Everyone has turned a photographer – from studio photography for weddings or any other anniversary, to taking your cousin’s pictures with a smartphone. The current availability of cameras is more than ever before, and many people keep on developing new love for photography. This has made some to pursue it as a career, while they take on photography courses or a full photography degree. Whether as a hobbyist, a serious student, or an accomplished artist, there are lots to learn from the following photography icons.
Alfred Stieglitz
He is regarded as straight photography patron saint, having pioneered the notion that a photo should entail the moment, subject, an artist’s vision, and not just a contrived manipulation. During his time, photography was not much regarded as an art form, but he ensured that his photographs was full of enough artistic expression – just as a traditional artist’s work. At this time of Photoshop and styled shoots, studying his method to photography provides a new look into photography as an artistic expression.
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams is peradventure the most widely recognized of all the artists listed here, for a good reason. His photographs of the Yosemite National Park and American West are beloved and iconic. Apart from his impressive body of work, he developed the Zone System, thereby leaving his mark on photography. This system helped to determine proper contrast and exposure in the final print. It translated into intense depth and clarity, as evidential in his photographs. His total commitment to quality is a source of inspiration to photography students.
Diane Arbus
Airbus’ photographs are not only shocking but also with catching subjects in an unmasked moment. Norman Mailer once likened her handling of a camera to a child with live grenades in their hands. Arbus teaches, in this style, a lesson about working to show the true self of a subject through art, and not aiming to capture a subject’s surface.
Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre
A debt of gratitude is owed by lovers of photographic prints to Daguerre. Although a Romantic painter, an inventor of the Diorama, or printmaker, his most great contribution to society is the daguerreotype, which serves as the world’s first efficient process of permanent photo creation. Using chemistry and light, he created, on silver-plated sheets of copper, photographic images; these serve as the ancestors of today’s photographs.
Phillipe Halsman
From mid-20th century, he is well-known for his jumping photographs of famous subjects – from Richard Nixon to the Windsor’s Duke and Duchess. His body of work encompasses the artist Salvador Dali’s surreal portraits which leave the viewer in a conundrum and seeking to figure out the physical possibility of the photograph. His portraiture is a good source of inspiration to any photography student who desires to push the envelope with portraits.
- David LaChapelle
Though many iconic photographers belong to centuries and decades past, LaChapelle is a current fine art photographer. He offers a great inspiration to photography students who want to create their own individualistic and strong photography. His works feature surreal and bold examples that spell out an understanding of political and social issues with a great sense of humor.
Sally Mann
Sally Mann is a photographer just in the middle of her career. She was named by Time magazine as the America’s Best Photographer in 2001 for creating stunning work of southern landscapes, her family, and her series of decomposing bodies. Her work feature pushed buttons, from her children’s nude photographs to rotting corpses. Students who seek to know the possibility of keeping a consistent vision and style can study her work. This even applies to working with completely different subjects.
Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry Uelsmann asserted that his use of camera makes him exist in a world outside of himself. The world in his photographs features composite photographs which depict surrealist images. Even without the help of Photoshop, Uelsmann used enlargers, multiple negatives, and an extensive darkroom work to create his work. This implies a final image could be made using many negatives.
Jacques Henri Lartigue
He began taking photos at the age of seven, while documenting his family, friends, and the world around him. Regarded as the first “amateur” photographer, and the father of modern photography, he serves as a source of inspiration to photography students. He never knew how remarkable his work; it wasn’t until he was 69 and his childhood photographs were not only discovered but also exhibited at the New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Elliot Erwitt
As the purveyor of the “non-photograph,” he employed a casual approach that reveals an authentic portrait of his subjects. Photography students who seek a great interest in a lifestyle or photojournalistic method to photos will surely enjoy studying his work and life