still learned a lot about the famous entertainer. For one, I learned that he is of Samoan heritage, which was part of the reason he was interested in Moana. I also learned that he is working on a new Netflix movie with Ryan Reynolds and a movie based on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disney World. And he has some interesting family connections, including his cousin that serves as his stunt double. While I was hoping to read more about his life, it was cool to see pictures of him on and off set with friends and family. He really is a very interesting, very talented person.

[Mileena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars

This was very similar to Billie Eilishs book in the sense that it said a lot while mainly only being told through pictures. The difference being that these pictures were not picked out by The Rock himself, and instead were selected by his close friend, associate, and former brother in law Hiram.

I think it was a beautiful and intimate portrait of his life, I just found it strange I guess the close friendship that him in the author still had considering that The Rock is no longer with his sister and is now married and has kids with someone else and now hes writing and photographing that for him? Idk it just seemed offputting to me. I admire that they manage to be that close still but I couldn't get past it.

Nonetheless, I feel like this excellently accomplished what it set out to do and it was beautiful and helped me feel like I know The Rock more as a person now.

[ReadaBook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photos are fun. The narrative is limited, very light - reads like promotional blather. The goal seems to be to give “readers” (more accurately, viewers of the photos) a look into several aspects of The Rock’s life. However, it really comes across as a positive package of photos and lightweight descriptions of the photos and the subject. No detail, just surface stuff.
Nothing to get excited about; I can’t imagine anyone actually paying to read this book! (I had it on loan from a local public library.)
That said, The Rock has a reputation for being a nice, fan-friendly guy. This book seems to confirm that reputation.

[Juanita Jenison]

I painstakingly made my way through this book...it was very hard to concentrate on the words and there aren't even that many words! I guess if someone has to look through a book full of pictures of Dwayne Johnson, it might as well be me.

[Vince L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I didn’t realize it was a photo book of the Rock’s life but it turned out to be such an uplifting book to get through quickly. DJ is one of the favourite actors and performers, and it was such a joy to glimpse into his life.

[Jason Parke · Rating 5 out of 5]

With photography and excerpts from Duane "The Rock" Johnson's friend and Hollywood mogul and photographer Hiram Garcia, this is a must for those obsessed with The Rock, or "DJ". It is an adequate-sized coffee table-like book that has photographs with him on his movie sets like "Jungle Cruise," "Jumangi," and "G.I. Joe," as well as photos of his family life, all clearly within the lens of his world.

Photos with other celebrities, and those DJ in turn, treats humbly, shows through the lens the man DJ is, and who he still aspires to be.

My favourite photo, and one that sums up the book's title, is the last one: DJ at a microphone conducting his Hollywood Walk of Fame speech holding his daughter.

[Nicholas Metz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable little photo journey of the Rock's life. While I would have liked to see a little bit more variety as far as people (There were quite a few with him and Emily Blunt) there was an even amount of each of the world's he is involved in. There were photos of him with WWE, on various movie sets, being a father and just lounging.
Photography was very good overall. I especially enjoyed the candid photos.

[Helga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some shots are great, others are nice. But the language is extremely repetitive and the storyline is non-existent. Most of those shots are published on the internet, so there is very very little to no new information that this art collage will bring you.
This book is not a book per se, it's a photo album made by a brother in law who has a nice camera, a decent understanding of how to use it and a unique opportunity to make such shots.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a photo album of the Rock in both his personal and professional life. Both color and black and white photos are beautiful. There is very little narration. The photographer, Hiram Garcia is a childhood friend of Dwayne's and therefore had access to his lifestyle as strangers wouldn't. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Dreximgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some incredible photographs in this book. Its nice to get some candid shots among the more posed ones and the little bits of information included are really nice. I admire Dwayne Johnston a lot, his work ethic is incredible and he seems to be a truly kind soul with a big heart.

[Y T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and easy read through the pictures depicting DJ's life. One needs to hang around him most of the time in order to capture these photos.

Essentially a photo book to help one understand what DJ is like as a person and outside of his public image.

[Deepak Bassi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a classic scrap book with a few sentences. You can breeze through it in an hour.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing pictures of an amazing man!

[John Fossett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice coffee table book with lots of behind-the-scenes pics of Dwayne with family, friends, at events and working out. Who doesn't love "The Rock"!?!

[Amanda Sanos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photos and tidbits of information into the life behind the legend.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/swY7bsP9sL8

Enjoy!

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty book but not one I’d flip thru repeatedly.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick but fun read.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the format of this book

[Ivan Zullo · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of Dwayne Johson, I bought this photo-book. A lot of interesting photos and a few anedottes from different stages of Dwayne Johnson life.

[Anastasia Antony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between a 4.6 to a 5 star rating

[EA · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖤

[Stevan Hogue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool older picture book about The Rock…

That’s about it! Definitely worth about $1.99 at Ollie’s

[Amy R Schwartze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pictures worth a 1000 stories

I love Mr. Johnson. I love all he does for his Family , his friend & Fans. I love that this book Shares pictures of moments of personal time with us that have not been seen. Thank You. Mr. Garcia well done! Thank you! I love how you describe the picture, and move on and keep the flow going. Rock on!!

[Chris2050 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Does this guy hiram have any shame? He just completely mooches off his sister for everything? What a scrub. Very nice of dwayne to let fredo take pictures of him