Must see LF portrait photographers' work

[Ganesh Devarajan]

Pls suggest pages/links of must watch work of Large format portrait photographers

 

[gone]

You couldn't go wrong going to google and clicking on "images", then putting in names like Walker Evans, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange etc. I'm not sure if they all shot 4x5, but that doesn't matter, they were some of the best there ever was.

 

[Don_ih]

Yousuf Karsh and Philippe Halsman are classic examples, also.

 

[gone]

Robert Frank too, I forgot about him, although again, I don't know if he did 4x5. We used to see the work from these photographers frequently in large magazines, but then the magazines went away.

 

[logan2z]

Robert Frank too, I forgot about him, although again, I don't know if he did 4x5. We used to see the work from these photographers frequently in large magazines, but then the magazines went away.

Pretty sure he only shot medium format in his early years, and then 35mm and Polaroids later on, but I could be wrong.

 

[cliveh]

Check out Edward Curtis and Julia Margaret Cameron.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Gotta say, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen “Robert Frank,” “portraiture,” and either large or medium format come together in the same sentence before.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Pls suggest pages/links of must watch work of Large format portrait photographers

You say “must watch” in your request, so I’m not sure whether you are looking for videos of such photographers in action. But if not, I would always recommend looking at the works of August Sander, given the parameters of what you’re looking for.

 

[logan2z]

Gotta say, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen “Robert Frank,” “portraiture,” and either large or medium format come together in the same sentence before.

He shot some portraits of his wives and children but, yeah, I wouldn't really consider him a portrait photographer, regardless of camera size.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Richard Avedon's "American West" series.

 

[Pieter12]

What are you looking for? Technique? Lighting? Good portraits? Contemporary? Portraits can be shot in any format, the main limitation of LF is it is not great for shooting hand-held candids, although Edward Weston seems to have done that. I would just try to study great portraits. Go to the library, there are tons of wonderful portrait photographers in the photography section.

 

[BradS]

Richard Avedon, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Annie Liebowitz, George Hurrell, C.S. Bull, Yousuf Karsh, Edward Curtis, Arny Freytag, Peter Gowland, Bunny Yeager....just to name a few that come to mind.

 

[Mike Lopez]

He shot some portraits of his wives and children but, yeah, I wouldn't really consider him a portrait photographer, regardless of camera size.

Several of the pictures in The Americans could be labeled as character studies, or perhaps “environmental portraiture,” but of course those were made with his Leica.

As soon as I read your response I thought of the picture of his wife breastfeeding Pablo. Thanks for triggering my memory on that.

 

[thicktheo]

Why not Alec Soth ? He even shot a Fashion Magazine, in his own style, of course.

 

[Don_ih]

Why not Alec Soth ?

Are any of his portraits large format? He has interesting photos - but they all appear to be digital.

 

[thicktheo]

Are any of his portraits large format? He has interesting photos - but they all appear to be digital.

His best, most famous books were shot with a 8x10 camera ("Sleeping by the Mississippi", "Niagara", "Paris/Minnesota", "Last Days of W", "Broken Manual").

And here's a 2010 documentary of him working (mostly on the "Broken Manual" book):

 

[Don_ih]

His best, most famous books were shot with a 8x10 camera

Interesting. I know nothing about him other than what you quickly glimpse on his website. Thanks for the link to the documentary.

 

[Pieter12]

Dan Winters does great editorial portrait work, both LF & MF.

 

[thicktheo]

Interesting. I know nothing about him other than what you quickly glimpse on his website. Thanks for the link to the documentary.

He is a member of the Magnum agency since 2008, and he has been quite influential in contemporary American photography, much like Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld in their time (both also mainly 8x10 shooters).

His style is mostly environmental portraits, shot along the landscapes he likes to document. The Niagara book, for example, is an exploration of the marriage industry in Niagara, full of newly-wed or soon-to-be-wed portraits (here's an article about it on Magnum). I think it's quite extraordinary to think how Alec Soth stayed there, met all these people, convinced them to pose for him in the ways they posed for him. And he did all this with a nice big 8x10 camera.

 

[Don_ih]

Niagara

I walked past the motels in Niagara Falls, Ontario earlier this year and wished I had colour film in my camera. There seemed no point taking photos of them in b&w, since the entire feeling of the view is tied up in the artificially cheery mix of colours on the front. The buildings themselves look to be in pretty bad shape. And the area around them even worse.

I think it's quite extraordinary to think how Alec Soth stayed there, met all these people, convinced them to pose for him in the ways they posed for him. And he did all this with a nice big 8x10 camera.

It takes a certain kind of personality to be able to do that. And, of course, it takes the willingness to try and the ability to pull it off.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

(Mike?) Disfarmer. He was very specifically a portrait photographer. F. Holland Day is another one you probably haven't heard of, or might only know him in specific contexts. Clarence White, Gertrude Kasebier, Edward Steichen... Man Ray did some amazing portraits, working from small-ish large format (3x4, 4x5, 9x12cm, maybe some bigger film as well, not sure).

 

[GregY]

Yousef Karsh & Richard Avedon