Who is your favourite photographer and what photograph of theirs do you love the most and why?

I don’t really have a single photographer or single image. One of my favorites is Ansel Adams, whose images of the West that I love really touch my heart. Have you ever seen his Moon and Half Dome?

Diane Arbus

Disturbing, yet, interesting.

@Marina Ansel Adams, absolutely. All of his photographs are wonderful. He was an exquisite man.

@jmah Wow! I agree. Love these.

I hve two. Both can be found on flickr.

Here is Gene Pease
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/geneoh/3921282715

and the other is Trent Chau
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/trentchau/3924367882/in/people/

you can click on there name to view more of there photos.

I like Molly Roberts I may be biased, because she’s my Aunt. She works for the Smithsonian now, but I love her work with National Geographic.

@casheroo I love the colours in your Aunts photos.

@casheroo Beautiful stuff.

Sara Knobel http://www.sarahknobel.com/fivebeginnings.html

Leonor Jurado http://www.leonorjurado.com/mainpage.html

Richard Avadon, Annie Liebowitz, Zach Gold (disclaimer; nephew). All on Google

Harold Edgerton. What’s not to love about fantastic science-driven photography?

Milk drop
Card shot
dive

@jmah love Diane Arbus too.

Galen and Barbara Rowell (deceased) at Mountain Light Photography

Dan Dry

Dennis O’Hara.

Ansel Adams will always be at the top of my list though,

Love Avedon. I am only sorry he died before he could photograph me. I wondered what he’d’ve pull out of my face. [/vanity]

I also like Ansel Adams, Irving Penn and Cindy Sherman.

Albert Watson has some amazing celebrity photos. His one of BB King is one of my favorites http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/photography/watson/watson.html

Also Steve McCurry and his National Geographic work is AMAZING!!! http://www.art-dept.com/artists/mccurry/

Edward Weston was a brilliant artist and one of the consummate artists in photography. Here’s a few of his pictures

This guy’s pretty damn good too ;)

It’s going to be Ansel Adams for me also. His work is truly excellent.

@Marina. Moon and Half Dome is beautiful.

@Sampson I second Steve McCurry. Love his work. You MUST check out his main page. http://www.stevemccurry.com/main.php

And here is an example of his work, and you can take a look at a few incredibly breathtaking photos here too.

He’s able to take photos which portray the human condition so well it’s amazing..

@Saturated_Brain His colors are really what makes it, I think. Makes me want to start shooting slide film.

i think im pretty awesome too www.flickr.com/photos/brawnphotography

I have always loved this portrait. Sorry that I don’t know the photographer’s name.

@holden that is an amazing photograph. Very cool history behind it too.

I love simply going to flickr and typing a word into the search “baby”” “kitten” “mountain” “ocean beach” “sunset” “clouds” and just look through the photos. It’s even better than google or bing image search.

@holden. That was an amazing portrait, no doubt. Here(photo) is the story behind that picture including the journalists name who took the picture.

@Bluefreedom aren’t those two of the fiercest eyes you have ever seen?

@holden. Absolutely incredible eyes. That has got to be the most mesmerizing (and haunted maybe?) look that I’ve ever seen on a face.

I forgot his name but he is takeing a pictures for magazine kenvelo.

Hm… Off the top of my head, Jacob Riis and Weegee.

@Saturated_Brain All I can say is thank you! Steve McCurry’s work is stunning! I had never experienced his work before and so I am extremely glad that I asked this question. I especially love his Vietnam and Animal sections.

@willbrawn I agree. You do take some amazing pictures.

@holden & @willbrawn & @Bluefreedom That’s Steve McCurry you’re paying tribute to. Visit his site! Come on! You know you want to. =P

@Leanne1986 No problemo. Photography is an amazing artform, and the fact that just about anybody can be a photographer nowadays just make these masters even more awe-inspiring. Have you checked out Steve McCurry’s India section yet? If not, take a look. I especially like photo 14 (27 is also quite nice [ah heck they’re all nice, just that these are two of the few which stand out even more in my opinion]).

Also, have you ever heard of Sam Abell? Now he’s an interesting photographer. Also very famous. He works with National Geographic too and his specialty is finding the oomph of photos in the normal and everyday. He specialises in images of still stuff, and his influence gradually grew until he reached the high peak he’s on today. So much for those who initially dismissed his work as being too mundane.

Now while I’m not a very big fan of his, there’s just something about one of his pictures which draws me in. It’s a picture of some pears on a hotel windowsill in Moscow. Take a look at this entry in the National Geographic website about him. The picture I’m talking about is at the very top of the article.

Also, this question has made me go to search for more photographers, and I think that everyone here will be interested in this article on “5 of the best travel photographers of all time”. Now while I don’t speak for the writer, I think that his choices are really good. Ansel Adams is there, as is Steve McCurry. And he led me to discover another photographer who specialises in underwater photography, Chris Newbert (although looking at the Nat’l Geographic website it links too, looks like not all of the photos have been taken by him [although I love the jellyfish]).

But I found his main site, and whoa… This is an incredible photo. Sorry, I’m just huge on marine life. =P

Ack.. I’m finding new photographers as I type this! David Doubilet! Nudibranch photographer for National Geographic! I remember reading the article with his photos in the magazine some time back, and the way in which he photographed the nudibranchs was really cool. He’d bring a sort of white platform with two white walls (something like a studio stage) underwater and he’d place the nudibranchs on them before photographing them. I remember thinking that it was cute.

Edit: Just found Barry Steven Greff too. Check out his portfolio. I don’t think you’ll regret it, especially when you see the waterfall picture. Breathtaking…

@Sampson Slide film? Is that how he gets those striking colours? And you’re right. Albert Watson is good.

@All And guys, thanks for the links. It made me look at some nice pics (Dennis O’Hara is cool [although I still think those I’ve listed own =P]). I hope that my answer has also enabled some of you to discover some simply fantastic photographers.

I have so got to keep this question bookmarked.

Oh, how can we forget Man Ray? R.E.M. and The Futureheads have sung songs about him.

In retrospect, I think that I single-handedly overwhelemd everyone with photographers.. Whoopsie..

Dali’s are rather nifty, as well.

I saw an exhibit a few years ago and am still trying to find out the guy’s name…I loved it. He staged scenes taken from recent news events and photographed them in the most eery way…they were huge too. Anyone know?
I love David Lachapelle’s stuff.

Edward Steichen-great celebrity portraits
Edward Weston- Pepper, 1930

@Saturated_Brain Steve McCurry shoots slide film.

@Saturated_Brain Do you ever see someone, hear someone talking or meet them for a short aqmount of time and think to yourself “I wish that person was my friend”? Well, I wish you were my friend!!!

I like Steve McCurry escpecially.

As a (street) photographer, you might wanna check these
:)

David La Chapelle.

I love Ansel Adams’ “Moonrise Over Hernandez New Mexico”. There is something stark and haunting about that piece.

http://artblart.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/moonrise-hernandez-new-mexico-1941.jpg

I also really found the Annie Leibovitz portrait of John and Yoko to be a really powerful image and it is one of my favorites.Whatever you may think of Yoko personally, this shows a portrait of a strong woman and the vulnerability of a man clinging to her…it is passionate and erotic and still infused with this vulnerability. Stunning and beautiful, I think:

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/media_collection/6/PGP%20158.5.jpg

I also like the work of Mario Testino.

I’m another huge fan of Steve McCurry. I recently bought his latest publication – “The Unguarded Moment” – it’s outrageously good! The pages are massive and it’s like having a personal exhibition of his work.

I also really love the landscape photography of Charlie Waite. He has a really distinctive style. Everything seems very uncluttered and clean, without being minimalist. He’s got a cool website worth checking out!