paddleheaddave Loc: Waukesha, Wisconsin

Just for grins and giggles,

Who is your favorite photographer?
or who influenced your photography most?
or who do you consider the most talented photographer?

Add a word or two of what type of photographer they were, and why you like them.

I hope all of us have fun and learn about some famous artists we may not have heard about before.

So, I will start off:

Edward S. Curtis Portraits and way of life of North American Native Tribes c.1900. Each picture in his 20 vol. collection of tribes of NA are solid composition, each face conveys emotion, and each literally tell a story.

thank you
dave.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

Tim Tadder -- Comercial Composite.
Joel Grimes -- Comercial COmposite.
Lee Jeffries -- Homeless
Jay Maisel -- The street and training now. (All types of photography)

These are just my favorites. Not necessarily the most influential but probably the highest paid.(WIth the exception of Lee Jeffries)

No Ansel didn't make my list.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

No flash answers here David Bailey

Because he was simply good, and seen, and he showed that anyone could pick up a camera and "make a record"

Ol' Frank Loc: Orlando,

Galen Rowell. He was the best of our generation that we could actually relate too.

EstherP

>> Who is your favorite photographer?
>> or who influenced your photography most?
>> or who do you consider the most talented photographer?

My Dad.

>> Add a word or two of what type of photographer they were,

People:
Weddings, anniversaries, receptions, parties.
Portraits and passport photos.
Photos of us kids to fill the last few frames on his film so he wouldn't have to throw them out.

>> and why you like them.

He allowed us to sit beside him when printing photos and watch the images magically appear on the paper...
He explained (and showed) why the the deloper, fixer and rinse. Allowed us to put the dried photos in order and put his stamp on the back.
Later on, he allowed us to borrow one of his cameras to take on a school field trip, after he explained what settings to use (in those days only f-stop and exposure).
Dad stopped his business in the late '60s when he became a photography teacher at the School for Graphic Arts in the city of Utrecht.
He died in 1988, and I still miss being able to ask him how or why this or that. (To be sure, I miss him for many other things as well).

Oh, and Dad had his own style. Fill a table with photos and I'll pick out the ones he took!

EstherP

edgorm Loc: Rockaway, New York

Bob Ebert, chief photographer for the Honolulu Star Bulletin in the 1960's and Pulitzer prize nominee in 1945. He was my mentor and taught me how to get around a darkroom.

GrahamS Loc: Hertfordshire, U.K

Yosuf Karsh - Portrait photographer
http://www.karsh.org/

Garry Bernstein - People photographer
http://www.garybernsteinstudio.com/

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Ansel Adams. I started in photography in the '50's when B&W was still the norm. Read and reread his trilogy (Camera and Lens, The Negative and The Print) he was my inspiration, who I most wanted to be like and who influenced me most.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Galen Rowell. I got to shoot beside him early in his career and was amazed at his insight and perception. A life cut tragically short!
Ansel Adams a close second.

paddleheaddave Loc: Waukesha, Wisconsin

thank you all. I hope to hear from a few more and get more names of artist to look up.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Ansel because he showed the World places hidden to most and popularized the way we take photographs.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Ralph Gibson. Sometimes photographed things found, other times arranged. You can always tell his images originated in his mind...somewhere in his mind!

Bill gomberg

H.C. Bresson, Eugene W. Smith , Ansel Adams , Helen Levitt , Youssef Karsh , Bruce Davidson , Irving Penn , Robert Capa , Alfred Eisenstadt , Roman Vishniac , Mary Cosindas. Arnold Newman.

Scoutman Loc: Orlando, FL

Ernst Haas who is credited with establishing color photography as an art form with the publication of his series on Manhatten published in Life magazine. Use of slow ASA 10 Kodak slide film, shaped his vision which often used slow shutter speeds to wipe color across the frame. Famous too, for his photographs for Marlboro cigarettes.

I had the opportunity to meet Haas at a workshop in Birmingham shortly before his death. He signed my copy of
"The Creation" an outstanding monograph of his work.

Among the living: certainly Pete Turner.

Ernst Haas - Wild Horses


Ernst Haas - New York City

APB Loc: UK

Don McCullin. He captured the essence of every conflict he recorded, in all their sadness and courage.