CHOOSE A FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER FROM ONE OF THE FOLLOWING LISTS TO DO YOUR NEXT PROJECT ON. YOU WILL RESEARCH THEM, WRITE ABOUT THEM AND SHOOT A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN THEIR STYLE.
Read through ALL of the following artists. Click on their name to view their photographs. Choose a photographer to base your next project on. Keep in mind you will have to create a series of images in the same style/subject matter of your chosen photographer.
When you have chosen one, research them and fill out the "style survey" on the "Artist Inspiration" project webpage.
When you have chosen one, research them and fill out the "style survey" on the "Artist Inspiration" project webpage.
FAMOUS CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Becher, Bernd and Hilla- The bechers are knon for their stark black & white photographs of industrial structures, water towers, grain elevators, and German framework houses.
- Cowin, Eileen- Cowin's work is sometimes inspired by Surrealism, leaving the viewer trying to figure out the meaning of the photograph.
- Dijkstra, Rineke- Dijkstra's series of pictures of isolated figures on a beach are portraits of people at their most vulnerable.
- Eastman, Michael- Eastman records exteriors and interiors of buildings, signs, vanishing sights of the Midwest, Cuba and Italy, and is known for intense colors.
- Friedlander, Lee- Friedlander sometimes photographs monuments that people erect to commemorate a worthy cause. Many books of his work have been published, allowing him artistic freedom that not all photographers have enjoyed.
- Fuss, Adam- Fuss takes photos that include a fascination with the effects of subjects such as snakes or water drops, or babies on the surface of water, and the transparent images he calls My Ghost.
- Groover, Jan- Groover takes available-light photographs of whatever is happening in a place that appeals to her, such as highways and urban landscapes.
- Gursky, Andreas- Gursky's large images may be larger than 6 by 15 feet. He uses digital technology to make panorama-like images.
- Hockney, David- Hockney uses photography as a tool, sometimes making montages of photographs, other times documenting life on the West Coast, with its swimming pools, highways, and affluence.
- Iturbide, Graciela- Iturbide worked with Manuel Alvarez Bravo and shares his interest in photographing Mexican culture with all its diversity.
- Kasten, Barbara- Kasten's abstract photographs represent the effects of light and structure, taking "three-dimensional form" and photographing it to be two-dimensional. She says that light is her subject.
- Klett, Mark- Klett, a geologist by training, shows a fascination with the world of nature, such as Western rock formations, saguaro cacti, and the Grand Canyon. Many of this Western photographs are "revisits" to places that were featured by photography pioneers in the 1860s and 1870s.
- Kruger, Barbara- Barabara Kruger's collage-style commentaries are on the subject of love and the role of women in society.
- Leibovitz, Annie- Leibovitz began as a Rolling Stone magazine photographer, specializing in celebrity portraits.
- Sze Tsung Leong- Leong's large-scale photos of new and ancient buildings record changes happening in regions of China.
- Misrach, Richard- Misrach's large-scale seascapes in his On the Beach series reveal the place of humans in the vastness of nature.
- Muniz, Vik- Muniz photographs the lives of ordinary people and objects. However, he is also known for his unconventionally "chocolate series" (large Cibachrome prints that have been partially covered with chocolate).
- Salgado, Sebastao- Salgado photographs the human condition. His subjects have included gold mining in Brazil, famine in Ethiopia, and the lives of refugees.
- Sherman, Cindy- Sherman's subject is herself, sometimes grotesquely made up, usually unrecognizable. Her large color photographs are in collections around the world.
- Shore, Stephen- Shore works with a large-format camera to take cityscapes with "clearly focused attention." The photographs taken on his travels show his fascination with clarity and light.
- Simpson, Lorna- Simpson's (mostly) black & white photographs are based on "stereotypes of race and gender." her titles are as intriguing as the photographs themselves.
- Skoglund, Sandy- Skoglund is a sculptor/photographer who places bizarre sculptural objects in an environment, carefully controlling the color, then records them through photography.
- Steinmetz, Mark- Photographs of people, surrealistic wide-angle compositions, unusual viewpoints, realism, and total abstractions best describe the unique work of Steinmetz.
- Uelsman, Jerry N- Uelsman specializes in darkroom manipulation, using several negatives on the same black & white images. He coined the phrase "post-visualization" to describe this process.
- Weems, Carrie Mae- Weems's work emphasizes the African-American experience, whether in old photos that she has transformed through color and title or contemporary portraits.
- Wegman, William- Wegman's witty photographs of his Weimaraner dogs in human activities or attire have been used in advertising, books, greeting cards, and television spots.
- Yasumasa Morimura- Morimura's huge photographs of himself dressed as a reincarnation of a famous painting or personage are unique and demonstrate enormous talent and wit.
MASTER PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM THE LAST 175 YEARS
- Abbott, Berenice- Created primarily urban portraits of New York City.
- Ansel, Adams- Possibly the best known of American photographers, Adams created beautiful landscapes of impeccable exposure and printing.
- Arbus, Diane- Arbus's photographs are often of "outsiders" of society, sensitive, intimate portraits.
- Atget, Eugene- Atget photographed his surroundings and the people in them; simple, beautifully designed recordings of a time in the past.
- Avedon, Richard- Avedon, a fashion photographer and portrait artist, compels you to look at his insightful portraits.
- Caponigro, Paul- Paonigro photographed Irish Megaliths and other ancient monuments while funded by a Guggenheim grant.
- Cartier-Bresson, Henri- Cartier-Bresson would wait for what he called "the decisive moment" to take a photograph, selecting a place to photograph, then waiting to time his photos perfectly.
- Cunningham, Imogen- Cunningham specialized in scenes of the city taken with a view camera. A member of Group F.64, her lovely photos of calla lilies and other flowers are known for remarkable clarity.
- Edgerton, Harold- Edgerton specialized in high-speed photos and was the inventor of the strobe flash, a deep-sea camera, and the underwater flash. His technical ability is legendary.
- Evans, Walker- Evans worked during the 1930s Depression for the WPA-FSA. He photographed signs and billboards, often making ironic connections between the out-of-work people posed next to signs showing affluence.
- Gilpin, Laura- Gilpin recorded the life of the Native American in her book The Enduring Navajo. At age 81 she took photographs of Canyon de Chelly from the ground and air.
- Lange, Dorothea- During the1930s Depression, Lange photographed migrant workers in California for the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FSA).
- Model, Lisette- Model's unglamorous photographs of Americans on the beach or people in ordinary situations reflected themes she had begun in Europe titled Boredom, Greed, or Self-Satisfaction.
- Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo- Moholy-Nagy was a founder of the American Bauhaus, especially knob for his photograms, or photos taken from unusual viewpoints.
- Muybridge, Eadweard- Muybridge used consecutive motion photos to demonstrate the process of human and animal motion.
- Porter, Eliot- Porter did documentary photos of Glen Canyon just before it was inundated by a dam built on the Colorado River. He specialized in photographs of nature, specifically in the Southwest, and won a Guggenheim fellowship to photograph birds.
- Ray, Man (Emmanuel Rudnitsky)- Ray mostly made "Rayographs" (his version of the photogram), employing abstract shapes. He is also well-known for his solarized photographs and became a major figure in Dada and Surrealism.
- Rodchenko, Alexander- Rodchenko's photomontage compositions were used to help further the cause of a Socialist society.
- Steichen, Edward- A member of the Photo Secession movement, Steichen is best known for his portraits. He believed that the personality of the photographer should not overshadow the reality of the subject.
- Stieglitz, Alfred- Stieglitz is considered to be the father of American photography because of his work with Aperture magazine and his founding of the Little Galleries of the Photo Secession.
- Weston, Edward- Weston was a member of Group F.64. His photography included vegetables, nudes, and sometimes vegetables that looked like nudes. his stark desert scenes and beach pictures demonstrated his mastery of design.
- White, Minor- White was a poet prior to becoming a photographer. His work reflected his commitment to the Asian Zen philosophy.