Yesterday, I was asked who were my Top Ten Favorite Photographers of all time. After giving it some thought, this is the list I came up with:

01) George H. Seeley
02) Edward Steichen
03) Anne Brigman
04) Jan Groover
05) Francesca Woodman
06) Robert Maxwell
07) Emil Schildt
08) Jan Saudek
09) Sheila Metzner
10) Edward Weston

Uhh, probably in that order too. At least this evening...

Who's on your Top Ten list?


Joe

Here's a few of my classical favorites:

Edward Curtis
Dorothea Lange
Paul Caponigro
Alfred Stieglitz
Paul Strand
Edward Steichen
Berenice Abbott
Imogen Cunningham
Lee Friedlander
Yousuf Karsh

1.) Jack Dykinga
2.) Joe Cornish
3.) Ken Duncan
4.) Tom Till
5.) John Fielder
6.) William Neil
7.) Christopher Burkett
8.) Andris Apse
9.) Peter Dombrovskis
10.) Per Volquartz - the lone B&W guy
11.) David Ward - sorry, can't forget this guy

In alphabetical order:

Berenice Abbott
Ansel Adams (no, really)
Richard Avedon
Imogen Cunningham
Harold Edgerton
E. O. Goldbeck
Aaron Siskind
George Tice
Brett Weston
Edward Weston

In no particular order...

Bernice Abbott
Richard Avedon
Paul Strand
Ed Weston
Myron Wood
Shelby Lee Adams
Robert Adams
Tim O'Sullivan
Dorothea Lange
Nell Dorr

but the list is really longer, also Ansel Adams, Bruce Barnbaum, Elliot Proter, David Muench, Paul Caponigro, Yousuf Karsh, Tillman Crane, Ernest Knee...and others I'm sure

"... Top Ten Favorite Photographers..."
I yoosta get a kick out of asking non-photographer friends to name a half-dozen painters. All could. Then, I'd ask them to name a half-dozen photographers. None could.

Some of my favorites, in no particular order...

1. Richard Avedon
2. Edward Weston
3. Albert (the Cyclops) Watson
4. John Sexton
5. Herb Ritts
6. Helmut Newton
7. Robert Maplethorpe's still life images
8. Irving Penn
9. Alfred Stieglitz
10. Man Ray

Here are 10 of mine, in no particular order:

Brett Weston
Edward Weston
Andre Kertesz
Aaron Siskind
George Tice
Harry Callahan
Ralph Gibson
Eugene Smith
Manuel Alverez Bravo
Wynn Bullock

Could easily come up with another 10.

Here is a few folks that are outstanding in my mind. I can think of about fifty more that should be on my list, I'll include them in my next ten:

No particular order here, I love em all!

Yousuf Karsh
Irving Penn
Imogen Cunningham
Edward Stiechen
Edward Weston
W E "Gene" Smith
Ansel Adams
Dorthea Lange
Julia Margaret Cameron
Michael A Smith... APUG
Murray Nye ... APUG
Jim Galli ... APUG
Per Volquartz... APUG

I never was very good at math!
Charlie....................................

Leonard Misonne

Charles Marville
Peter Henry Emerson
Edw Weston
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Philippe Halsman

Josef Sudek
Sally Mann
Diane Arbus
Adam Fuss
Eudora Welty
Cailin Duram (my cousin :)

atget
man ray
steichen
kertesz
karsh

and unknowns that are found on the shelves of
"ye olde junquestore"

Man Ray
Bill Brandt
Edward Weston
Eugene Smith
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Paul Strand
Elliot Erwitt
Don McCullin
Cornell Capa
Weegee
Bert Hardy
Ian Berry
Phillipe Halsmann
Thurston Hopkins

and many more...

Ansel Adams
Paul Caponigro
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Imogen Cunningham
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Yousuf Karsh
Dorthea Lange
Irving Penn
Paul Strand
Edward Weston

and so many more....

In the order in which I became aware of their work through the progression of my photography. To name a FEW.

Kathryn C. Walrath - my mom
Galen Rowell - Outdoor Photographer
Ansel Adams - Basic Photogrpahy Series
Clyve Butcher - OP Masters of the Landscape 03
Edward Weston - B&W Contrasty Still Lifes
William Neill - Outdoor Photography
Dewitt Jones - Basic Jones OP
David Meunch - Slot Canyons et al

and of course . . .
Sean - for starting this website.
Thank you.

Josef Sudek


Thank you. All the lists here are so American-centric.

So give us your list . . .

I'm not sure if I have a stable list of favourites, except for a few names, but here's what floats my boat these days, in alpha order:

Roger Ballen
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Edward Burtynsky
William Eggleston
Walker Evans
E.O. Hoppé
Chris Marker (well, he's not just a photographer, but he's also that)
John Max
Stephen Shore
Andreï Tarkovsky (yep, filmmaker, but his book of Polaroids is amazing)
Jeff Wall

PS
EW
BW
AA
ES
IC
YK
FP
WE
RC

So give us your list . . .

well; I tend to agree that it is very american, but that might be natural..

however, here is mine:

Josef Sudek (czeck)
Frantisek Drtikol(czeck)
Sally Mann (american)
Kirsten Klein (danish MASTER)
Andreas Heumann (english (I think))
Rudolph Koppitz (Austrian)
NP Andreev (russian)
Irvin Penn (American)
Leni Riefenstahl (german)
Horst P Horst (german born)

a LOT more lurking in the wings....

Brassï
Bill Brandt
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Andre Kertesz
Don McCullin
David Bailey
Yousuf Karsh
Dorothea Lange
Lee Miller
Peter Henry Emerson

It'll change tomorrow but these have been consistently my faves for 20+ years.
Mark

Unless I missed it, I haven't seen Garry Winogrand's name. An acquired taste, perhaps?

Nevertheless, he has got to rank up there somewhere in terms of sheer volume of work. I think that the Center for Creative Photography is still trying to sort through the thousands (literally!) of rolls of film left when he "shuffled off [his] mortal coil".

He might win some kind of a mention for the record number of exposures made by a (relatively) famous photographer!

Unless I missed it, I haven't seen Garry Winogrand's name. An acquired taste, perhaps?

Nevertheless, he has got to rank up there somewhere in terms of sheer volume of work. I think that the Center for Creative Photography is still trying to sort through the thousands (literally!) of rolls of film left when he "shuffled off [his] mortal coil".

He might win some kind of a mention for the record number of exposures made by a (relatively) famous photographer!

I thought they developed them all and the result was the Szarkowski-edited "Figments from the Real World", which he indicated had a very low image "hit" rate for the volume of film shot.

I don't have a link handy, but I've seen some references indicating Winogrand got a motor drive for his Leica in his later years, which some speculate had a negative effect on his image quality (eg, it made it too easy to "pray and spray", as it were).

No particular order

Lee Freidlander
Stephen Shore
Richard Avedon
Lartigue
Weegee
Edward Weston
Mark Klett
Abelardo Morell
Steve Aishman
Gregory Crewdson

Mabman,
I think that you are correct that they did develop all of Winogrand's film. I read of a symposium/exhibit held at the Center for Creative Photography (Tucson) in late 2001/early 2002 where they explored Winogrand's work, including his last unedited (by Winogrand) work. There apparently was some debate about whether or not to exhibit photos taken by a deceased photographer that the photographer had no chance to proof/edit. (I say, bring 'em on -- no use in hiding potentially great photos in a store room somewhere.)

There was indeed some discussion of the diminishing quality of Winogrand's late work. But others thought that he was trying to push past his "legacy" work into new areas to "solve new photography problems" as Winogrand would say.

Anyway, I like the guy's work. I've got to feel admiration for anyone who was as obsessive about exposing film as Winogrand. He seemed to live for shooting pictures.

I read an interesting interview with the guy in Austin Tx, Jerry Sullivan, who maintained Winogrand's Leicas while Winogrand was at the University of Texas. According to Sullivan, Winogrand beat the hell out of his Leicas -- not literally, but Winogrand "rode them hard". I guess that anyone who shot at many photos as Winogrand probably used up a lot of equipment in the process!

Anyway, those of you who have not already, check out Winogrand's work -- I think that you'll agree that he belongs up there with the masters... David