Thanks to all for your response and input...Laura, special thanks to you and John for you both "got" the question. As stated in the original post, no right or wrong answers, just looking for those that are 'tilling the soil'. Hope to see more names ...
So, I think that teachers that are long dead are still managing to teach. IMO, we should encourage the continual self study by diving into the ways of the "old masters", and perhaps it will be, that through such form of learning, many will find their own eye, so to speak.
Better said than me, thanks.
I "got" the question but didn't want to start another guru seeking movement.
Photographic Influence - Who are they today?
Kim Weston, Mr. and Mrs Smith, Sean, Ole, Scott, Dr. Harter, they all influence. I have seen some of their photographs on the Internet and it provides me with some knowledge of what other people are doing out there. It's interesting but I still do my own work. If I didn't want to make my own visions I would be a collector. Photographic Influence? The Internet, TV, printed media to name a few.
The greater point is how does this influence affect your work.
I think the internet has really changed our ideas about how new photographers are cultivated and mentored... and not entirely in a good way.
It's so wonderful to have one-on-one discussion in real space with a real person, especially if that person is an experienced photographer who can give personalized advice. I'm afraid that what the internet has done is make new photographers (like myself) think they don't need that kind of interaction so much- they can just look at examples online or read any of the canned recipes that people proffer on a multitude of websites.
I just wonder if apprenticeship really exists, in the same sense that it existed a few decades ago.
No offense inteneded Curt, and I agree it was not the intent to start another guru seeking movement...just the opposite. Many found AA to be a great teacher, yet when you break it down, he taught via a workshop route, not through the academic one. Those that were mentioned actually taught in academic settings - they are the ones that helped bring many of the photography instructors that are teaching today.
Yes there are those that continue to teach via the workshop route that are very good and influence many but they are not molding the furture instructors - one name that has not been mentioned would be Tillman Crane or our own Ann - these are ones that I had hoped to see here. They are really not known outside of the academic world (with exception sometimes).
Influence in my own work - valid question and I would say that while my work is indeed my own, the influence is that of the documentary photorgraphers I have known - my academic background is in the Sciences not Photography - only one course many years ago in college and one workshop from Les more recently. But feel that I have been a student of photography most of my life starting with Life magazine back in the mid-to-late 60's and the fortune to have a world class museum, with a varied collection in the Amon Carter - where I have gone every so many months for well over 30 years.
IIt's so wonderful to have one-on-one discussion in real space with a real person, especially if that person is an experienced photographer who can give perosnalized advice.
Keith, Thank you for your observation...this is at the heart of why I feel that something could be missing in today's programs. There is nothing like one on one to catch the passion of an instructor, IMO. It is much like the exchange of ideas here, we all enjoy it (otherwise we would not come back) but it is only a small part of what the exchange of ideas can be like when face to face - these are the best in my humble opinion.
I don't think we'll see the end of ginormous colour prints of staged situations that are highly allusive regarding the history of art.
The White/Weston/Adams/Strand/etc approach is totally bankrupt if you're trying to get into museums. On the other hand, if you're trying to make a living as an artist, you might stand a chance.
I agree with this. Color is currently king. For most folks currently going to school studying photography or art, Weston/Adams is not much more relevant to them as Carleton Watkins or Jackson was to me way back when.
One reason is many of the photographers who studied with White or took workshops from Adams are older and closer to retirement and probably seen as somewhat aesthetically out of touch by students today.
__________________ "Fundamentally I think we need to rediscover a non-ironic world"
Robert Adams
Weston, Strand, Cunningham, Adams, Kertesz, Sudak, etc. Yeah, I'm simple and unsophisticated and the usual patter of art reviews just goes whoosh right over my head. Product of a lousy education and lack of natural talent, most likely.
There is absolutely no shame in looking to Weston and Adams et al. for guidance today. On the contrary, we may see a resurgence of interest in their approach because of what digital has done to the relationship between capture and print.
The f/64 ideology arguably makes more sense now than it did when it was conceived. Pictorialism and photography are basically synonymous now, and in almost every branch, not just commercial. What do today's students think of when they see work by Hurrell? It must all look stodgy and conservative now.
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