What Photographer(s) inspire you

[ajuk]

Aurther Steal and Andy Summers

[JohnArs]

Adams, Weston, Barnbaum, Peter Lindberg, Rene Groebli, Sudek, Bresson, Brassai, Capa, Werner Bischof, Ernst Haas, Moholy Nagi, August Sander, Annie Leibovitz, Andreas Feininger, Patrick Demarchelier, Karsh, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Richard Avedon, Philippe Halsman, William Klein, Irving Penn, Elliot Erwitt, Pete Turner, Emil Schulthess, Dorothea Lange, Bruce Davidson, Wynn Bullock, Minor White, Eliot Porter, Paul Caponigro, Andre Kertesz, Jerry Uelsmann, Chargesheimer,H.P.Horst, Mister Rolleiflex Fritz Henle, Helmut Newton, George Hurrell, and all wich I forgott!

[Ed Sukach]

All of the above..

Probably the greatest inspiration for me is in the work of Alfred Cheney Johnston - hired by Flo Ziegfeld as the Official Photographer of his dancers, the Ziegfeld Girls.

"Johnston perfected the wonderfully titillating skill of making his dressed models look nude."

Not all of his work was illusionary. He did true nudes of some of the movie stars of the twenties; The Dolly sisters, Mae Marsh, Gloria Swanson, Dorothy and Lillian Gish.

Man, if I only had 1/100th of his talent...

[Helen B]

David H. Bebbington wrote:
"Least favorite - Ray Moore. I feel sorry for the man personally, he seems to have been eaten alive by bottomless depression, but I profoundly regret his influence (which he probably never sought) on British photographers over the last 20 or 30 years - I have met so many who seem to think that catatonic misery is the most desirable mental state to which an artist can aspire."

Have you got the right guy? Did you know him? To me, he was a man who was filled with a sense of wonder and a love of the things around him, and it shows in his work. His work inspired me to get into photography, as it inspired many others - the extraordinary vision, the quiet ... no, I'll stop there because we can't be thinking of the same guy.

Best,
Helen

[VoidoidRamone]

I don't think Bernd and Hilla Becher have been mentioned...
-Grant

[David H. Bebbington]

David H. Bebbington wrote:
"Least favorite - Ray Moore. I feel sorry for the man personally, he seems to have been eaten alive by bottomless depression, but I profoundly regret his influence (which he probably never sought) on British photographers over the last 20 or 30 years - I have met so many who seem to think that catatonic misery is the most desirable mental state to which an artist can aspire."

Have you got the right guy? Did you know him? To me, he was a man who was filled with a sense of wonder and a love of the things around him, and it shows in his work. His work inspired me to get into photography, as it inspired many others - the extraordinary vision, the quiet ... no, I'll stop there because we can't be thinking of the same guy.

Best,
Helen

I believe we are talking about the same person! I did not know Ray Moore, my primary impression of his work has been gained from the book "Murmurs At Every Turn", which I understand was a major retrospective and thus can be taken as representative. In an attempt to gain further insight into RM's work, I have at various times discussed it with people who knew him well, such as Paul Hill, Richard Sadler and John Blakemore. Nothing I have seen or heard has changed the impression of unrelieved bleakness and depression which I get from his work - please remember, this is a thread about personal favorites, I'm not in any way attempting a blanket dismissal of his work, although I do consider the work of the many clones he has spawned to be virtually unviewable. A purely personal view, but for images of "Britain in the raw" from the same period as RM's work give me the humor and vitality of someone like Tony Ray-Jones every time.

[Ian Grant]

Life would be boring if we all liked te same things.

Personally I found "Murmurs at every turn" inspirational. I'd mention three other artists/ photographers whose work I hold in high regard. Thomas Joshua Cooper, Olivia Parker and John Goto.

Ian

I believe we are talking about the same person! I did not know Ray Moore, my primary impression of his work has been gained from the book "Murmurs At Every Turn",. . . . . . . .

[Helen B]

"...Nothing I have seen or heard has changed the impression of unrelieved bleakness and depression which I get from his work - please remember, this is a thread about personal favorites..."

Oh well, there you go. Vastly different opinions - and I even think that his work shows his gentle, particularly English, sense of humour. And yes, I do remember that this is a thread about personal favourites, or perhaps more accurately the photographers that inspire us, not about personal dislikes. A few pages back I mentioned Ray as one of my favourites.

Best,
Helen

[magic823]

One that isn't mentioned here but I love his work is Gordon Hutchings (of PMK fame). I've been trying to talk him into a website to show his work. If you get the chance to see his work, he has two images that take my breathe away - his "Model makers desk" and his "Farm in Winter" (I can't remember his actually titles).

[roteague]

I'm becoming more and more convinced that I must be one of the few color photographers here.