Little Known, but Influential Photographers

[roteague]

The recent thread on Berenice Abbott got me to thinking about other little known, but otherwise influential photographers.

One little known photographer that has influenced me is Australian photographer Peter Dombrovskis, from the island state of Tasmania. His work has saved a number of wild areas in Tasmania from overdevelopment and his images have opened up a way of looking at wilderness that a lot of people never thought of. Sadly, Peter passed away in 1996 at age 51.

Are there any photographers you would like to mention here? If possible please post a web link so we can all view the images.

 

[wfe]

I am sure there are many out there doing many good things. It would be nice if there was a way to recognize all of them and how signifigant photography can be.

 

[medform-norm]

Are there any photographers you would like to mention here? If possible please post a web link so we can all view the images.

Maybe not a photographer per se, but rather a type of photography dating from the turn of the 20th century. Sample can be seen here and a whole collection one level up in the directory here. Most of these photographs have been made by rather anonymous photogs.

We've always found this kind of photography very intruiging. For a number of reasons. We are not necessarily believers (more tending to the contrary), but the obvious trucage is charming, sometimes well done, sometimes very clumsy. There is book published by some English society explaining in great detail how the 'extras' in the photos were achieved - so inadvertently it is a great sourcebook for those who want to recreate this technique and effect.

This type of photography has in fact had major impact on early 20th C artists, although you hear little about it. Another unknown fact is that a paranormal photograph of Point Carré has been painted by Francis Bacon in one of his tryptichs - although we suspect there are only a handful of people who know this. Could go on for a while, but better let you go on and enjoy the show.

 

[Bill Hahn]

Herbert W. Gleason, photographer in Concord, Massachusetts

Documented many of the places Thoreau mentioned in his journals. If you are a Thoreau fan, you should definitely investigate this photographer.

Much information can be found at:

http://www.concordnet.org/library/scollect/Gleason/Text.html

or go to images.google.com and search for "Herbert W. Gleason"

 

[Bill Hahn]

Another one: George Shiras

I recommend his hard to find book "Hunting Wildlife With Camera and Flashlight" - parts of it are hilarious. (Like the burnt remains of his canoe after he ignited it thanks to a flash powder accident.) It was later published by the National Geographic in the 1900's. I believe he won a gold medal at an early exposition in Paris (1905?) with his photograph of deer in the wild. He "jack-lighted" using a large format camera and a lot of flash powder, so the pictures look washed out. But he created excitement with pictures of wild life in their natural setting....

I believe he invented the synchronized flash (relying on my uncertain memory
for this).

 

[Bill Hahn]

Shiras link:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/corner/collectible/

 

[medform-norm]

Herbert W. Gleason, photographer in Concord, Massachusetts

Documented many of the places Thoreau mentioned in his journals. If you are a Thoreau fan, you should definitely investigate this photographer.

Much information can be found at:

http://www.concordnet.org/library/scollect/Gleason/Text.html

or go to images.google.com and search for "Herbert W. Gleason"

Always liked hand-colored photos - these are particularly nice. Bet they're even better in real life. Bill, thanks for sharing that!

 

[photomc]

A few of my favs would be ..Dead Link Removed , Myron Wood and one of my favorites Laura Gilpin
there are of course more...these are some that come to mind right away.

 

[jjstafford]

Those photographers who influence me, influence those who appreciate my photography. I am no one without them. Nobody is born with a photographic sense. We all look somewhere, eventually. So many unfamous people are responsible for great work in the collective unknown.

 

[Travis Nunn]

Hulihen Williams Moore is one of my favorites. Most of his work is done here in Virginia in the mountains.
http://www.hullihenmoorephotography.com/

 

[John McCallum]

Have you seen the platinum photography of Gary Auerbach ? Particularly worth looking at the Native American gallery.

Although Colin Prior is probably best known for his calendar type landscape photography, he also has a real passion for a portfolio he completed on 15 different indigenous groups around the world. If you ever have the opportunity to see a part or the whole of this work, I don't think you would come away from it unmoved.
The first time I met him, he spoke very candidly about how difficult it is 'making it' in the world of landscape photography and was pretty good at reining in any false illusions I might have had. Quite useful.

Geoff Moon is a retired doctor of veterinary medicine here. He has been photographing more than 75 yrs and has authored many books on his interest in native NZ birds. He is still very active and passionate about his photography at 93 yrs. Just a few weeks ago showed me a print that he made in a temporary darkroom in 1928. It was still exquisite.

Although not photographing similar subject matters to mine and neither have particularly inspired direction my own photography, both Geoff and Colin have been quite influential in other ways.

 

[jd callow]

Those photographers who influence me, influence those who appreciate my photography. I am no one without them. Nobody is born with a photographic sense. We all look somewhere, eventually. So many unfamous people are responsible for great work in the collective unknown.

Huh?

 

[Ole]

Knud Knudsen, who was one of the early Norwegian photographers. Famous for his "postcard" pictures of western Norway, less known is his landscape abstracts.

BTW, http://www.ub.uib.no/knudsenbilder/sok/vis_stort_bilde.asp?ID=32948 is what it looked like in Loen in the 1870's. This is where we'll have the gathering

 

[jjstafford]

Knud Knudsen, who was one of the early Norwegian photographers. Famous for his "postcard" pictures of western Norway, less known is his landscape abstracts.

BTW, http://www.ub.uib.no/knudsenbilder/sok/vis_stort_bilde.asp?ID=32948 is what it looked like in Loen in the 1870's. This is where we'll have the gathering

Gee, how many Knud Knudsens are there in the world. (Okay, I live in an American/Norvegan enclave.)

So that's were the gather is! Has it changed since Knudsen's time? (Alright. It's 3:10AM and I'm dizzy tired.)

 

[Ole]

So that's were the gather is! Has it changed since Knudsen's time? (Alright. It's 3:10AM and I'm dizzy tired.)

Hasn't changed much, no... A piece of one of the mountains fell down (well - three pieces: One in 1905, one in 1936 and the largest one in 1954), and modern films are a bit better than Knudsen's wet plates. That's about it.

Oh yes - they've got a road running in there now!

 

[jjstafford]

Gee, I was just kidding, Ole, but now that I think (for a change), your part of the world is quite new compared to mine which is all worn down already.

 

[Ole]

I don't think much has changed since the first of my family settled there about 2000 years ago.... Except the mountains trying to get down the valley to fill in the fjords, of course

 

[gr82bart]

Boris Spremo from the Toronto Star. I met him in grade 9 during some kind of career exposition to let us youngsters see what kinds of existing jobs there are out in the real world and how 'school' helps to get that job.

This guy's been everywhere. War zones, crashes, riots, etc...and I remember my adreneline rising hearing all the stuff he's been through to get a picture. I thought that was cool.

Art Ketchum changed my direction in photography. After shooting street scenes, documentary/photojournalism type pics and frankly getting bored and in a lull, Art taught me lighting and posing. Together with Stan Malinowski, they introduced me to the world of fashion and glamour photography.

What I like about these guys is how unpretentious they are. They're just down to earth guys taking pictures for a living. Pretty cool.

Art.

 

[Bob Carnie]

For me Don Dunsmore at Fanshawe College in the 70's , he was the first teacher that ever believed in me and gave me the confidence to barely pass first year and move on into 2nd year.
When I graduated , I apprenticed with Slobodan Filipovitch in Hamilton Ontario, and even though I eventually hated working for him as he was a very demanding boss, now I understand he created a work ethic that I still apply today. Probably the three hardest years in photography for me.

 

[Kerik]

Frank Espada was a big influence on me when I was first learning to make fine prints in the darkroom (1988-ish). Frank is an extremely talented documentary photographer and his prints are amazing. He worked with Eugene Smith in his younger days. He is also a wonderful teacher who has touched the lives of many photographers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kerik
www.kerik.com

 

[SuzanneR]

Kerik,

I've never heard of Frank Espada, but thank you for the link. Excellent work. Great thread!

 

[gandolfi]

isnt it interesting?:
some of the great photographers havn't even their own web site......

one of MY favorites, and one of the most famous here in little Denmark is KIRSTEN KLEIN.
we have a few artists that actually come on the national bugdet - for life..

mostly painters/sculpters/writers/musicians..
and three photographers.
she is one of them.
you can try seacrhing her under her name..
I just found these two sites with images of her..

http://www.birthelaursen.com/dk/kunstner/kirstenklein.asp

http://www.nlg.dk/fotogruppen/kkgallery.html

 

[Allen]

One of my favorites is John Woods .

 

[Bill Hahn]

Herbert Ponting

He was the photographer on the 1911 Scott expedition to the South Pole. There is a DVD called "90 degrees South" which shows the motion picture he made in the 1930's from his still and motion (1911!) pictures on the expedition.

If you saw the BBC show "The Last Place on Earth" you should investigate this photographer....

What blows me away is the idea of operating a large format camera with those big animal-skin mittens!

http://images.rgs.org/herbertponting.aspx

Which reminds me, if you're interested in Antarctic exploration and photography, investigate the book "Frozen Treasures" which has photographs of the interiors of the huts the explorers left behind....