Ralph Eugene Meatyard:
Meatyard was first a photography hobbyist, he first purchased a camera so he could take photos of his son. Eventually he began attending photo workshops and even had his own makeshift darkroom where he processed photos in his spare time. He is known for his original yet slightly disturbing work. Meatyard challenged some of the social norms of photography by using unconventional subjects, soft focusing, intentional camera shake blur and other things. He worked mostly with black and white photographs. His images showed a lot of contrast while also working with slower shutter speeds to blur motion. Many of his photos feature his subjects wearing masks or holding old dolls. He often placed his models, ordinary people, in backyards or abandoned buildings. He worked with a wide range of lighting anywhere from direct sunlight, diffused lighting, and some studio work. I think his most interesting work is when he intentionally chose to blur some motion. I have seen a photo he took of a child waiving their arms. It was a simple beautiful demonstration of motion. Many times when he uses a slow shutter speed to blur movement it creates even more of an eerie feel to his photos. Overall his work has inspired me to experiment using slow shutter speeds in more portraits and not just sports or panning photos.
Garry Winogrand:
Winogrand was made famous for his black and white street photography, showing American life in the mid-twentieth century. He shot so many photographs that at the time of his death in 1984, he had over 2,500 rolls of undeveloped film. Winogrand was an expert at capturing public American life. His high contrast photos show behavior, beauty, fashion, and the mentality of the ordinary person going about their day while also maintaining beautiful composition. While Meatyard took a more artistic approach to his photography using alternative techniques I feel like his photos are just as successful as Winogrand's. Winogrand has a more clean composition and subject matter but both photographers have very strong subjects and concepts.
William Eggleston:
Eggleston is mainly known for his ability to photograph and find the beauty in ordinary subjects. His work was inspired by dye-transfer printing. He found the colors beautiful and wanted to photograph more ordinary subjects instead of producing commercial photographs like what he had seen. He has also been credited with securing color photography as a legitimate artistic medium. Obviously, the majority of his work is in color. I am amazed by how he can practice color theory and find ordinary subjects that exhibit such pleasing color combinations. Even his monochromatic work seems to have amazing color contrast. He does a good job documenting the simplicity of life through everyday subjects. I think his use of color helps draw attention to his work. Sure its a photo of a building and some cylinder. But the primary color contrast really brings our attention to it.
Stephen Shore:
Shore began his photography career when he was 14, he sold 3 photographs to the curator of Metropolitan Museum of art in New York. He says that he first loved color photography because it not only showed the intensity but also the color of the light. He found the changing of light fascinating. It was amazing how much light could change in just a few hours, or that light could be so different at the same time of day on different days. Much like Eggleston, he photographed how beautiful normal mundane subjects can be. Shore's work has less saturation than Eggleston's but still shows beautiful color. I think that Shore also uses more subtle color theory. I can't always put my finger on why exactly the colors are so pleasing in his photos while in Eggleston's I can usually point out when he uses something like primary contrast or complimentary colors.
