The most inspiring of the 'great' photographers..

[robwilson]

<p>I am in the process of building a collection of books by the 20th century's greatest photographers. What I am wondering is which of the greats inspires you the most? Whose pictures send shivers down your spine?<br>

For me, it has to be Henri Cartier Bresson, for his extraordinary ability to capture the decisive moment; Robert Frank, for producing the incredible collection that is 'The Americans'; William Eggleston, for making the ordinary seem a little weird and uncomfortable; and Andreas Gursky, for the magnificent scale of his most recent work.<br>

Anyway, I'd love to know what you all think! <br>

Cheers<br>

Rob</p>

 

[vrankin]

<p>I'd include Stieglitz, Steichen and the Westons. Dorothea Lange's Farm Security Commission photos are among the greats. Annie Leibovitz is rising, back in the spotlight with her now famous photo of the Obama family.</p>

[scott_murphy_photography]

<p>Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Steiglitz, Edward Weston would be my choices</p>

[thomas_sullivan]

<p>Well, rather than retype the whole list, the Monographs, Collections and Etc. section of the following page</p>

<p><a href="http://tssullivan.net/info.html">http://tssullivan.net/info.html</a></p>

<p><strong></strong></p>

[gerry b.]

<p>Take a look at the Guardian Online today and you will see a set of portraits by the British photographer Jane Bown that are stunning, and most were taken as press photos in 15 minute sessions.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>All of the above, but I think I would add Galen Rowell to the list.</p>

[eddes]

<p>I would add<br>

John Sexton, Micheal Kenna, Paul Strand, David Muench, Eliot Porter, Helmut Newton, Avedon</p>

<p>Edmond</p>

[leon_b1]

<p>All of the above plus Stephen Shore?</p>

<p>Oh, and Bill Brandt.</p>

<p> </p>

[pictureted]

<p>Sebastiao Salgado and W. Eugene Smith have moved me with their documentary work.</p>

[john_a5]

<p>Minor White, Paul (not John Paul) Caponigro, Aaron Siskind, Sarah Moon</p>

[jamesmck]

<p>Don't forget Walker Evans and <em>Brett</em> Weston.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

Ansel Adams. Most of his work was done on large format which inspired me to get into large format. It is a whole different ball game from 35mm.

[sionnac]

<p>Sally Mann, Ikko Narahara, Josef Sudek, Josef Koudelka, Berenice Abbott, Eudora Welty (she was a photographer for the WPA too!), and Francesca Woodman.</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>They probably wouldn't be counted as great photographers by name, but space photos from astronauts and engineers have been the most inspiring to me. Dude makes a photo of a galaxy far, far away form his backyard; that's a hard photo to make. Astronaut walking or flying around in an environment that would kill him and mummify his body in microseconds; he brought back a picture of space; that's a hard photo to make.</p>

<p>Jacques Cousteau. Invented the aqualung regulator as we know it today; made photos and movies in an environment that would drown him out and kill him brain dead in 15 minutes. Came back with images in focus and properly exposed. Showed them to everyone.</p>

<p>Lab techs who came up with microscope photos, high-speed photos (Eggleston) and the like would have to be in there, in the collection.</p>

<p>How about, Hershel? I believe he was the discoverer of fixer and inventor of cynaotype, which predated black and white silver processes by about 20 years. If he hadn't come up with that, then a lot of photosensitive processes wouldn't be around. He was the son of a famous astronomer.</p>

<p>Adams, Capa and Laura Gilpin.</p>

<p>Don't forget O'Keefe-Odom. He's the greatest photo stud of all time.</p>

[pictureted]

<p>I can't forget Lewis Hine, another great social documentary photographer and Eugene Atget for the beauty of Paris.</p>

[Mike D]

<p>My first and favorite photography books I bought in the 70's were by Ernst Haas.<br>

http://www.ernst-haas.com/</p>

[btmuir]

<p>There were and still are so many.</p>

<p>You'd really need to break it down into categories. </p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Brassai, Mortensen, Doisneau.</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Miguel Rio Branca, Graciela Iturbide, Mario Giacomelli, Araki.</p>

[machts gut]

<p>Not mentioned before - August Sander, Albert Renger-Patzsch and Josef Sudek.</p>

[charlesheckel]

<p>Eugene Atget, Gyula Brassai, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan, and Andre Kertesz.</p>

[tonmestrom]

<p>Edouard Boubat (won't feature in too many American lists but truly one of the greats)<br>

Guy Bourdin<br>

Gianni Berengo Gardin (just recently adviced to me; he's great)<br>

Jean-Loup Sieff<br>

Ellen von Unwerth<br>

Horst P. Horst<br>

George Hurrell<br>

David LaChapelle<br>

Alexander Rodchenko<br>

Joel-Peter Witkin<br>

Cindy Sherman<br>

Bettina Rheims<br>

Anton Corbijn<br>

Erwin Olaf<br>

Josef Koudelka<br>

Andres Serrano<br>

Don McCullin<br>

and so on.....</p>

[robwilson]

<p>Some interesting responses...<br>

I notice that Diane Arbus is conspicuously absent from the list so far. I have one of her books and I still can't make my mind up about what I think of it.</p>

 

[jtk]

<p>Weston (Daybook II) and Bill Brand (Portraits).</p>

<p>Being a wonderful photographer (per above lists) isn't the same for me as "inspiring." </p>

<p>...and, having been inspirational in the past isn't the same as inspiring future work. </p>

[nanny]

I agree with everybody