Inspirations in Photography

[Brownie]

Who inspires you in the world of photography? This can be someone you’ve emulated their style or stolen some of their ideas, or just someone that you have admiration for.

 

Personally for me, the works of Josef Kouldelka, Garry Winogrand and Robert Frank are the most inspirational to me in photography. All three have a distinct style that sets them apart from everyone else. The content, tonal values, and composition of the content if magnificent. It makes you think as opposed to a cosmetic photograph If you haven’t heard of these photographers, I would highly suggest looking at their work or renting a library book of theirs.

 

Who are your favorites?

[spike]

My inspiration is a strange but personal one. Years ago I was sharing a few pictures via AIM (yeah..that long ago) with a friend called Jade. She has a crippling  illness called Wilson’s Disease and her mobility is very limited. Furthermore she comes from a very traditional and restrictive Vietnamese family who don’t encourage her to push her own boundaries, whether those be physical or in the realm of self expression.

I was showing her some shots I took on a camping trip. They were not the best photos because they were taken with a low resolution digital camera with a slow sensor and no flash. I mentioned that I wasn’t real happy with the pics, and she said this.

“I would give anything to have two good legs and a camera.”.  I remember those words exactly. After that she went on to say that if she ever went to the mountains or the ocean or a different city she would take pictures of literally everything in case it was the last time she ever got to be there. She was afraid that the time would come that pictures would be all she had..and she had too few pictures like mine.

Ever since then, when I do a run of touristy snapshots of seemingly random things I encounter along the way, I label the album “TGLAAC” and the date in living memory of Jade Le.

[kbee]

Jumping in quickly to say that I love your story, spike, and your folder dedication to Jade. TGLAAC!

[Sarah]

Awesome story Spike.

Mine is less interesting. I look up to a photographer in the area that I had worked with in high school. He is a pretty well known wedding photographer in the area. I hope to be as successful as him one day.

[stef]

/thread, spike.

[Mikey_Baker79]

God so, so many.

Klein is brilliant but I love Meyerowitz’s street stuff. For portraiture it has to be Sally Mann or Martin Parr. Trent Parke from Newcastle Australia is an amazing photographer and his film stuff always blows my mind. Nan Golding for the raw style and on the other end of that I’d say William Eggleston who takes the most polished looking candid shots ever.

Not really a fan of a lot of commercial photographers, though not against the format, I just hate over-editting that has become popular, but Jonas Peterson is definately my favourite comercial photographer.

Hope this helps people discover something new out there.

[Brownie]

Mikey, I just checked out Trent Parke’s work, and oh my goodness, it’s excellent.  His tonality is super rich but it works incredibly well in giving the illusion of an uneasiness or an alternative world of sorts if that makes sense. Like some sort of post-apocalyptic reality.  Some of his stuff resembles DiCorcia’s Heads series which I enjoy greatly. You got to love great street photography.

 

Thank you for sharing!

[cheesenode]

I can’t even think of the names of any photographers or people that have inspired me.  I just have always loved photography, but never had the chance to get into it until recently.  Around thanksgiving last year, a ex-coworker of mine called me out of the blue.  She had been looking at all my pictures on Facebook.  They were all taken with my phone’s camera.  She said she felt I had an eye for photography, and wanted to give me a chance to explore it a little more.  She then lent me her DSLR, a tripod, and other accessories till about February this year.  In that time I took well over 3000 photos of just about everything I saw.  I carried the camera everywhere and tried to learn all the little functions and explored how each scene or subject could be shot in so many ways.  Around tax time I had decided that I knew what my return was going towards.  I filed as soon as my W2 came out so I could order my own camera quickly.  I am still taking photos of everything I see, and still learning on a daily basis.  I guess it is my ex-coworker that enabled me, if not inspired me as well.

[IHF]

When I suddenly lost sight in one eye, and found out that my good eye most likely will suffer the same fate, I thought “I can do this.  I will do everything I can to save my vision and be vigilant about going to the doctor, and I will take the steps necessary to make sure I will live a good life”….Then I panicked!  MY CAMERA!!!!  MY PHOTOGRAPHY!  and I mourned, and worried and avoided my camera for months.  I didn’t want to find out I couldn’t do it, or that it would be different.  Then a friend showed me this video

So Pete Eckert is very high on my list.  If that guy can do what he does, and create such wonderful, touching, technically challenging images, I most certainly can still goof around and fulfill my photography needs.

http://www.peteeckert.com/ If you are interested in his whole portfolio

 

I also found other blind photographers that inspire me to keep going

http://blog.blindphotographers.org/

 

What’s strange is I am attracted to darker moody photographs like Lee Jefferies, but I shoot the complete opposite, and can’t even picture myself even trying to attempt to shoot in this direction at all (like I even could lol).  I think it’s mostly because I lost some color, detail, contrast, and depth because of my glaucoma, and I miss seeing like I used to.  So for my own shots, I like light, light, light, vivid colors, sharp focus, detail, shallow depth of field, and lot’s of macro.

His photography is absolutely amazing!!!  I need tissue and a good 4 hour block (at least) to view his photos.

 

I also like Zack Arias a whole whole bunch.  I like the way he speaks, teaches, and thinks photography.  Very cool dude, who doesn’t seem to abuse his platform at all.

 

Just your plain everyday, run of the mill “old school” photographers.  Ya know, those awesome people that have been documenting lives and taking portraits for decades, and can make all sorts of bad situations work without a hitch.  Their versatility, skill, and experiences….well  I covet them.  I want to be able to shoot like that, and share stories like theirs.  But, mostly I LOVE to learn from them.

[Brownie]

That was a very interesting video,  I find his work very interesting in the fact that he works with sound to establish what is there at that present time but I fear that if he wasn’t blind, it wouldn’t interest me as much.

Oh, Lee Jeffries tonality is gorgeous. I may need a bit longer that four hours to study his work :P.

[IHF]

Finally had some time to myself today to look up the togs everyone had mentioned here, and wowy wow WOW!

A day isn’t enough.  Wonderful thread!  Thank you all so much for the contributions 🙂

I hope this thread doesn’t get buried or deleted or lost, because I want it to grow in a very bad way

[Brownie]

If you like those, then you’ll LOVE the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Helen Levitt. Two GIANTS in the photography world.

[Brownie]

I’m not one to ‘bump’ topics but…BUMP

[Author]

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