20 Masters of Photo

20 Photographers:


1. Art Wolfe-
A former National Geographic photojournalist, Mr. Wolfe is a well known photographer for the style of wildlife and nature. A master of nature photography, I become more interested in his unique style and composition. Art is a man, so down to earth and in tune with nature, you can only daze into his photographs of the natures around the world.

2. Annie Leibovitz-
My hate and disrespect for paparazzi photography, has met its match when it comes to Annie’s celebrity photographs. As an American photographer, Annie easily adapted and became interested in the lives and portraiture of American Celebrities. Her incredibly beautiful and original portraits of Angelina Jolie has captured my heart and only pushed me further into the career of portraits. From Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair, Annie graces our eyes with the beauty of our stars.

3. Keith Carter-
An American photographer is well known for his whimsical and dreamy photographs. His main focus is on making the common object and common people dreamy, loving and turns it into something outstanding. I am honored to learn of his work. It’s interesting to know that he grew up here in Texas with his mother whom was also a professional photographer. Carter has published nine photography books and his photographs are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, George Eastman House, J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at Texas State University.

4. Stephen Shore-
Mr. Shore is an interesting and simple American photographer. His very banal and simple style of photographing is strangely hard to turn your head away from it. His passion for photographing objects and scenes here in America is “self-taught” yet still interesting. Sometimes those who don’t know everything about something can bring more to the table.

5. Nicholas Nixon-
THE WONDERFUL NIXON, shows his style of the naturalist and beauty of people through photographs. Influenced by the photographs of Edward Weston and Walker Evans, Nixon began working with large-format cameras. To me, viewing his portraits makes me slow down in time and makes me want to pay more attention to finding beauty in people through this art of photography. Every wrinkle, every line, and every freckle of the human body.

6. Sally Mann-
Of course another American, portrait photographer that I’ve falling in love with. Her witty and some what sad portraits get me excited to take some of my own. Her portraits of young woman and little girls ran much controversy and talk about how it strangely expressed sexuality and maturity at such a young age. To me, its beautiful, unique and completely interesting.

7. Mark Klett-
Marks photographic work has focused on explorations of man’s interaction with the American landscape. His work is something I’m not particularly interested in. Mark often made his landscapes look milky and so real; you almost want to touch it. Klett has many photograph books that show the ruins and destruction after natural disasters which helps us remember and mark down a historical and tragic time.

8. Jim Goldberg-
The famous Jim Goldberg photographs many sub-cultures, creating photo collages, and including text with his photographs. The text that surrounds his photographs are mainly the writing of his subjects which of course puts an important role on the photograph. It tells a story in two different ways which is entirely unique and amazing to me. Jim is now a professor at the California College of Arts. I love his sense of style and portraits.

9. Nan Goldin-
As an all time fan of Nan Goldin, I can totally relate to her decision in portraiture and style. Nan’s first solo show, held in Boston in 1973, was based on her photographic journeys among the city's gay and transsexual communities. If I’m not mistaken, she had an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston based on her friends dying of AIDS. She has a perfect eye for capturing people in both sad and friendly settings.

10. David LaChapelle
SIMPELY DIVINE!!! David’s humorous, bright, and surreal style captivates many celebrities and clients. As a huge fan, I find myself flipping through hundreds of his photos being amused over and over again. His cartoon approach to photographing people make me feel like I need to stop being so dull and normal all of the time! LaChapelle attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His first photograph was of his single mother, Helga LaChapelle, on a family vacation in Puerto Rico.

11. Moose Peterson-
I suppose I can’t do almost all portraiture photographers, so I recognize Peterson and his famous wildlife photographs. Moose was one of the first wildlife photographers to use DSLR cameras for wildlife photography. Moose has published over 20 books for his wildlife photography and continues on his journey today.

12. Ansel Adams-
Ansel’s black and white photographs of environments I unlike any others. When I look at his work of scenery, it makes me want to touch it, and especially fall off the map and live in nature! Ansel mastered capturing Yosemite National Park and the open west. His crystal clear images were also the result of his using the large format 8×10” film camera, which many wildlife and scenery photographers use.

13. William Wegman-
It is clear that william’s focus is on POOCHIES! William used is own dogs to create the famous photographs of the have dog half woman or man portraits. Originally seeking to be a painter, its clear that photography was the major he should change to instead. His lighthearted photographs have been shown to us from The Tonight Show to Sesame Street.

14. Dorothea Lange-
The Documentary and photojournalist Dorothea pulls you back in time, when depression was real and finally being captured. Starting in a studio in San Francisco, Lange went from the studio to the street and captured real people in real time. Her most famous photograph “Migrant Mother” touches me on so many different levels and perfectly explains Lange’s love to show the world what life was like for people like this tired, scared, hungry and depressed woman. Unfortunately Dorothea died of cancer but she will never be forgotten because her photographs are now in school text books.

15. Garry Winogrand-
As a street photographer in the 20th century, Garry captures a classy time in a peculiar way. His wonderful portraits consisted of women in their beautiful dresses, with funny faces and even men leaping from buildings. Winogrand's photographs of the Bronx Zoo and the Coney Island Aquarium made up his first book The Animals. After passing away from gull bladder cancer, Garry left behind hundreds of unedited photos and hundreds of rolls of film!

16. Richard Misrach-
This American photographer is most famous for his human intervention of landscape photographs. His photographs are not meant to be political, but after published and displayed, many critics see a political theme. Where Richard learned photography, it is unknown. Although Richard has been photographing the American desert for more than 20 years, I still can not be fully interested in his landscape photos.

17. Adolf de Meyer-
Adolf was a Paris born photographer who was most famous for his elegant and fashionable photographs of famous people. Not much is written about Meyer, except the fact that he was a pioneer for fashion photography. His beautiful photographs remind me of a time when glamour couldn’t possibly be viewed as excessive and snobby. The photos are so classy and almost make me hate humanity and our obsession with perfection in the human body, instead of embracing those things as beautiful.

18. Albert Watson-
Albert, a Scottish fashion photographer, began his career by immigrating to Los Angeles. His success with fashion photography was featured numerous times in magazines like Vogue and Rolling Stone. His corky fashion photography leaves me intrigued because I want to take it seriously yet it is so up lifting, it leaves me smiling. Albert is responsible for many famous TV commercials for cosmetics and clothing.

19. Diane Arbus-
Diane is most notable for her portraiture of society on the brink. Diane’s poses were unconventional and timeless at the same time. I think it was beautiful for Diane to photograph prostitutes, small people, and homosexuals because it was her clever and good way to present these issues to the rest of the world. She posed questions and caused controversy through her “loud” photos. Unfortunately Diane committed suicide in 1971, which I am sad to realize that not only were her photographs depressing and eye opening but the way she left the world behind was tragic too.

20. David Bailey- David bailey, an English Photographer, captured my most favorite time…the late 60’s and early 70’s. David worked as a photographer for Vogue and captured many photos of wonderful famous people such as my favorite band EVER The Beatles. The most notable style of David’s work was his artistic way of cropping off or cutting off the tops of people’s heads in his portraits; which is a very common and popular thing to do in portraiture today.