Use git “log” from another folder

From, man git:

You can do this with the --git-dir parameter, before passing any commands.

git --git-dir /foo/bar/.git log

(Specifying the .git directory is necessary.) From the documentation:

--git-dir=<path>

Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_DIR environment variable. It can be an absolute path or relative path to current working directory.