Who's your favourite photographer(s)?

[lejazzcat]

After reading some recent posts about the 'merits' of Bill Henson's portfolio and current exhibition, and the subsequent debate on whether it was better than 'XYZ's' work etc ...it occured to me to ask this.

As we are to review and offer criticism on members images here, i wonder if we'd also like to share with each other the context of your opinions, by sharing with the group the inspiration for our own images, and the importance of the works and workmanship of our favourite imagemakers on our own individual styles ?

As we've only recently entered the realms of digital photography, who has impressed and influenced you the most with how they use the medium, and why?

Let the games begin.

To start the ball rolling , Howard Schatz just amazes me !
Who says you have to sellout to be commercial ?
http://www.howardschatz.com/portfolio/

[beetleboy]

Andy Rouse (British Wildlife Photographer) mostly because he's loopy and doesn't take himself too seriously...yet produces stunning images. And although he's a Canon man, he did a D70 review for http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk and loved it!

Liam =]

[the foto fanatic]

I've always admired the work of Annie Leibovitz, who is most famous for her photographs of celebrities, particularly musicians.

Apparently, she is a very strong, difficult person, and has now become a celebrity herself, but her portraits really seem to get to the soul of her subject.

[xerubus]

There are two photographers whose work I enjoy.

Firstly Greg Gorman, http://www.gormanphotography.com/gorman.html.... he does fantastic shots!

Secondly, shushyn sergiy.... who I currently am learning a lot from.... http://www.shushyn.com/ ... his creativity blows me away.... if one was to have a mentor, this would be mine.

cheers

[Raydar]

This man would be my fav, for obvious reasons
I love panorama photography.

http://www.kahlil.org/artcom/index035.html

Cheers
Ray

[Matt. K]

Gene Smith. A 35mm black and white genius. Jim Nachtwey...war photographer and one of the worlds most gifted witnesses to conflict, Sebastion Salgardo for his third world industrial imagery. August Sander for his brilliant portraits and David Seymour. These people foremost...but many others.

[gstark]

Adams, A.

[Killakoala]

I don't have a favorite photographer, however i am a great fan of both Monet and Picasso, due to their use of mood lighting and of course their compositional techniques are masterful. Monet has a really special way of mixing colours in an image and saw 'things' in scenes that the eye would not normally see.

I'd like to be able to compose my photos in the same style of the two mentioned above. I chose photography as my art simply because i can't paint to save my life.

[sirhc55]

Man Ray and Robert Billington

Chris

[joet]

Second that, Gary --- Ansel Adams.

Joe

[Geoff]

I can say without doubt, one of my local area FAVOURITE photos would be Shiela Smart, she has been mentioned in here (and is a Canon user...eek!) but her work is incredible!! If you haven't seen it, you're missing out!

http://www.pbase.com/sheila/root

Cheers,


Geoff.

[Nnnnsic]

Jock Sturges and Aussie music photographer Tony Mott.

[Onyx]

I don't really have a favourite - I tend to pick fault with anyone and everyone, especially myself... Sheila Smart probably comes close though - hers are the only pics of Sydney's icons that I like.

[lejazzcat]

I don't have a favorite photographer, however i am a great fan of both Monet and Picasso, due to their use of mood lighting and of course their compositional techniques are masterful. Monet has a really special way of mixing colours in an image and saw 'things' in scenes that the eye would not normally see.

I'd like to be able to compose my photos in the same style of the two mentioned above. I chose photography as my art simply because i can't paint to save my life.

Man Ray also said " I paint what cannot be photographed, I photograph the things i dont want to paint."

[lejazzcat]

Gene Smith. A 35mm black and white genius. Jim Nachtwey...war photographer and one of the worlds most gifted witnesses to conflict, Sebastion Salgardo for his third world industrial imagery. August Sander for his brilliant portraits and David Seymour. These people foremost...but many others.

They're some pretty heavyweight hitters Matt!
A couple of those were new to me so im very pleased that you shared that (but it also makes me wonder what their dreams were/are like )

Are you a photojournalist yourself?

[atencati]

Adams, A.

I agree. While I find his work enjoyable, it is not necessarily my favorite style. However, after reading his books (the technical series) I find that he may know more about EVERY aspect of photography than any other I have studied. There doesn't appear to be any aspect of a camera or the photography process he didn't fully comprehend. And he was using 19th century equpment!!!!!! HS!! His books, while dated, are still relevant in todays world because they are based on sound fundamentals. I have already improved my results tremendously. If you can, pick em up.


The Camera, The Negative, The Print. C 1980

Andy

[Oneputt]

I love the work of Steve Parrish. Knowing how hard and time consuming landscape photography is, I am always excited by his images.

[lejazzcat]

There are two photographers whose work I enjoy.

Firstly Greg Gorman, http://www.gormanphotography.com/gorman.html.... he does fantastic shots!

Secondly, shushyn sergiy.... who I currently am learning a lot from.... http://www.shushyn.com/ ... his creativity blows me away.... if one was to have a mentor, this would be mine.

cheers

Both are wonderful artists, true.

Creatively speaking ive always been a big fan of Nick Knights work, his work with iD, Vogue(UK) and specifically Alexander McQueen continues to blow me away !

[Thommo]

sorry to bring a dead topic back to life, but i am amazed at ian jennings work. he is an aussie music photographer that has done shoots for countless aussie and international artists.

http://www.ianjennings.com.au/

[MHD]

some awesome work... and some big names

[Soulboy]

Charlie Waite is one of my favourites: http://www.charliewaite.com/

But I find the photographs of Ansel Adams and Paul Strand to be some of the most wonderful I've seen.

[Onyx]

Peter Gifford

(Warning: not work safe).

I like his subject matter more so than his photography. Good news is, he shoots Nikon professionally.