Your pick for most underrated and most overrated photographer

[Luis Filipe]

Over: McCurry, Salgado.

Under: Ernst Haas, Dave Heath

 

[logan2z]

Most overrated: Peter McKinnon. Great at marketing himself. Mediocre at best as a photographer.
Most underrated: Gary Winnogrand. A genius of street photography.

Most commonly misspelled - Garry Winogrand

Kidding aside, I don't think Winogrand is underrated. He's generally recognized as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, his work has been the subject of many exhibitions/retrospectives, published in many books, and he was the subject of a recent documentary. And his name invariably comes up in any conversation about street photography.

 

[logan2z]

Most underrated: my pick would probably be Eugène Atget, as he consistently produced works of subtle and sublime genius, yet precious few people (even amongst photographers) have even heard his name.

I do find it hard to believe that anyone with a half decent knowledge of the history of photography wouldn't have heard of Atget. But I regularly attend critiques at a local photography non-profit gallery (I even get up the nerve to show some work from time to time) and am often surprised how many people in attendance - and I'm talking people with MFAs in photography - haven't heard of very well known photographers when their names come up.

I didn't go to art school so I don't know what is covered in the typical curriculum, but it sounds like something is missing.

 

[logan2z]

OK, I'll get back into the over/under game:

Over: Mark Steinmetz

Under: Peter Hujar

 

[Arthurwg]

Actually, figured out the most overrated. Gregory Crewdson

Couldn't agree more. So false, so wasteful, so ridiculous, so ugly.

 

[Wayne]

Dave Heath

Never heard of him. Now that I have, I'd have to agree.

 

[Darkroom317]

Couldn't agree more. So false, so wasteful, so ridiculous, so ugly.

Aesthetically I like the work, however, there isn't much there beyond that. I listened to him talk once. It is one of the few talks that I have walked out of. He explained nothing and didn't answer questions. He spoke to entire room in which most of us were familiar with his work and glossed over much. It was an insult to my intelligence.

 

[GLS]

anyone with a half decent knowledge of the history of photography

There's the rub. Most people who claim the title of photographer do not possess this.

 

[moggi1964]

Someone earlier mentioned Alec Soth as overrated and having looked at his work I would say it is not inspiring to me.

Someone who's work I discovered after indulging myself in the Royal Photographic Society archive recently made available is Robert Demachy. I wish I could tell you why I am enamoured with his work but I can't, it's just a feeling. I am rarely overwhelmed but his work achieves that for me.

Examples would be:

Study in red

Speed

Struggle

I'm not sure how to link to the examples on the web so I'll leave it to you to Google them if you are interested.

 

[jp498]

Overrated: Crewdson, Sherman (technically good quality, but the whole framework/premise used to explain her I reject or at least have no aspirations thereof)
Underrated: Clarence H White. Yes, there was a big traveling exhibit pre-covid but it's underappreciated, Aaron Siskind gets treated like a 2nd rate modernist in photo education, but I think he's perhaps more creative than Minor White.

 

[Luis Filipe]

Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Sheriff Curtis and Alfred Stieglitz are other photographers that I think should be mentioned much more often regarding mastering in photography.

They are not exactly underrated but maybe a bit forgotten.

 

[urnem57]

Most commonly misspelled - Garry Winogrand

Kidding aside, I don't think Winogrand is underrated. He's generally recognized as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, his work has been the subject of many exhibitions/retrospectives, published in many books, and he was the subject of a recent documentary. And his name invariably comes up in any conversation about street photography.

New

You got me on the misspelling of his name. I should have bothered to look it up. The reason I named him is that he is not too well known outside of the world of photography like many others named here are. He’s kind of “a photographer’s photographer “ at least Imho. I think he deserves more mainstream exposure. I could be way off the Mark, though. Some of the mentions you make above could be considered “mainstream acceptance”

 

[Pieter12]

New

You got me on the misspelling of his name. I should have bothered to look it up. The reason I named him is that he is not too well known outside of the world of photography like many others named here are. He’s kind of “a photographer’s photographer “ at least Imho. I think he deserves more mainstream exposure. I could be way off the Mark, though. Some of the mentions you make above could be considered “mainstream acceptance”

The average Joe can't name a half-dozen photographers.

 

[logan2z]

The average Joe can't name a half-dozen photographers.

And I think that's being optimistic.

 

[drkhalsa]

I like Wright Morris and his photography of Nebraska and the Midwest U.S.

I became acquainted with his work from a couple of threads here from 2004 and 2009 in this same Forum, Photographers.

 

[Wayne]

The average Joe can't name a half-dozen photographers.

They can name one. But I won't.

 

[davela]

i find ansel adams to be overrated, especially his dated method of shooting. could be a hot take, but it's mine.

I thought that too until I saw some of his actual prints a few years ago at a museum exhibit at the very nice little art museum they have in Fort Worth. Texas. It was, I suppose, a fairly minor traveling Ansel exhibit (I'm hardly an Ansel expert), but they allowed the public get very close to the prints on the wall and examine them in detail - the way photo buffs like us are wont to do with any print. I'd describe that experience as breathtaking.

I don't think Gary Winogrand is overrated either. I have heard him described before as a genius - not sure about that, but I definitely think he was an original, authentic, fascinating, inspiring, and brilliant artist - just my opinion.

 

[wiltw]

Most overrated: my wife
Most underated: Me

 

[foc]

Most overrated: my wife
Most underated: Me

That's just natural selection.

 

[Helge]

Winogrand got some backwind and was boosted into public consciousness in the last few years, when some internet geniuses discovered old clips with him, and thought they alone knew about him. Helped by the recent secret docu: All Things are Photographable.
A bit like and probably as a result of the mainstream “cult” hype around Vivian Maier some years previously.

He is good. And he is significant. And no, despite his prolificness, his work is not pure luck and nostalgia for that period.
And no, current “street photographers” are not as good, even though they and their cheerleaders might think so.
Is he overrated? Yes and no.
He probably overall has exactly the recognition he deserves.

 

[Jim Jones]

Ansel Adams and those who have worked to perpetrate his glory may sometimes seem overrated, but they have succeeded in in keeping AA's fine work before the public. Of course some photographers, perhaps inspired by AA, have outdone him in the past four decades. Adams may likewise have been inspired by Timothy O'Sullivan's Ancient Ruins in the Canyon de Chelle, New Mexico, 1873, oven though that may have been intended to honor the exploration of the Great American West more than the magnificence of the subject.
Among the underrated is Ruth Bernhard for raising photographs of the female nude beyond prurience.