The Masters

Durring those times when I just can't seem to find anything worth shooting, I always searched for inspiration from the masters.
You always hear musicians asked "who are your inspirations/influences?"
Photography is the same. Not every great photographer will inspire everyone, but I promise that when you find that photographer that does inspire, you get to see the world in a new way. (I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true.)
There are alot of landscape photographers here. I know there are some of us suffering from the mid winter blues. (at least I am) Here's a photographer that I've admired for years... Ansel Adams. I'm sure that some or all of you have heard of him before. Below I've attached a link to a small gallery of his work. These images where taken around the 1930's-1940's.

Who do you guys/gals look up to?


http://www.anseladams.com/

I've never really admired Ansel Adam's photographs in terms of the subject matter. I'm just not a landscapes person. However I really do admire his photographs for their technical perfection. There is an overwhelming sense of realism when one sees a real Ansel Adam print on a gallery wall. It feels as if you can just climb into the photograph. It seems so real yet it is also fantasy - Ansel Adam's Yosemite isn't really Yosemite as a visitor would see it. From a technical point of view, his prints are definitely the benchmark for quality and should remain the benchmark even in this age of digital photography and upsampling to the moon.

I respect Ansel Adams very much as a teacher. I personally feel that his teachings, through his books, his workshops and in taking on apprentices is his biggest contribution to photography. This is what set Adams apart from many other great photographers that made exquisite prints as Adams did. His Zone System hasn't worked well for me though as a 35mm person. I still apply its basic principles often when using my spot meter. It's better for people that shoot large format as he did.

My list of inspirational photographers is too huge. But there is one who is simply IT for me (and I think anybody can guess who it is from my avatar). In my opinion, and with all due respect to other great and wonderful photographers, there is Henri Cartier-Bresson and then there is everybody else.

My top five are:
1. Henri Cartier-Bresson
2. Sebastião Salgado
3. Josef Koudelka
4. Richard Avedon
5. Alexander Rodchenko

Winter is when I dive into the works of other photographers for inspiration and for education (and also find myself buying tons of gear). Currently into Ilse Bing. I feel that she is one of the most under-rated photographers of her time. Also Robert Doisneau and Sally Mann. I find lots of inspiration online and especially on Flickr. I particularly like Tommy Oshima and his collaborators - the Osaka Seven. Also online, I met Tom Abrahamsson who I find inspirational as a photographer and as a person. He really lives his life for photography and despite his age, health problems, his involvement in the photography related organizations, and making custom accessories as a machinist, he is still a Leica-shooting machine and has fun doing it. He probably takes more photographs on a weekend than I do in an entire year. Tom serves as a constant reminder that there is NO excuse for me not shooting. I'm trying very hard to "get" Eugene Atget. Viewing films by Claude Lelouch. A person I met online commented that a recent series of photographs I made reminded him of a Andrei Tarkovsky film so now plan on researching Tarkovsky films too. I'm reading books by photographers Brooks Jensen, Bill Jay and David Hurn. I subscribe to B&W Magazine and LensWork - there is pretty good inspiration in those mags.

Ohhh, LensWork.. do you have a subscription, or have you found a source in the Sault? The only place I've ever found it has been Indigo in Sudbury. I really loved the spotlight on Howard Shatz. Any of the photos in LW inspire me.. it would be so nice to be able to work with MF or LF gear.

As for masters I look to, I don't have any. I wish I could rattle off 25 of the greats, but I can't. I can name Ansel, and his work really inspires me to reach as high as I can.. but I don't find myself trying to emulate him. A lot of my inspiration comes from casual observing. Taking note of shots that stir something in me. I get a lot of that on Flickr. I had a hard time getting my head around Yuri Dojc and why everyone thought he was so great, but I kept him in my contacts list in the hopes that I'd see something that *I* liked of his. It finally happened.. his Rwanda series.. totally moving. Another I've just recently come across is Adolfo Isassi - as close to an Ansel as you can get today IMO. Here's a sample in respective order:

http://flickr.com/photos/yuridojc/2159964160/

http://flickr.com/photos/adolfo_isassi/1625006933/

I subscribe to LensWork - I get the magazine plus the Lenswork Extended DVD. Just got issue 74 yesterday in the mail. I've never seen it anywhere in the Soo. I have never seen a finer, more beautiful or more passionate magazine than LensWork in any genera. B&W Magazine is available in Shoppers Drugmart. It's not with the other photography magazines. For some reason, its up on the very top shelf mixed in with fashion magazines. Until I decided to subscribe to B&W, I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only one who bought a copy of the magazine on a monthly basis at Shoppers. B&W is a good magazine but nothing compared to LensWork. I like B&W's annual photo contests and portfolio contest editions. Several photographers that I've had the pleasure to meet online had their photographs in those. B&W has some sections specifically for photography collectors, which I don't really care for. Talk of investments, auction results and money doesn't fly too well with me. However, their features on artists are very good.

Ansel Adams is great. Whether one like landscapes or not, you have to respect this man for all he's done. What other photographer has a mountain named after him/her?

I think that studying the masters of photography is important for photographers, especially beginners. Just like young musicians in a rock n' roll band ought to look at the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, for example. Personally, I got into making my own photographs quite late. I started taking photography seriously about three years ago and my passion for photography really wasn't their until I (re)discovered the rangefinder camera two years ago. However, I've known the big names in photography for a long time. Before photography, I did drawings since I was a teenager and also painted sometimes. Guess what I often used for the basis of my drawings? Photographs by HCB, Koudelka...

Here are two websites featuring "The Masters":
http://masters-of-photography.com/
http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com

Most of my inspiration this year has not come from 'the masters' but from my contacts on flickr. Not only from looking at their photographs but also in interacting and communicating with them. The Internet is a wonderful thing.

My flickr contacts:
http://www.flickr.com/people/fgsemedo/contacts/?see=contacts

Thanks Nando, I'll definitely be going through that second link.. far easier to navigate.

I'd also like to add that I really enjoy Roberta Bondar's work as well as that of the McGuffins.