Any Great Medium format photographers?

chip j

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I know of tons in 35mm, a few really big ones in LF, but can't really think of any in MF. Sure, Strand used a Mamiya TLR at one point, and Ansel used a Hasselblad, but any others?
 

Pioneer

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Well, let's see.

Annie Leibovitz
Vivian Maier
Fritz Henle
Richard Avedon
Dianne Arbus

and probably a few more.
 

images39

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A few more:

David Plowden
Edouard Boubat
Josef Hoflehner
Brett Weston (known for large format, but also used an RB67)
Some of Willy Ronis' work appears to have been square format
Barry Thornton
Faye Godwin (square format, I believe)
Charlie Waite
Larry Fink

Dale
 

film_man

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Got books from these guys...

Nick Brandt (Pentax 67)
Sebastiao Salgado (various formats)
Malcolm Venville (Mamiya RB, Hasselblad and lots of large and small format cameras)
 

Steve Smith

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John Gay.


Steve.
 

Ricardo Miranda

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Bob Carlos Clarke.
 

pdeeh

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Bill Brandt
Phillip Jones Griffiths
Bert Hardy
Man Ray
Lee Miller

... the list goes on

Of course it rather depends what you mean by "great" ...
 

snapguy

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define

You will have to define "great." I'm old enough to remember when newspaper photographers got rid of their 4x5 Speed Graphics and embraced the Rolleiflex. Some of these guys (and they were mostly guys in those days) took great photos, some won the Pullet Surprise, but you may not have heard of them.
If a photog takes a great photograph in a cathedral at sunrise and nobody hears the shutter click, is it a great photograph?
If a guy didn't work for a whiz-bang huge media outlet or did not have a private line into the photo editor at Life Magazine, does that mean his photos are not great because not many people saw them? The V. Maier syndrome, methinks. How many undiscovered Maiers are there out there? What is "great" anyway. Today a "celebrity" can be someone who was on an obscure TV show in one brief episode.
 

msbarnes

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Me...jk.

My favorite photographer is Irving Penn and he shot with a rolleiflex.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

ic-racer

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Bernd and Hilla Becher
Tod Papageorge
Robert Adams
William Eggleston
Lee Friedlander
Robert Doisneau
Bruce Davidson
Bill Owen
Ray Mortenson
John Gossage
Ansel Adams
 
Last edited by a moderator:

benjiboy

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It's hard to think of a top photographer in the fashion, editorial, and reportage fields the 30's 40's 50's, 60's and 70's who didn't shoot medium format.
 

Old_Dick

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Imogen Cunningham
 
OP
OP

chip j

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ic-racer said:
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Tod Papageorge
Robert Adams
William Eggleston
Lee Friedlander
Robert Doisneau
Bruce Davidson
Bill Owen
Ray Mortenson
John Gossage
Ansel Adams
Click to expand...

I can accept this list, except for Mortenson, who I've never heard of. I'll find out about him. Thanks, People. Chip
 

ic-racer

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chip j said:
I can accept this list, except for Mortenson, who I've never heard of. I'll find out about him. Thanks, People. Chip
Click to expand...

Ray Mortenson is one of the few B&W photographers I enjoy who used 6x4.5. Check out the Meadowland book from 1983 (Lustrum Press). Although the credits in the book and on his website don't mention 6x4.5, the proofsheet reproduced in the book Contact Theory (Lustrum Press, 1980) was made with 6x4.5 camera.

If you like Fay Godwin Land and Lee Friedlander Factory Valleys, Meadowland could go right between them on the bookshelf.
 

Slixtiesix

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Michael Kenna (Hasselblad, Holga)
Barry Thornton (SL66)
Helmut Newton (Hasselblad and Rollei TLR)
Lord Snowdon (Hasselblad and I think also Mamiya, he uses LF also)
Michel Comte (Hasselblad and others)
Fritz Henle aka "Mr Rollei" (Rolleiflex TLR)
 

MDR

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Werner Bischof
Lee Friedlander
Brassai
Doisneau
W. Eugene Smith
Herb Ritts
Richard Avedon
Irving Penn
and many many more
 
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