Famous Photographers

Eugene Atget

            The bulk of Atget’s work focused on the changing landscape of mid-20^th century Paris. He showed the evolution of Paris by contrasting cars and horse-drawn carriages and challenged conventional techniques by intentionally including reflections in the glass of the shop-fronts he photographed and by capturing the “dirty” side of life at the time.

 

Dorothea Lange

With their honesty and unapologetic subjects, Dorothea Lange’s portraits have become icons for the Depression era. She was able to bring the plight of the farmers and migrant workers that had been left destitute by the Dust Bowl to audiences that otherwise would have probably never seen them.

 

Walker Evans

            As in Lange’s work, Walker Evans documented the effects of the Great Depression, however, his were somewhat different, particularly because he showed the inside of people’s homes. Through these glimpses into the humble, yet private residences, the full impact of the extreme poverty can be related.

 

Alfred Steiglitz

            Steiglitz is well known for making photos take on attributes of other types of art, like painting or sculpture. Picturesque views of New York streets seem juxtaposed with his nudes, where his isolated parts of the body in a study of line, contour, and shape.

 

Holland Day

            Day is best known for his many nude male youths, which stirred up much controversy and still make many viewers uncomfortable. Despite their social connotations, Day’s photos are an interesting take on human form and the use of costumes to present scenes that would originally never been able to be photographed.

 

Ann Brigman

            Ann used the nude female for extensively and usually placed her subjects in very dramatic scenes that incorporated nature. After staging these elaborate settings, she would add to the effects by using various techniques to alter her prints in the dark room.

 

Man Ray

            Man Ray is known for coining the term “Rayographs” which refers to his work with photograms. He used a variety of media to create a incredible volume of work that did not require the use of a camera.           

 

 

 

 

Hans Bellmer

            Most viewers are disturbed by Bellmer’s images because how they distort the human form into appearing mutilated and because of the way he arranged the (typically) female bodies into poses that suggest helplessness.

 

Erwin Blumenfeld

            Blumfeld spent his career in fashion photography and brought a wealth of European fashion to the American market. However, his use of a veil or other translucent barrier in front of his subject (usually nude females) has been the subject of celebration and controversy, in that some appear to be suffocating while others add a layer of mystery and seduction to the scene.

 

Harry Callahan

            Harry Callahan used texture in an exceptional way that produced strong emotions, if not at least intrigue, in all his photos. His wife and the city his lived in, Detroit, were recurrent in his work. He had an eye for taking something and shooting it in various ways to evoke entirely different moods.

 

Weegee (Arthur Fellig)

            Weegee was able to present his city in a way that seems so unobtrusive and from a perspective that makes the viewer feel like they are glimpsing into his world. His uncanny ability to show every angle without disturbing the people or their various states of existence goes beyond typical documentary photography into a realm of presenting life as it was from the inside, not through a lens.

 

Brassai

            Many photographers use Brassai’s night shots as templates for their own work, striving to recreate the glow of the fog and the quiet, calm, stillness of the streets. His human subjects seem to have been chosen based on the strangeness of their stories or the level of compelling content they could provide.

 

Cartier-Bresson

            Using asymmetrical composition, Cartier-Bresson was able to create incredible motion throughout his work while also leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat, anticipating resolution that never comes. This movement, anxiety and need to know is reminiscent of Baroque sculpture and painting in that, at every turn, the artist is attempting to capture an infinitesimal moment in time.

 

Helen Levitt

            Sometimes referred to as a “photographer’s photographer,” Levitt’s work centered on New York’s Spanish Harlem are some of the most humane, tender and intimate produced from the area. They display the innocence and purity of childhood, the appreciation of leisure time after a hard day of work and the pleasantness of allowing oneself to be, if only temporarily, completely carefree.