Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon:

Avedon was a very successful portrait photographer and was very well known for his fashion photos. He has worked for Vogue and Life magazines. In addition to his fashion photos, he also was a successful photo journalist. He took photos of mental hospitals and worldly events, famous people, and had a series called 'The Great American West'. His photos are easily distinguishable because of his minimalist style and usually stark white backgrounds. I love how much emotion he shows in his photos. His fashion portraits were successful because they just were not beautiful shots of people but because they showed some emotion and personality. The audience was no longer just looking at the woman or the garment that was being sold but thinking about the image as a whole more conceptually. My favorite work that he has done was The Great American West. Every image I have seen from the series has been beautiful and very inspirational to me. Even though he does not follow the rule of thirds the image is too striking to look away. His subjects often making eye contact and the detail of the photo makes you not want to look away. He also has a lot of contrast in his images but he makes it work. He found the sweet spot of contrast that works perfectly for his subjects.

Philippe Halsman:

Richard Misrach/Robert Glenn Ketchum

Richard Misrach:

Misrach is known for his landscape work and work that shows human interaction with the environment. He has been an advocate for color photography and has recently taken advantage of the perks of digital photography and producing very stunning detailed images. He has had work in over 50 major museums. Misrach's work really shows how important lighting is in landscape photography.  He has taken a lot of photographs using the golden light right before sunset. Although I do see a lot of photos where he shot on overcast days. It makes me wonder how long it takes him to get a successful photo of a certain place, if he waits days until the perfect light or if he just gets very lucky. I think his photos of how humans interact with the environment are very successful, especially the one above. I love the contrast of the textured road created by vehicles. There is a lot of detail that is shown by the lighting. I'm not sure about his placement of the horizon line though. It does break the photo in half but the sky really works with the image. Looking at his work makes me want to use my largest f-stop and set my camera on a tripod during golden hour and take as many landscape photos as I can. I was also particularly inspired by his use of reflections in his landscape images. 




Robert Glenn Ketchum:

Ketchum has been a strong advocate of using photography to address enviromental issues. He was one of the founders of the International League of Conservation Photographers. American Photo magazine named him one of the most important people in photography in the 1990's and also featured him in their 'Masters Series'. His photos are mainly color landscapes. I think his photos are very successful because he just doesn't shoot traditional landscapes of rolling hills. He also shoots nature, photos of trees and streams. Just because you are taking a landscape photo doesn't mean the background has to be miles and miles long. I like how he uses fog in a lot of his photos. It blocks just enough of the land that it peaks your interest but if you look hard enough you can still see past just a bit of the fog. I'm very inspired by his work because it looks like he had to hike through deep nature to get his photos. It doesn't look like he stood on a lookout next to a hundred tourists and snapped his photo. 

Annie Leibovitz/Chris Verene

Annie Leibovitz:

Leibovitz is known for her stunning portrait photography. She studied painting and took night classes in photography before she began working for Rolling Stone Magazine. After working only three years for Rolling Stone she became the Cheif photographer. She also worked for Vanity Fair and Vogue as well as many advertising campaigns such as "Got Milk?". Leibovitz has a reputation for persuading her subjects to lose their clothing for her camera. She likes to get to know the people she photographs and make them feel comfortable. I think its amazing that she can take such sensitive and reveling photos of famous and stubborn people. The ideas she has for her images are also very intriguing. I would love to hear how she brainstorms for photoshoots. I also love how she lights her photos. I'm amazed by the flawless lighting in even on location. The lighting she uses gives her subjects so much detail and texture. She includes so many details to help the audience see the whole story. I get a lot of inspiration from the second picture above. I love how the photo is almost monochromatic except for the deep red detail. Her work has provided a lot of inspiration for me both conceptually and technically. 

Chris Verene:

Verene began working with a medium format camera at the age of 16. His ongoing project is to document his family and community he grew up with. He does this in a very interesting way. He is one of the perfect examples of "You have to know the rules before you're allowed to break them." With first glance at his photographs you would think that they were just snapshots out of an old family album, but with closer inspection you can tell that a lot of thought had actually gone into making the images. He works a lot with flash and candid subjects. When I look at the images he has taken of his family I feel like I am being allowed to see a very intimate moment. He shows us into homes and the everyday life of people. They are not dressed up, the house might not be cleaned as if they were expecting it to be photographed. I love looking at the patterns and decor in the houses as well as the candidness of everything. The flash almost give it a plastic throw away camera feel. Like mom was just snapping photos on christmas morning to document the event. But the shots are composed and the flash is done technically well.