What Photographer(s) inspire you

[ajuk]

Aurther Steal and Andy Summers

 

[JohnArs]

Adams, Weston, Barnbaum, Peter Lindberg, Rene Groebli, Sudek, Bresson, Brassai, Capa, Werner Bischof, Ernst Haas, Moholy Nagi, August Sander, Annie Leibovitz, Andreas Feininger, Patrick Demarchelier, Karsh, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Richard Avedon, Philippe Halsman, William Klein, Irving Penn, Elliot Erwitt, Pete Turner, Emil Schulthess, Dorothea Lange, Bruce Davidson, Wynn Bullock, Minor White, Eliot Porter, Paul Caponigro, Andre Kertesz, Jerry Uelsmann, Chargesheimer,H.P.Horst, Mister Rolleiflex Fritz Henle, Helmut Newton, George Hurrell, and all wich I forgott!

 

[Ed Sukach]

All of the above..

Probably the greatest inspiration for me is in the work of Alfred Cheney Johnston - hired by Flo Ziegfeld as the Official Photographer of his dancers, the Ziegfeld Girls.

"Johnston perfected the wonderfully titillating skill of making his dressed models look nude."

Not all of his work was illusionary. He did true nudes of some of the movie stars of the twenties; The Dolly sisters, Mae Marsh, Gloria Swanson, Dorothy and Lillian Gish.

Man, if I only had 1/100th of his talent...

 

[Helen B]

David H. Bebbington wrote:
"Least favorite - Ray Moore. I feel sorry for the man personally, he seems to have been eaten alive by bottomless depression, but I profoundly regret his influence (which he probably never sought) on British photographers over the last 20 or 30 years - I have met so many who seem to think that catatonic misery is the most desirable mental state to which an artist can aspire."

Have you got the right guy? Did you know him? To me, he was a man who was filled with a sense of wonder and a love of the things around him, and it shows in his work. His work inspired me to get into photography, as it inspired many others - the extraordinary vision, the quiet ... no, I'll stop there because we can't be thinking of the same guy.

Best,
Helen

 

[VoidoidRamone]

I don't think Bernd and Hilla Becher have been mentioned...
-Grant

 

[David H. Bebbington]

David H. Bebbington wrote:
"Least favorite - Ray Moore. I feel sorry for the man personally, he seems to have been eaten alive by bottomless depression, but I profoundly regret his influence (which he probably never sought) on British photographers over the last 20 or 30 years - I have met so many who seem to think that catatonic misery is the most desirable mental state to which an artist can aspire."

Have you got the right guy? Did you know him? To me, he was a man who was filled with a sense of wonder and a love of the things around him, and it shows in his work. His work inspired me to get into photography, as it inspired many others - the extraordinary vision, the quiet ... no, I'll stop there because we can't be thinking of the same guy.

Best,
Helen

I believe we are talking about the same person! I did not know Ray Moore, my primary impression of his work has been gained from the book "Murmurs At Every Turn", which I understand was a major retrospective and thus can be taken as representative. In an attempt to gain further insight into RM's work, I have at various times discussed it with people who knew him well, such as Paul Hill, Richard Sadler and John Blakemore. Nothing I have seen or heard has changed the impression of unrelieved bleakness and depression which I get from his work - please remember, this is a thread about personal favorites, I'm not in any way attempting a blanket dismissal of his work, although I do consider the work of the many clones he has spawned to be virtually unviewable. A purely personal view, but for images of "Britain in the raw" from the same period as RM's work give me the humor and vitality of someone like Tony Ray-Jones every time.

 

[Ian Grant]

Life would be boring if we all liked te same things.

Personally I found "Murmurs at every turn" inspirational. I'd mention three other artists/ photographers whose work I hold in high regard. Thomas Joshua Cooper, Olivia Parker and John Goto.

Ian

I believe we are talking about the same person! I did not know Ray Moore, my primary impression of his work has been gained from the book "Murmurs At Every Turn",. . . . . . . .

 

[Helen B]

"...Nothing I have seen or heard has changed the impression of unrelieved bleakness and depression which I get from his work - please remember, this is a thread about personal favorites..."

Oh well, there you go. Vastly different opinions - and I even think that his work shows his gentle, particularly English, sense of humour. And yes, I do remember that this is a thread about personal favourites, or perhaps more accurately the photographers that inspire us, not about personal dislikes. A few pages back I mentioned Ray as one of my favourites.

Best,
Helen

 

[magic823]

One that isn't mentioned here but I love his work is Gordon Hutchings (of PMK fame). I've been trying to talk him into a website to show his work. If you get the chance to see his work, he has two images that take my breathe away - his "Model makers desk" and his "Farm in Winter" (I can't remember his actually titles).

 

[roteague]

I'm becoming more and more convinced that I must be one of the few color photographers here.

 

[Graeme Hird]

I'm becoming more and more convinced that I must be one of the few color photographers here.

You and me both Robert. I think it's because good colour prints are hard to make without going digital. At least the 4x5 trannies look great though!

Cheers,

 

[Ed Sukach]

I do color too.

 

[Helen B]

Though I was inspired by B&W work in the early 70's, almost all of my own work, then and since, has been in colour. The first time I paid out a serious amount of money for a book was in 1980 for Harry Callahan's Color. B&W is a bit too much of an inflexion for me. Long live Dogme 95! (Oh, it was stillborn? Ah well.)

Jem Southam's new book 'Landscape Stories' is due for publication this month. His (colour) pictures inspire me.

Charlotte Cotton's 'The Photograph as Contemporary Art' contains the work of about 200 photographers. Almost all use colour.

Best,
Helen

 

[roteague]

I do color too.

Oh there are a lot of people that do color to some extent, but I mean those that work in color as their primary medium - 99% of what I do is on Velvia.

 

[MattKing]

Oh there are a lot of people that do color to some extent, but I mean those that work in color as their primary medium - 99% of what I do is on Velvia.

At the risk (given the title of this thread) of appearing to hype my own photographs, at least 50% of the reason that I took my latest posting in the galleries (see (there was a url link here which no longer exists)) was because of the colour.

This posting highlights one problem though - inspiration may be strongly influenced by presentation. Anyone who depends on books or, much worse, internet reprepresentations of a photograph is at the mercy of the printer or the technology. One case in point is my above-noted gallery posting. Neither of my computer monitors are calibrated, and the colours in this posting look very different on the computer at home then the one at work.

 

[Ed Sukach]

This posting highlights one problem though - inspiration may be strongly influenced by presentation. Anyone who depends on books or, much worse, internet reprepresentations of a photograph is at the mercy of the printer or the technology.

I'm not really counting ... I'd say, offhand, that about 60% of what I do is in color. I'm at the mercy of no one, though, except myself ... except for a few rolls of 35mm E-6 (submissions to Art Schools), ALL of my work, black and white, and color - with printing - is done by a merciless processor/ printer - me.
No excuses. I wish, at times, I did have a few excuses.

SO .. I don't know .. does 60% -- and 99.5% - qualify me for ... uh ... what was the question again?

As far as how my color work appears on someone else's monitor..? It looks like a very good match with the original on MY monitor. I've analyzed a printed image of a gray card and have compared it through my imaging software - with the original gray card... Scanned both of them ... and they match within a gnat's gluteus maximus. As far as killing myself from there -- no! I cannot be responsible for everyone else's monitor calibration out there. I hope - dearly - that it looks right to everyone ... but enough is enough!

 

[roteague]

SO .. I don't know .. does 60% -- and 99.5% - qualify me for ... uh ... what was the question again?

Lol. Actually, my observation was based upon reading through the thread, which I started several months ago, and noticing that most of the photographers mentioned were B&W people. Just a few months ago, someone on APUG described color work as "colorful calendar art".

 

[esanford]

The photographer that was the greatest inspiration to me was Fred Picker, formerly the owner of the Zone VI workshop... He passed away a few years ago.... I had the pleasure of talking with him twice but never meeting him... However, I've read his, Zone VI workshop manual, in my opinion the best book ever written on B&W photography. Plus, I have several of his other books and newsletters.... Fred, while never making it big as a photographer, produced many fine quality images. Of most importance, he was an outstanding teacher. His style was more of that of a football coach... He taught that hard work, discipline, and constant practice (including trial and error) is the only real way to develop the skills to create images worth looking at. He recomended many "exercises" for photographers to pursue to improve their photography. Fred believed that, if pro athletes practiced before games, why wouldn't photograpers do the same thing before they took precious materials into the field or the darkroom to make pictures.... Not only did his recommendations improve my photography; they also improved my life... One his favorite phrases was that products don't do what manufacturers say they do; they do what they do ... so try it.... This sage advice is the kind thoughtful simplicity that he employed in everything he taught... Another example of how he taught was that he said that if you want to be really good at setting up a view camera, pack it into your car and then unpack it and set it up on a tripod a 100 times. This will make you proficient at getting ready for the shot... What a guy!!!!

 

[seadrive]

I'll second the motion on Fred Picker, a man I greatly admired, but sadly, never met.

Picker's newsletters were some of the best stuff I've ever read on photography. The man wrote with passion about something he loved, but managed to retain a sense of humor, mostly about himself and his place in the scheme of things.

The newsletter where he first referred to KodaNoBlack and Grayvira; I thought I would bust a gut reading that stuff. Priceless!

Picker wasn't always right, but at least you always knew where he stood; no pussyfooting around for him.

I've thought of various things he wrote many times over the years, as much of it had more to do with life than photography. His major focus was on learning what works, by doing it; not by reading about it or by thinking about it or by theorizing about it, but by doing it. He said that you learned photography by doing it, not by reading about it.

I've been "away" from photography for most of the past twenty years. I was greatly saddened to learn that Mr. Picker died while I wasn't paying attention...

 

[lee]

what tore it for me with Picker was when Ansel Adams died, a man he admired, Fred wrote in those same newsletters not a memorial piece but a story how Adams always admired Pickers work. Arrogance is something I have a hard time with. If he was such a fine photographer, why, then, is he know for selling photographic equipment? It is nice equipment and I own several pieces.

lee\c

 

[Allen Friday]

Wright Morris
William Blunt

 

[Scott Edwards]

Tina Modotti
Edward Weston
Brett Weston
Imogen Cunningham
Helmut Newton

Did I mention Tina Modotti?

 

[esanford]

what tore it for me with Picker was when Ansel Adams died, a man he admired, Fred wrote in those same newsletters not a memorial piece but a story how Adams always admired Pickers work. Arrogance is something I have a hard time with. If he was such a fine photographer, why, then, is he know for selling photographic equipment? It is nice equipment and I own several pieces.

lee\c

First of all, I didn't realize that Fred did that in a newsletter at Adams death... Clearly such behavior is in poor taste. Also, like most humans, Fred was far from perfect.

But, to address your question as to why he is known for equipment as opposed to his art. As I said earlier in the thread, he did not make it big as a photographer. I would compare him to say Casey Stengel or Vince Lombardi... Both of these gentlemen were athlethes in their time. However, they were better known as coaches and teachers. Such is the case with Fred. He probably created better photographers then he ever was.

Regarding equipment, Fred knew what it was to operate in the field and in the dark room with flimsy equipment and print materials that didn't live up to manufacturer's advertisements. He closed the gap by building equipment that actually did what it said it would, or he refunded your money. I don't know of many businesses that operate that way. And, I am not sure that he was always in it for the money. For instance, he tried to give away to several companies the process that corrected inaccuracies in light meters at no charge. Not one manufacturer took advantage of this. We all know that he was often a persnickety old curmudgeon. For me, I couldn't have asked for a better teacher that I never met.

By the way, he did, IMHO, leave a credible body of quality photographic work. For whatever reason, it never received wide circulation... My guess is that Fred wasn't much of a self promoter. He didn't want the photography world to even know that he was gravely ill before he died. If you can, pick up a copy of "The fine Print" or the monograph "Fred Picker"; I think you will find these collections enjoyable. His prints sell from time to time on Ebay in the mid "hundreds"; I am fortunate to have one hanging in my personal gallery.

 

[lee]

hi esandford,

I never said his equipment was not good. Like I said, I have several pieces of equipment that has Zone VI Newfane,VT on it. To say that Picker was not a self-promoter is not an accurate statement. As you say, IMHO, Fred was the ultimate promoter. I own the Fine Print book and the zone system book also. I have seen the fine prints that Fred sold for learning what a fine print was supposed to look like and I have to say I was disappointed in the quality. As a side note, a friend of mine was in the Print of the Month club or whatever it was called. He bought several prints that were sent but when he lost his job, he called Fred and told him that he needed to drop out of the club. My friend has told me that Fred was very hostile and used several words his mother may not have wished him use. Several weeks later a print arrived. My friend opened the print box and placed letter saying "Sorry, I am out of a job and cant afford this print". He mailed it back to Fred...a couple of weeks go by and the same print in the same box (never opened) showed up. My friend sent the box back with a note on the outside of the box that said the same thing. The package came back like a boomerang. This time my friend sent it back with a note saying that if it came back again he would consider it a gift. It never came back. It could be that some mailroom clerk was doing all the mailing and not telling Fred but my friend thinks otherwise.

I am not trying to make this a bash Fred Picker post as I learned a lot about photography from Picker. I also have all three videos also. Some value his work more than I do and I say good I am glad they do. He did a lot for our craft.

lee\c

 

[luvmydogs]

Robert,

I just looked through your web site for the first time. WOW. I am stunned. Not only do I like the way your site is designed, the photographs are stunning!