What Photographer(s) inspire you

images39

Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Messages
513
Location
Reno, NV
Format
Medium Format
Yesterday, I was looking at a book on Eugene Smith's Philadelphia project. Whenever I see his work, I always get the impression that the man poured his entire soul into his photographs. And the results were great.

A name that I've not seen mentioned here is Edouard Boubat. I like his portraits and his street photography; there's so much feeling in them. And after reading his interview in Lenswork a while back, I admired his outlook and approach to life. There's a new book out on his work.

Dale
 

Silverhead

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
275
Location
Southern Cal
Format
Plastic Cameras
Neil Preston - one of the great rock & roll photographers of all time. Made his name in the early 70s by becoming Led Zeppelin's tour photographer...nice gig if you can get it! His B&W imagery captures perfectly the "power, mystery and the hammer of the gods" that Jimmy Page so eloquently coined. His books are definitely worth the investment.
 

Bill Hahn

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2004
Messages
351
Location
North centra
Format
35mm
Pittsburgh, instead of Philadelphia?

I think you mean his Pittsburgh project - see the book "Dream Street"....

images39 said:
Yesterday, I was looking at a book on Eugene Smith's Philadelphia project. Whenever I see his work, I always get the impression that the man poured his entire soul into his photographs. And the results were great.
Dale
Click to expand...
 

Anscojohn

Subscriber
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
2,704
Format
Medium Format
Edward Weston.
****************
Anscojohn, Mount Vernon, Virginia, USA
 

Rob Skeoch

Advertiser
Advertiser
Joined
Apr 25, 2005
Messages
1,346
Location
Grand Valley, Ontario
Format
35mm RF
When I just came out of college I liked the work of Arnold Newman. I think he passed the torch on to Annie because she did great work a few years back.

As far as photojournalism goes I liked Salgado's human stuff and he's passed the torch to James Natchway.

Penn and Avedon round out my other top choices.

-Rob
 

Jim Noel

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
2,261
Format
Large Format
Edward Weston and Paul Strand
 

Curt

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2005
Messages
4,618
Location
Pacific Nort
Format
Multi Format
The Weston's
Most currently Paul Strand

I just attended an exhibition of Strand's work and just bought a first edition of "60 Years of Photography". I learned some things I hadn't thought of and a lot of new ideas.

Someone said that there are only three really great photographers of the 20th Century.

Edward Weston
Alfred Stieglitz
Paul Strand

This seem true for me, this is what I would call the first tier of 20th Century photographers.

Second tier: Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Minor White. . .
you can add your own and in no particular order here.

How do you see it?

After a full review of Paul Strand the man and his work I can see how Ansel Adams, after seeing some of Paul Strands negatives in NM, decided to become a photographer and not a pianist.
 

Shawn Dougherty

Subscriber
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
4,129
Location
Pittsburgh
Format
Multi Format
I think I've admired the following the most

Brett Weston, for his photographs as much as his dedication to the work.

Mark Citret, for his subtlety and ability to elevate the everyday.

Edward, those Daybooks are priceless.

William Garnett, for showing us the bigger picture looks a lot like the smaller picture.

Fan Ho, for his vision of Hong Kong.

Sandy King, for willingness to share his wealth of knowlege of contemporary materials. Formulas, developing times, starting points... his posts on more than one forum have helped me and many others.
 

Peter De Smidt

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2004
Messages
1,093
Location
Fond du Lac, WI
Format
Multi Format
I haven't seen anyone mention Jock Sturges or William Mortensen. (I dislike many of Mortensen's pictures, but some are really great.) If you get a chance, read The Model and The Command to Look.
 

keithwms

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
6,220
Location
Charlottesvi
Format
Multi Format
Minor White, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Edward Weston.

I put together some brief and very informal "appreciations" of the first two for another site that can be viewed at the URLs below. These are just meant as rough intros, not as seriously researched biographies!

White

Kertész

My apologies if these links can't be reached from outside the site.
 

Curt

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2005
Messages
4,618
Location
Pacific Nort
Format
Multi Format
I went to the Half Price book store and found a new copy of Walker Evans "The Hungry Eye" and it's very good reading and the prints are printed very good to great. I paid $8.00 for a $52.00 book. It breaks down his life in periods and explains them in the context of the time and environment with the people and shifts in his personal life.

I also got my copy of Paul Strand "Southwest" this week and can't put it down. It's loaded with photographs that are A+ printed and in the back is a lot of other art with plenty of text and relationships to the people he knew.

These two books are sure to expand the base of anyone who is looking for a photographic education. Add them to the Daybooks, EW, Brett Weston, HCB an others for an in home education.

Curt
 

schroeg

Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
101
Format
Medium Format
I would say just about anyone at the Chicago ID - Harry Callahan, Ray Metzker, Ishimoto, Art Sinsibaugh and Aaron Siskind.

Then there is Kertesz. There will always be Kertesz.
 

Early Riser

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,676
Location
USA
Format
Multi Format
Shawn Dougherty said:
His book, "Hong Kong Yesterday" is on my list of must haves. You can view many of the images at the link below. How do the actual prints look, Brian? Do you know if he made them himself? Best. Shawn

Fan Ho Book Link
Click to expand...

Shawn getting the book itself is a no brainer, it's really well printed and the work is superb. Fan Ho prints themselves are more hit and miss, some are not as well printed as they appear in the book and many are printed on old style RC paper. It's a real crime that this guy doesn't have a really good B&W printer doing his prints today. I would not buy a Fan Ho print without seeing it firsthand.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

gr82bart

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Messages
5,591
Location
Los Angeles and Toronto
Format
Multi Format
Unlike most of the folks here, my inspirations weren't artists. Besides my Mom and Dad who both loved photography and gave me my first camera, a staff photojournalist for the Toronto Star named Boris Spremo really inspired me to 'up' my game in photography.

Some other notables are (mostly commercial, fashion and glamour photographers):
Struan Campbell-Smith
Yuri Dojc
Yusuf Karsh
Howard Schatz
Antoine Verglas
Scuvallo
Melvin Sokolsky
Stan Malinowski
James Natchwey

Regards, Art.
 

Shawn Dougherty

Subscriber
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
4,129
Location
Pittsburgh
Format
Multi Format

That's dissappointing about his prints, but as I can barely afford the book I guess it won't impact me. Thanks for the heads up though. Best. Shawn
 

Russ - SVP

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
755
Location
Washington
Format
35mm
Sebastio Salgado & Eugene Smith.

Kiron Kid
 

pauledell

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
12
Format
4x5 Format
What Photographers inspire me

I am partial to large format landscapes. Therefore my choices are:
John Sexton, Ansel Adams. Edward Weston, Bruce Barnbaum, and John Eric Hawkins. All have in my opinion, demonstrated the most inspirationally
pure landscapes that I would like to be able to do also.
Paul
 

Shinnya

Advertiser
Advertiser
Joined
Mar 2, 2004
Messages
583
Location
Philadelphia
Format
Multi Format
These are the names photographers who continue to inspire me:

Harry Callahan
Paul Vanderbilt (Have you seen his book, "Between the Landscape and Its Other"?)
Joseph Sudek

Contemporary
Dead Link Removed
Debbie Fleming Caffery
Andrea Modica

Warmly,
Tsuyoshi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…