Which photographer living or dead would you most like to spend a day with, and why?

Laura Panduru-She is gorgeous and her work is AWESOME!!

Annie Leibovitz, because she is very special, extraordinary smart and great photographer.

I've invited Jack McRitchie to lunch, but t didn't work out. I'd still like to spend an afternoon with him. David Meyer would be fun, too. I've had a few lunches with Adan Wong, and they were certainly fun. I'd like to spend some time with Jeff Long, a gentleman, Joe Popper along the Missouri River, Jan Piller in the Great White North, my compadre Ade Olumide anywhere, and, of course any pneter who ever makes it to San Francisco.

 

As far as dead photographers, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Brett Weston, and Pirkle Jones are those I wouldn't mind buying lunch for. Honorable mention goes to Gordon Parks, Linda Butler, and Sebastian Salgado. I admire Mapplethorpe's work, but would not be caught dead with that misanthrope, who tried to infect as many people as possible with the HIV virus, one of the most odious people who ever lived. And, oh yeah, I admire John Crossley's work, but I'm afraid he would talk my ear off. I don't know how he has time to shoot all those great images.

<p>i cant believe no one mentioned Capa(in his hollywood years) or Eve Arnold</p>

<p>It's hard to know if you if you'd like hanging out with someone by looking at their pictures. Maybe no one. Maybe Eggleston, because he is anal, a little creepy and nerdy at the same time, and seems to enjoy his liquor (at least he did in the documentary I watched). I like his books also. But I might have to think about and come up with some dead guy if it was actually a real offer, because of the privileged access...maybe Ansel Adams or something, or maybe diane arbus because I've never seen a freak show (no disrespect to freaks intended).</p>

<p>I would also like to spend a day with Salgado, to watch him while is taking pictures and learn how he prints in the darkroom. A day with Robert Capa wouldn't be so bad either, to learn how to see things in advance before they happen.</p>

<p>Am I going back in time, or bringing them back from the dead? Reading about William Henry Jackson, on the Hayden Geological Survey, that's my kind of experience. That would be more than a single day though. There is nothing I couldn't give up to have been a part of that expedition.</p>

<p>Wow, just one, huh? I'd have to go with Avedon in the 1960's, though I doubt I'd fit in with the Factory crew. Others would be W. Eugene Smith, Gordon Parks, Ansel Adams, and Henri-Cartier Bresson.</p>

<p>Sorry, can't do one. I'd probably have to go with Atget, but any of the others would be more than fine. Did I mention I also want a time machine so I can go back in time and see them in their prime, making specific pictures?</p>

<p> 1) Atget, for all the reasons I can't begin to explain beyond saying that it would be like being at the Creation.</p>

<p> 2) Julia Margaret Cameron, shooting Alice Liddell. One of my favorite portraits ever, and I would want to meet Liddell almost as much as Cameron.</p>

<p>3) Minor White</p>

<p>4) Alexei Brodovitch while shooting Les Ballets Rusee'</p>

<p>5) Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Cartier-Bresson photographing in Mexico in 1935.</p>

<p>6) Josef Sudek, 1956, on the day he made "Last Roses"</p>

<p>7) The Reverend H.L. Dodgson photographing Alice Liddell, in 1860.</p>

<p>8) Helen Levitt on Halloween day, 1939.</p>

<p>9) Ralph Eugene Meatyard photographing Lucybelle Crater.</p>

<p>10) Walker Evans and James Agee, in 1936, taking the pictures and writing Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.</p>

<p>Ok, I'll stop now.</p>

<p>Brassaï in the 1930's would be the top choice for me. Others include David Bailey or Yousuf Karsh possibly I'd like a chat with Bill Brandt too :-)</p>

<p>I'd fit in too much with Warhol et al, but I'll stick with http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/gorskii.html</p>

<p>Roy De Carava</p>

<p>What a GREAT thread!<br>

Living: Roman Loranc<br>

Dead: Paul Strand in 1916, or Edward Weston in 1923.<br>

PS, I once stalked HC-B for a few hours through the streets of London. Believe me, Biliana -- you wouldn't want to do it for an entire day!</p>