GIFT BOOKS IN BRIEF : REDHEADS <i> by Joel Meyerowitz (Rizzoli: $39.95)</i> .

As a born redhead, I was naturally fascinated by Joel Meyerowitz’s book of color photographs. Coming at a time when it seems that every third woman I meet (and half the women on “L.A. Law”) is sporting hennaed locks, this work is a refreshing celebration of The Real Thing. Here are 63 portraits of ordinary redheads--if redheads can ever be considered ordinary.

Curiously, Meyerowitz has chosen to photograph most of his subjects at the beach--a spot where the average redhead can spend about 20 minutes without having to slather on yet another layer of zinc oxide and sunscreen SPF 24. This could explain the amazing profusion of freckles and/or the photographer’s decision to take just one photograph of each. He, however, professes a more aesthetic motivation. “Their hair and the exotic flourish of their skin in sunlight were even redder and more visible in that blue surrounding,” he writes. “Like film itself, redheads are transformed by sunlight.”

Myerowitz’s subjects confront the camera with the inherent boldness and grace that comes from being the exception in a world of blondes and brunettes. A real redhead will treasure these pictures.

A fake one will like them too.