Seeking Direction

Dragan

To date i have slightly underexposed ( if your will pardon the pun ) myself to some of the bigger names in Photography. I normally have a habit of getting in over my head when i take something up but with Photography i managed to play it cool and develop a decent understanding for what i am capable of doing and would like to do.

To date, the only two Photographers i have really studied are Henri Cartier-Bresson and Zdzislaw Beksinski and that was simply because i had no real choice there, various elements of their work just grabbed me and i had to find out more.

So, who should i be reading about? Who's work should i be studying and tracking down and looking at?

With Christmas here i have a good few days off, and i plan on filling those days with plenty of study and practice around Photography.

I'm not looking for the list of greats, or those who are seen as being hugely influential in the story and development of photography....i am just looking for who YOU feel, as a photographer, would be worth knowing and who you think i could learn from.

A big and open question i know....but that is kind of the point.

CabanSail

WOW ... Can we start with a simpler question .... like "How to understand the differences between the psychology of the genders"

It may be better to look at specialised areas of Photography that interest you & then look for someone who's images in that area move you & then look further into their work.

Last year I had a bit of a look at the work of Bob Carlos Clarke. This was promted by discussion at DCC concerning his tragic death. Well worth a look at his work, but there are so many others.

DotOrg

have a look at Anton Corbjin, Annie Liebowitz, David La Chapelle

those three should be enough to keep you entertained for a few days

Gozo

check out Ansel Adams, absolutely brilliant!

Borderfox

Check yourself out Dragan, get out and find your style. Dont get bogged down in which photographer used this style and so on.

Dragan

Borderfox wrote: »

Check yourself out Dragan, get out and find your style. Dont get bogged down in which photographer used this style and so on.

Oh i know what i do and what i like to do, every plan i could put in place is in place to force myself to expand in the New Year, but i also love looking at other peoples work and feel it's important to get to grips with what other people do, what was big and why, what was different and when.

I just really like knowing things i guess.:o

Plus, i spend a huge amount of my day going through the Flickr's of people who post here. I'm a massive fan of some of the folk who post on here, so if i can find out more about their own influences than i am also happy!

melekalikimaka

DotOrg wrote: »

have a look at Anton Corbjin, Annie Liebowitz, David La Chapelle

those three should be enough to keep you entertained for a few days

exact 3 i was gonna suggest

La Chapelle... amazing stufff

ThOnda

Get Susan Sontag's book "On Photography".
And I would recommend agencies, like VIIphoto. Go also to World Press Photo page and go back in years to see all pictures, that made it to the final. If something catches your eye, go after it.

Calina

Second World Press Photo stuff.

As for the people who influenced me: 1) Ansel Adams 2) Robert Doisneau 3) Philippe Plisson 4) Peter Lik 5) Vincent Munier. No sports photographers as you can see.

I also like some artists like H Leung and Ken Done.

Covey

There are so many and as you said not just "the Greats" .

What areas are you interested in and what can be ruled out (if any) .

T.

Rhyme

Drawing influence from too many and diverse areas at once can get... messy. As was mentioned before, find a style or two or perhaps some nice techniques and work on those.

I tend to flit between photographers, styles, techniques and subject matter and pick up what i can, what i want and what interests me in each and try to get a good grip on it.

Night photography/long exposures and photo sequences are keeping me busy at the moment

Also, your idea of going through peoples Flickr websites is a great one, i do similar on DeviantArt.

Phototoxin

I'm not looking for the list of greats, or those who are seen as being hugely influential in the story and development of photography....i am just looking for who YOU feel, as a photographer, would be worth knowing and who you think i could learn from.

why though ? Why copy other people ?

ThOnda

Did anybody mention copying somebody? Looking for inspiration, broadening knowledge base, finding new possibilities and subjects.
You just cannot copy a photo. But - what is more important - if you are trying to produce similar photo, you are learning about photography itself, about techniques used, hardware, timing, processing... And all that learning only adds to your subconsciousness and eventually will come out in your pictures.
That is one of the reasons why at beginning of most photography courses are tasks to "recreate" a picture. To force you to think about the picture, to learn, try and find out.

Inspiration could be gained anywhere. From photographs, paintings, videos (and video stills), movies, TV... Open your eyes and also your mind. You never know what will happen in your brain and associations will lead to your own pictures or even style.

Calina

Phototoxin wrote: »

why though ? Why copy other people ?

In taking any photograph at all, unless you go to the trouble of, say, freezing weird shaped ice cubes, making sure you've got red food dye, and a white curtain, mostly, many photographs are copies of some reality. So why bother? You just want a memory, right?

I grew up taking landscape shots. Until I got to see the work of other people, ie not Ansel Adams or Philippe Plisson, I never realised what you could do with macro lenses, for example. Mostly, we draw influences from the outside, however unconsciously. Dragan just wants a travel guide for the journey, that's all I think.

Fajitas!

I had a long reply typed out to this earlier, and lost it... Anyways...

Borderfox wrote: »

Check yourself out Dragan, get out and find your style. Dont get bogged down in which photographer used this style and so on.

I disagree, I'd recommend checking out as many as possible - One of the big greats about the internet is so many photographers' work is so much more accessible these days. If you can look at specific peoples skill tree's, you can make a lot more sense of what you'd like to do yourself, what you need to do it, and overall, have an idea of how

ThOnda wrote: »

Get Susan Sontag's book "On Photography".

If you're interested in portraiture, without a doubt, pick up On Photography, it's a great book - Not to everyone's tastes, especially if you're not used to the style of writing, but I'd put it down as essential reading.

A lot of photographers will put down theoretical writings along with critical theory, but reading books along this vein can further the conceptual solidarity of your photography.

Phototoxin wrote: »

why though ? Why copy other people ?

Why not know what other people are up to? Why not check out the current styles to see how you'd improve them, or remodel them for yourself - Every style is evolved from a previous style, the more informed you are, the more you can put in to your photograph.



Anyways, some lovely chaps to check out.

Helmut Newton; Fashion/editorial photographer. NSFW.

Steve Klein; Fashion/editorial photographer. NSFW

Paolo Roversi; Fashion/editorial photographer.

Diane Arbus; NY portrait photographer. Some very moving photographs.

Duane Michals; Fine art photographer, works a lot with the sequence.

Jeff Wall; Reknowned in the fine art world. Staged preconcieved street photographs.

Gregory Crewdson; Cinematically styled and lit portraits. A bit OTT epic, but nice all the same.

Andreas Gursky; Also reknowned in the fine art world. Deals a lot with the 'human condition'.

Bernst & Hiller Becher; Fantastic series of photographs from across the world of the same buildings, shot in the same style. Have a well known photography school in Germany.

Stephen Shore; Vernacular FA photographer, well known for documenting the states in colour.

Larry Clarke; Photos of drug addiction, alcoholism, and so on, documentary style... has worked commercially too.



Start off with a wiki of them, and you'll get some links, if you like them, google on - There's plenty online about them.

Tbh, it's handy to pick up a book like Photographers of the 20th century, etc, just as a reference point, you'll usually only get 1 image per photographer, but it might be enough to lead you down a path you wouldn't have taken before.

Enjoy

Calina

Reference list tbh Al. Thanks.

riiight!

Check out Andre Kertesz! His composition is absolutely amazing.

I'm kinda in the same position as yourself, I never really get into other photographers but I was stunned after discovering this guy.

BanzaiBk

Helmut Newton and Berenice Abbot, my biggest inspirations.

Dragan

Phototoxin wrote: »

why though ? Why copy other people ?

I don't think i said anything about copying other people but that is definitely not the impression i wanted to give. Very rarely i will pay a little hommage to someone in my work, be it painting, drawing, writing, photography, music, whatever but i definitely don't want to copy anyone.

It's about drawing inspiration and satifisfying my ongoing hunger for knowledge. Lets say the people who have studied and are studying photography. I imagine a part of most courses is the discussion of well known photographers in various fields and examinging samples of their work. This sure is copying, it's find a footing in the work that has gone before yours.

It would be perfectly possible for me to sit on my computer, or wandering around with my camera taking and processing only my own shots.

The thing is that i am actually interested in learning about ALL aspects of photography.:)

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations ( Al, thats reading for months, thank you )!

DotOrg

melekalikimaka wrote: »

exact 3 i was gonna suggest

La Chapelle... amazing stufff

have you seen his giant book that comes in a cardboard case. i got it a couple of months back. it makes a huge difference to see each picture printed huge

Setun

If you want to treat yourself this christmas get vitamin ph. I've always thought it was a fantastic book to flick through, and a good overall reference for anyone interested in phtography.

This character is also interesting, had a great exhibition in Berlin last April.

/EDIT This guy is also great, although not strictly a photographer: http://www.thomasdemand.de/