Which photographers have made history and why?

John, I had forgot that long before there was Photoshop, history itself could be rewritten. ;)

Matthew Brady's work (and his crew's) may have been seen more widely, and may have had greater impact on Americans (and perhaps British, whose garmet industry depended on the Confederacy), than that of any of the other photographers mentioned so far, save the television film crews covering events in Birmingham AL. Population was a lot smaller in the 19th century, but newspaper readership may have been higher, percentage-wise.

 

I've seen no suggestion that Lewis Hine's work was sufficiently broadly distributed to have much impact (despite teachings about its importance), or that the the British Empire and the bulk of Europe cared much about Capa's Spanish Civil War, compared to Spaniards, Americans, Russians, and Germans.

Hubble- artistic, and technical. That stuff never fails to blow me away.

Technical: at any given time, probably some unknown enthusiast or a chap in an R&D lab somewhere.

 

Artistic: everyone/no-one.

hubble. it even had its pictorial soft focus period......

David Lee - Hubble's "pictorial period" - I confess I had never, ever thought of it in those terms. LOL

The question was about unprecedented artistic and technical standards, so I would add the Lumiere brothers, for

the first workable and widely used colour process.<BR><BR>

I thought of Weegee and Capa. I wasn't sure about unprecedented.<BR>

I know of Weegee as a crime reporter mainly, and I'd guess he was exploiting a new technology, the ruggedly

portable speed graphics, with electric flash, and the police radio system - along with the technology,

persistence and skill, he probably was doing something unprecedented.

<BR>

Same with Capa. The small, quality, cameras, like Leica, Contax, Rolleiflix, came out around 1930.

Cartier-Bresson seized on them for his candid street photography, and not long afterwards, Capa took them to war.

Again, with persistence and skill, and maybe cunning, or bravery, or sheer folly, he got the cameras to the right

places and took the right pictures, and I think what he did was unprecedented.<BR>

(Well, there can't, up to then, have been many photographers who had parachuted into action, and also made an

amphibious landing under fire)<BR>

Capa certainly had impact. Sure I only know one picture of his from the Spanish Civil War, but its the one that

probably everyone in western civilization has seen, even if they don't know its his, even if they think its

faked, they've seen it.<BR>

There were several Capa photos that I saw many years ago, and recognised immediately when I checked his work more

recently. So I don't really buy the idea that newsreel has more impact. Its a different medium with a different

purpose, and not much point making that comparison. <BR><BR>

Many others have done great work since, but Wegee and Capa were likely the first in their field, or the most

outstanding among the first.<BR>

Awww someone already stole my answer.

 

I am a huge Weegee fan because, for me, he revolutionized the way I and lots of street photographers think about taking pictures. His style is very unique and even his method of taking pictures was unique. He is my favorite and most influential photographer and has indeed made history.

Bob Carlos Clarke (non-commercial work, as with recovered objects), Sebastien Salgado (early social work), Karsh (his

better portraits).

As far as i'm concerned, Helmut Newton, for his unique way of capturing woman's mix of feminity and strenght, David LaChapelle for his wonderful world of illusion, and obviously, my favourite one, Anton Corbijn, his amazing use of B&W, his work in the music world, and so on...

"Further, I don't think any still photographer has ever had anywhere near as much historic impact as have film news

cameramen and editors. Why? Because news cameramen have had television."

 

Since we're talking about history, my opinion is that still photography is history, that is to say, toast. A nineteenth

century medium wedded to print publishing, still photography is superseded by video, if not in measurable fact,then in

the zeitgeist.

 

I'm devoted to still photography, mostly with b/w film, but feel that I'm operating with an antique process like cyanotype.

 

Proof: where are the Starn twins today?

i would have to say that, for me at least, Witkin is one of the most inflential photographers, not only because of the way he prints his negatives, but also because he captured a whole different sense of beauty (much like Baudelaire). as for creative printing i believe Sally Mann deserves some recognition.

I would have to add 2 people, ( maybe more, but these 2 are outstanding) W.Eugene Smith, and Erich Salomon. Smith was unstinting technical as well as artistic. MOst of his most renowned pix are highly manipulated. He shot endlessly. Salomon can be credited with being the original papparazo in Europe betweent he wars. He was the ultimate gate crasher, taking pix of international political conferences and even of the US Supreme Court in session.