Interesting famous photographers
40 Famous Photographers to Inspire You [2020 Updated]
By photographing people on the same background, Avedon puts his subjects on a level playing field.
Elliott Erwitt
Moving away from large format photography, Elliott Erwitt primarily shot on 35mm cameras. Erwitt was originally from France and immigrated to the United States to go to college. He worked as a photography assistant in the US army where he honed his skills.
As a photographer, Elliott focused a lot of his attention on street photography and is one of the wittiest street American photographers ever to grace the earth. His images are both deep and funny at the same time images. If you like street photography, Elliott Erwitt will blow you away!
This is a classic example of Erwitt’s comedic approach to photography.
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Vivian Maier
Probably celebrated as one of the most interesting famous photographers of all time, Vivian Maier did not become prominent until after her death. In 2007 John Maloof purchased a trunk of negatives and undeveloped film from an auction. Little did he know that the contents of this trunk would include thousands of images by a soon to be a well-known photographer named Vivian Maier.
What we now know about Vivian is that she spent her life as a nanny. She mainly photographed on a twin lens 6×6 camera and brought it everywhere she went. The majority of her photographs were taken in Chicago and New York City. She simply photographed everything that interested her when she walked down the streets.
Although she was known to be reclusive and weird, her photographs do not depict this side of her. Vivian’s images are bold showing strangers staring right into her camera. I can only imagine what people thought when they noticed a nanny pointing a camera at them on the streets of Chicago.
But her constant photographing paid off and her images are very careful and beautiful. The most striking thing about her photographs is that they seem to be from another era.
When you look at her work it looks like it could have been shot in the 30’s or 40’s, yet most of them were shot much later on.
If you want to learn more about Vivian Maier I recommend watching a wonderful documentary made about her entitled Finding Vivian Maier.
Vivian Maier seemed to always be at the right place at the right time.
Ansel Adams
As a photographer, Ansel Adams is celebrated for his breathtaking nature photographs in the 1930’s and for 25 years to follow. Few people know that Ansel Adams was also a staunch environmentalist. Ansel Adams grew up in Northern California, and spent much of his youth at Yosemite National Park, which became the spotlight of his work.
His first notable piece was his prominent image Monolith, the Face of Half Dome. You can watch more about Ansel Adams and his Yosemite National Park work below!
Steve McCurry
Another prominent photographer, Steve McCurry shot one of the most celebrated photographs in National Geographic history.
McCurry’s National Geographic career took off when he snuck into Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion.
As a photographer, he managed to sneak rolls of film out of the country by sewing them into his clothes and the images were made famous by the New York Times and Time magazine.
His most celebrated photograph is entitled “Afghan Girl” is a simple portrait of a young girl. It is hard to describe how incredible the Afghan Girl photograph is but there is just something so captivating about it. Afghan Girl captured the worlds attention and has been one of the most prominent photos to ever grace to cover of National Geographic.
He tried to replicate the photo by photographing the same girl years later but it did not have the same effect. Steve McCurry is still working as a photographer and has spent a lot of his career overseas capturing stunning portraits of common people.
McCurry created a hauntingly beautiful image here.
Robert Frank
Robert Frank was a Swiss-American photographer famous for his book entitles The Americans.
Frank traveled across America by car in 1955 capturing the everyday lives of Americans. When his book finally got published and printed in the United States, it was met with criticism.
Luckily for Frank, he had Jack Kerouac wright the introduction which gave the book some traction. Over the years the book became a beloved classic in the art world and most of the critics vanished.
If you ever get a chance to look through The Americans, you will see how refreshing the view is from Franks camera. He gives an outsiders perspective that may not have been as powerful from a patriots perspective.
Robert Frank was aware of the social aspects of America in the 50’s.
Gary Winogrand
Winogrand was a street photographer who operated out of the Bronx, New York City. He worked as a freelance photojournalist and an advertising photographer but he loved the street. He had an ingenious way of shooting a decisive moment where he would focus without looking through the camera.
By guessing how far his subject was he would look at his lens and guess the focal point. He was very good enough at this and got great black and white images time and time again. Winogrand was also known for shooting with a wide angle lens and putting it right in strangers faces to create black and white dynamic shots. His work will live forever as some of the best street photography images ever created.
Winogrand was always aware of how people fit in spaces as well as how comedy can be found in every aspect of life.
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was a documentary photographer and is famous for her black and white work in the great depression era. As a documentary photographer, Dorothea Lange worked for the Farm Security Administration documenting the lives of people during the early 1930’s and at this time captured her most famous photograph.
Dorothea Lange’s photograph entitled Migrant Mother depicts a mother with two young children living in a lean-to tent.
She told Dorothea Lange that they had been living off of frozen vegetables and birds they had killed in the fields. Migrant Mother is an iconic black and white image and a striking one at that. As a documentary photographer, Dorothea Lange photographed people from all walks of life including people in Japanese internment camps.
Lange was able, to sum up, the Great Depression in a single image.
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was one of the most influential 20th century American famous photographers. He gained acclaim for his work in various genres. From nudes to still lifes to landscapes, Edward Weston portrayed subjects in innovative yet simple ways. Many believe that Edward Weston developed the American approach to modern photography due to his focus on Western America’s places and people.
From everyday objects to elemental landscapes, Weston helped take photography out of the Victorian perception of painting. He pioneered a modernism approach of a large-format camera to produce richly detailed black and white pictures.
Some of his famous works include photos of sea shells, cabbage leaves, and peppers that look mystical and almost erotic.
Throughout his four-decade career, Weston showed carefully composed, sharply focused images. He continued working until his Parkinson’s disease forced him to give up the camera in 1948. Weston’s legacy lives on a three-generation span of famous photographers, his sons Cole and Brett, and grandchildren Cara and Kim.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Considered by many historians to be the ‘father of photojournalism’, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist photographer. He was a pioneer and savant street photographer known for his candids. Henri Cartier-Bresson referred to his photography style as a representation of intuition, simultaneously, and spontaneity.
Henri Cartier-Bresson coined the term ‘the decisive moment’, which became a fascinating yet highly debated topic in modern photography. This refers to the situation when the psychological and visual elements of people in real life scenes come together in harmony to express the essence of that moment.
Henri Cartier Bresson traveled to China during its revolution, then to the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin’s death, and finally to America after World War II to document the economic and social disruption after the war. Cartier Bresson was also one of the first photographers to make use of a 35mm film while others used bulky and heavy medium format cameras.
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Imogen Cunningham
Cunningham was an American famous photographer famous for portraits, industrial landscapes, and botanical photography. Her intimate portraits convey blurred imagery and soft focus to solidify the structure and figure of her subjects. Meanwhile, Cunningham’s floral still lifes show natural forms using light, shadows, and attention to details.
Her earliest prints were made in Pictorialism, a photography style that mimicked academic painting from the turn of the century. Cunningham also experimented with crispier pictures to create the technique known as sharp focus photography.
In 1910, she established a solid reputation as a portrait and commercial photographer. By the early 1920s, Cunningham changed her style to include plant life and street photography. She also briefly worked for Vanity fair and celebrities in the 1930s.
Here are some famous photographers who specifically focus on weddings!Elizabeth Messina
Elizabeth resides in NYC and is known for her dreamy wedding photography. She prides her work on its’ uniqueness, saying that she doesn’t get caught up in the latest photography trends. She absolutely captures each wedding’s true nature, often using film.
“I am enamoured with the rituals at weddings. I am often moved personally when I see a couple kiss for the first time after exchanging vows or during the first dance. These sweet moments in life are treasures. In the end, I think the wedding industry chose me.”
Chrisman Studios
Chrisman Studios is comprised of four best American photographers and one videographer, based in Charleston, NC and San Fransisco, CA.
The were voted one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world, by American Photo Magazine. Their destination wedding photographs are known for their color, vibrancy and overall JOY they capture in every setting!
Jose Villa
Jose was named one of the top wedding photographers by Harper’s Bazaar, Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue, and Style Me Pretty. He is a fine art wedding photography known for his wispy, elegant style to capture a decisive moment.
“My approach applies fine art photography to the living, breathing, fast-moving phenomenon that is a wedding. For me, it is all about making something beautiful. Ultimately, my goal is to craft vibrant, energetic, fine art images that are as unique as the people in the photographs.”
Jeremy Chou
Jeremy is based in Pasadena, California and actually went to school for architecture! After realizing that he didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk all day, he bought his first DSLR. His passion for photography is reflected in all of his amazing photographs.
Jeremy has photographed weddings around the world, and has been featured in all the major US wedding blogs. He was recently named Film Photographer of the year, by acclaimed Belle Lumiere Wedding Magazine
Roberto Valenzuela
Roberto is famous for his romantic, timeless and elegant wedding photography and is currently sponsored by Canon. He has earned countless awards throughout his expansive career, and has been featured in popular magazines like Cosmopolitan Bride magazine, Rangefinder, and Professional Photographers of America magazine.
Sam Hurd
Sam is located in Washington, DC and artistic style and creativity. “You’re not going to read about any awards, badges, or “top 10 lists” because what matters is you’re in love with the work that you see and are ready to trust me entirely to do what I do.
This trust drives me to find the perfect balance between creative experimentation and honest documentation.” You can check out his work here!
Daniel Kim
Daniel Kim is a wedding and portrait photographer.
Although Daniel may not be known as a famous portrait photographer yet, he is definitely a pro! He graduated with a fine art degree from Arizona State University and it shows in his commercial work.
He is a mixed digital and film photographer and shoots medium format color film. Kim uses a style of photography that involves purposefully overexposing the film. Color film is more forgiving than a digital sensor.
Therefore you can purposefully overexpose film within reason, and end up with beautiful results. Another interesting aspect of his work is that he develops and scans at home. By developing and scanning from his home studio it allows Daniel to control every aspect of this process.
Over the years this has resulted in beautifully crafted images that are the exact tone and color that Kim is looking for.
If you shoot film I strongly recommend that you try this process out at least once. By changing your light meter to a different film speed than you are shooting you can trick your camera.
So if you want to overexpose 400 ISO film set your camera to meter at 100 ISO. By doing this you will overexpose your film in the camera. You can also tell the lab who is developing for you that you want to push your film 1 or 2 stops. They will expose the film for a longer time and you will get similar results. If you get this right I promise the results are amazing.
By overexposing his film Kim creates a bright and airy look to his photographs.
Christian Oth
Christian is famous for his specialty work with light and unique angles. He is known for his editorial style that combines both elegance and authenticity. His aim is to “capture the dynamic and intimate emotions between the couple on their wedding day.” He has shot weddings from NYC to Paris.
Greg Finck
Greg was recently voted one of the top photographers by Harper’s Bazaar! His elegant work stands out because he shoots primarily in film.
When asked about notable weddings, he mentioned one that hasn’t even taken place, which shows that creative work is never done!
“Right now, the wedding that stands out to me is one that has yet to happen.
It will be taking place at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, where Eva Longoria and Tony Parker got married a few years ago. The bride has chosen a bespoke haute-couture gown that she is creating with the designer in Paris.
Recently, we all realized that the final dress is actually going to be twice the weight of the bride herself which will present some serious challenges during the day, especially for the couple’s photos in Paris. But–I can’t wait for it, as it’s going to be an amazing wedding! ”
What about a list of famous photographers specializing in nature and landscapes?Larry Beard
Larry Beard originates from San Clemente, California, and started his passion for photography, specifically ocean photography, as a surfer at the ripe age of 16. He is known for his wave and macro photography from beaches across the world. Larry is also a contributor to NG, and sells his pieces through his fine art gallery. Trust me, guys, his work is AMAZING in person!
Frans Lanting
Frans Lanting works in many different parts of the world including the South America, Africa and Antartica.
His photographs are regularly published in NG, where he was a staff photographer. He currently lives in Santa Cruz, California and continues to work all over the world.
Peter Lik
Peter Lik is known for his work with his panoramic photography that he prints on metallic silver-halide paper, to give a unique glow. Back in 2010, he sold a print for $1 million to an anonymous buyer, which is the 11th highest grossing print sale in history. He currently has galleries all over the world. Guys, GO check out his work. It’s AMAZING in person, his pieces radiate.
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz is among the most prominent figures in the American visual arts history because of his work as a photographer, publisher, gallery owner, and art dealer.
Many thought of photography as a technical and scientific process at the turn of the 20th century. Alfred Stieglitz changed that by bringing photography as an art form. Throughout his life, and until his death in 1946, he fought for photography to become a respected art form.
Stieglitz believed that he had a straight photography style, free from tricks and manipulation. He showed an excellent technical mastery of texture, geometric motifs, tone, and sharp focus in his images. His most famous work is his pictures of New York City that shows the Big Apple from different angles.
Man Ray
Man Ray was an American visual artist who contributed to the Dada and Surrealist movements. He was best known for his portraits and fashion photography. Ray also experimented with creating camera-less images, which he called ‘rayographs’.
Ray had been greatly influenced by Alfred Stieglitz’s work, in which he used a similar style of unvarnished photographs. He also highlighted negative space, shadows, and hard-edged application of unmodulated color.
In the 1920s, Ray started making moving pictures and completed four highly creative, non-narrative films. He returned to Paris in the 1950s and concentrated on painting until he died.
Andreas Gursky
Gursky is a notable German photographer that focuses on large format architecture, landscape photography, and digitally-manipulated photos.
His unique compositions frame subjects on a grand scale, often using a high point of view and later splicing multiple frames together for a more dramatic result.
However, this photography technique reignited the age-old debate about image manipulation and a camera’s truth-recording capacity. Nevertheless, the world continues to admire Gursky’s work, with some of his images reaching the highest prices in the art market among living famous photographers.
Despite his knack for surrealism and abstractions, his work typically assesses contemporary life’s busyness and consumer culture. His photographs are full of color and industrialized touch, which are surprisingly seductive and beautiful.
Eliot Porter
Porter was a famous photographer for his colorful and intimate nature images. He became interested in photography by using a Kodak box camera to take pictures of birds and landscapes at his family’s summer home in Maine. Much like Ansel Adams, Porter practiced ‘straight’ photography to show the subject in an upfront manner, emphasizing details and tones.
Porter shifted to color photography after a publisher rejected a proposal for a book on birds since people couldn’t differentiate the bird species on black and white pictures. He used a system of strobe lights and spent hours composing the scene to photograph birds.
In the early and middle 1950s, Porter traveled extensively to photograph culturally and ecologically significant places. He documented the Adirondack Park, Glen Canyon, Appalachia, Baja California, the Galapágos Islands, Turkey, Greece, Iceland, Africa, China, and Antarctica. With his work, Porter was able to publish a number of critically acclaimed photography books.
Here are some famous portrait photographers, past and present!Phillppe Halsman
Phillppe is a very well known portrait photographer, famous for his work during the 1940’s. He still holds the record of having more covers of LIFE magazine, than any other photographer. He had a life long friendship with the famous artist Salvador Dali, and they collaborated on many projects together.
His portrait photography work is creative, innovative, and thought provoking.
Phillppe photographed famous artists and actors like Marilyn Monroe, to political and writer Winston Churchill, to acclaimed director Alfred Hitchcock, to the famed scientist, Albert Einstein. He clearly had a sense of humor if you browse his body of work!
Mihaela Noroc
Mihaela is becoming internationally well known for her project, “The Atlas of Beauty.” Mihaela, from Bucharest, Romania, has spent the last four years traveling the world and capturing stunning images of women. Her goal is to create connection among normal women with extraordinary stories.
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Diane Arbus
Arbus was a famous photographer best known for her portrayal of the people from New York in the 1950s and 1960s. She captured unrelenting direct photographs of people considered as social deviants at that time. Her pictures often show her subjects gazing directly into the camera, with the sharp focus drawing the viewers to look and acknowledge them.
Her documentary eye produced shocking yet intriguing portraits of nudists, tattooed men, asylum inmates, mentally ill, strippers, drug addicts, carnival performers, midgets, and the LGBT community. Arbus photographed her subjects in familiar settings like their homes, workplace, or street to show that they are like anybody else.
While her work pushed the boundaries of what people perceive as proper, her photographs highlighted the essence of equality and proper representation at a time when few people were willing to accept the marginalized as functioning members of the society. At present, famous photographers see her photography work as an inspiration for psychological intensity.
George Hurrell
Hurrell was an American photographer renowned for his portraits of Hollywood stars. His signature style of precision lighting, spotlights, composition, shadows, and hand-retouching on the negatives, contributed to Hollywood’s glamour from the 1930s to 1940s.
Hurrell’s striking black and white portraits became sought after for the marketing of actors.
After shooting some seductive images for actress Norma Shearer, MGM hired Hurrell as its photography department head. While at MGM, he was in charge of taking headshots of Hollywood stars for each film. Aside from that, George worked for Warner Brothers Studio and Columbia Pictures.
Hurrell served in World War II and lived in New York afterward as a fashion photographer. While he returned to Hollywood in the mid-1950s, his glamour portraits no longer appealed to studios. Hurrell continued to work as a stills photographer on film sets until his death.
Cindy Sherman
Sherman is an American artist who spent most of her professional life exploring concepts of identity, sexuality, and femininity. Her photography work consists mainly of self-portraits, depicting herself in various contexts and imagined personas. Sherman’s unique portrait photography style became central in the 20th century’s image proliferation and consumerism.
While Sherman started as a painter, she became frustrated with the art form’s limitations during the era of minimalism, leading her to shift to photography.
She gets inspiration from pop culture television, film, imagery, and fashion to challenge the restrictive roles of feminine identities and aversion to objectification.
As a master of socially critical photographs, Sherman questioned the mass media’s oppressive influence over people’s individual and collective identities. Through her self-portraits, she called the audience’s attention to unsettling subjects, forcing them to reconsider cultural assumptions and stereotypes.
Sally Mann
As a photographer, Mann is one of the most renowned black and white portrait photographers in America. Since the 1970s, she produced a series of portraits, landscape photography, and still life, including the documentation of her family. Mann’s printing style also forms an expressive, dramatic, and brooding mood.
Immediate Family, which is among her most prominent series, shows the complexity of time between childhood and adolescence, and the primal and playful aspects of human behavior.
Mann also created a project dealing with mortality using the death of her dog and various decomposition stages. These concepts led the world to describe her photography work as controversial.
In the 1990s, Mann experimented with the wet plate collodion process, which was the dominant photographic process during the American Civil War. She used this labor-extensive method to show a fresh appraisal for the ground where the country’s bloodiest war was fought. The process’ blotches, dust spots, and chemical streaks resulted in a mysterious aura.
And finally, here are some famous photojournalists!Margaret Bourke-White
Margaret Bourke-White was the first American female war photojournalist, the first woman hired by LIFE magazine in 1936. As a war photographer, she was the first female war correspondent during world war II and traveled with General Patton at the end of the world war.
She is best known for her photography work as the very first foreign photographer allowed to take photographs of the Soviet Five-Year Plan.
Later, she became involved in the ongoing conflict in India as a war photographer, where she captured her portrait of Mohandas Gandhi.
As a photographer, Bourke-White used portrait photography as a tool to analyze social issues from a humanitarian point of view. Her focus on social realism depicted the everyday realities of life. As a landmark photojournalist, Bourke-White captured numerous iconic photos of the 20th-century life and conflict, including the Great Depression, and social and political movements from the 1920s to 1950s.
Chris Hondors
Chris, and American born photojournalist, is most known for his war photography. As a war photographer, he was a two time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. He was made famous for his photography work in Iraq during 2005, when he captured images of the carnage of war. Chris was killed in Libya while photographing Libyan Civil War in 2011.
Robert Doisneau
During his long career, French photographer Robert Doisneau documented the surreal in the everyday life of the French people.
As an early pioneer of photojournalism and street photography, his images have become widely acclaimed in photography history. As a French photographer, Doisneau described his craft as an unexpected way of capturing the marvel of daily life.
After working for the French Vogue, Doisneau returned to shooting the streets of Paris, often photographing his subjects unaware, conserving the genuity of human behavior. This includes his most famous picture, The Kiss, an iconic shot of a young couple kissing passionately amongst the Parisian crowds.
In 1984, Doisneau was appointed a Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honour for his contributions to French art and culture. Three years after his death, a photo gallery in his name was opened in France.
Robert Capa
Robert Capa, born Endre Friedman, was a war correspondent and photojournalist. Capa, which means ‘shark’ in Hungarian, was a nickname he made for himself because of his up-close style of shots. Despite being one of the premier war photographers, Robert Capa despised war and used photos to highlight the adverse effects of combat.
The American-Hungarian risked his life to document soldiers in action in five wars, including the Spanish Civil war, the early days of Vietnam, the liberation of Paris, and the Battle of the Bulge. He also covered the first wave of soldiers during the D-Day landing in World War II, although only a few of his photos survived.
Capa’s photography work around the world is some of the 20th century’s most raw, gritty, and emotional photos. His photo of a Loyalist soldier who had just been fatally wounded became a powerful war symbol, earning him his global reputation. In 1955, the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award was established to recognize and reward exceptional professional merit.
Gerda Taro
Gerda Taro is known as the first female photojournalist who died on the frontline. She was famous for her disturbing photos during the Spanish Civil War. As the professional companion and lover of Robert Capa, they covered several aspects of the Spanish Civil War together, including the plight of Spanish refugees in Murcia and Almeria.
Despite her contemporaries overshadowing her photography work, Gerda Taro’s collection remains crucial documentation of war. The German-Jewish has a simple photography style that highlights the bravery of individuals. The emotional power of Gerda Taro’s photographs continues to show the complexity of wars.
While documenting the Spanish Civil War Battle of Brunete, Gerda Taro was crushed by a Loyalist tank and died days later. She was celebrated as an anti-fascist symbol during her short-lived career and even after her death.
Conclusion
I hope that this list of famous photographers of all time can provide inspiration and a jumping off point for your photography work. A theme that I see in all of these photographers is the ability to show the world things that they would not have seen otherwise.
Photography is so important because it has the ability to do that. It is a very important medium that the world relies on and shapes peoples ideas and understanding.
Remember that the next time you take a picture and know that what you are doing is important.
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27 Most Famous Photographers You Need to Know (2022 Update)
We’ve put together a list of some of the most famous photographers this world has ever seen. Most of the photographers on our list have left our mortal plane. Yet their images, messages, and creativity live on. We can all take something away from their careers and work.
When starting out as a photographer, you may find yourself in a creative rut. It can be difficult to find inspiration for photography themes. This is where the masters of photography can help you.
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27 Most Famous Photographers You Need to Know
Here are the 27 famous photographers we wanted to highlight. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
1. Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is an American conceptual artist. She is one of the most influential artists in the modern age of photography. This makes sense… especially when she has two images on the list of “The 10 Most Expensive Photographs in the World.”
Her photography explores contemporary identity and the nature of representation. These are drawn from the unlimited supply of images… from TV, magazines, the internet, and art history!
She places herself in her own work, using a range of disguises and personas. They were disturbing, distasteful, and sometimes amusing. Besides being a photographer? She’s also a model, hairdresser, stylist, and makeup artist.
2. Robert Frank
There was never a more prolific photographer than Robert Frank. From 1941, he worked as a commercial photographer in Zurich, Basel, and Geneva.
In 1947, he found a job as a fashion photographer in the US. He used a 35mm Leica that was unconventional at the time. Between 1950 and 1959, he turned his attention to street photography and photojournalism.
This is when he became most famous. The Guggenheim Fellowship allowed him to travel the country. And that resulted in his most famous work—The Americans (pictured below).
He worked closely with Walker Evans. And Robert Frank became one of the world’s most famous street photographers. He completed his visuals with text, written straight onto the negatives and prints.
3. Eliot Porter
Eliot Furness Porter was an American photographer famous for his colorful nature photos. He started to photograph birds and landscapes with a Kodak box camera as a child.
Porter got a Leica camera in 1930.
In 1933, he was inspired by the photographs of Ansel Adams. And Ansel Adams encouraged him to work with a large-format camera.
Porter did so after meeting Alfred Stieglitz. And Stieglitz exhibited Porter’s work at an art gallery in New York City called An American Place in 1939.
4. Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham was a famous photographer from the US. She is known for her botanical photography, industrial landscapes, and nudes. Cunningham was also a member of the California-based Group f/64.
Cunningham’s early work consisted of soft focus and blurred imagery. These gave mystery to her photographed figures. She began experimenting with sharper, crisper images. And Cunningham began to create a style known as sharp-focus photography.
5. Frans Lanting
Frans Lanting is a Dutch photographer specializing in wildlife photography. He operates a studio, gallery, and stock photography services in Santa Cruz, California.
Lanting works in many different parts of the world.
Locations include the Amazon basin, Africa, and Antarctica. His famous photographs regularly appear in National Geographic, where he served as photographer-in-residence.
6. Paul Strand
Paul Strand was an American photographer. He helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. His diverse work spanned six decades.
Strand covered many genres and subjects throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa. And Alfred Steiglitz influenced his modernistic approach.
Strand learned how to capture urban bustle, formal abstractions, and street portraits. He even worked with renowned documentary photographer Lewis Hine.
7. Weegee
Weegee was born Arthur Fellig. He was a famous photographer and photojournalist. His black-and-white street photography made him well-known.
Weegee worked in Manhattan as a press photographer during the 1930s and 1940s. That’s where he developed his signature style.
He followed the city’s emergency services and documented their activity.
Much of his work depicted uncensored and realistic scenes. These included urban life, crime, injury, and death.
8. Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was a fashion and portrait photographer from the US. His fashion and portrait photographs have helped define America’s image for the last half-century… its style, beauty, and culture.
He started as a photographer for Harper’s Bazaar. That helped him fund his studio, starting in 1946. There, he produced images for Vogue and Life magazines.
Avedon was always interested in portraiture… how it captures the personality and soul of its subject. He became more and more famous. And he started to photograph many notable people in his studio. He did this with an 8 x 10 large-format camera.
9. Don McCullin
Sir Donald McCullin is a British photojournalist. He is well known for his war photography and images of urban strife. He is a photojournalist without equal. He has documented the poverty of London’s East End, and the horrors of wars in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
McCullin’s career spans over six decades. He specializes in examining the underbelly of society. McCullin presents photographs that depict the unemployed, downtrodden, and impoverished. But he also creates beautiful still lifes, soulful portraits, and moving landscapes.
10. Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was an influential American photographer of the 20th century. His career lasted for at least 40 years. Weston’s work is very diverse and innovative. He has photographed landscapes, nudes, portraits, and still lifes.
He spent part of his career capturing trees and rocks in California. Then he started to focus on portraits. In 1937, Weston was the first photographer to get a Guggenheim Fellowship. Using his 8 x 10 large-format camera, he produced almost 1400 negatives over the years.
11. Man Ray
Man Ray was an American visual artist. He spent most of his career in France. Ray contributed to the Dada and Surrealist movements. And he considered himself a painter.
But he was best known for his fashion and portrait photography. Man Ray was also famous for his photograms. He called them “rayographs,” referring to himself.
12. David Bailey
David Royston Bailey is an English portrait and fashion photographer. He was determined to become a photographer, buying his first camera in 1957. That Rolleiflex soon became a Canon rangefinder.
He started off assisting David Ollins, and then John French. But his poor school attendance stopped his dream of going to the London School of Fashion. Bailey helped create and photograph the “swinging sixties.” It was a culture of fashion and celebrity chic.
13. David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is an American commercial and fine art photographer. His photography references art history and religious scenes. And his work often conveys social messages.
His photographic style is “meticulously created in a high-gloss, color-popping, hyper-realistic style.” And it is considered “kitsch pop surrealism. ” Seeing his iconic style, it is no surprise that a writer called him the “Fellini of photography.”
LaChapelle has worked for several international publications. His work has ended up in commercial galleries and institutions around the world.
14. Anne Geddes
Anne Geddes is an Australian-born photographer. But she currently lives and works in New York. She taught herself photography and became a professional when she was 30 years old. Her newborn baby pictures made her a world-famous photographer.
She has published books in 83 countries and has sold more than 18 million copies. In 1997, Cedco Publishing sold more than 1.8 million calendars and datebooks of her work.
Her debut book, Down in the Garden, reached the New York Times Bestseller List. Anne also created a philanthropic program. It raises awareness for child neglect and abuse.
15. Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist.
Her early work focused on photographing the social elite in a studio setting. Later, Lange’s work shifted direction. And she started to take documentary photographs.
She focused on the consequences of the Great Depression. And she is best known for her work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange has greatly influenced the development of documentary photography up to today.
16. Robert Doisneau
Robert Doisneau was a French photographer. He was a master of humanist photography. And he was influenced by Atget, Kertész, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
In the 1930s, Doisneau captured the streets of Paris. He was famous for his modest, playful, and iconic images. Alongside Henri Cartier-Bresson, he was a pioneer of photojournalism.
His photographs make you stare for a long time because of their unique atmosphere. Doisneau’s words describe his art perfectly.”The marvels of daily life are so exciting… no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.
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17. Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry is an American photographer and photojournalist. His most famous photograph is the Afghan Girl. The picture of the green-eyed girl was on the cover of National Geographic magazine.
McCurry has completed several assignments for National Geographic. And he has been a member of Magnum since 1986.
McCurry has also received several awards:
- Magazine Photographer of the Year
- The Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal
- Two first-place prizes in the World Press Photo contest (1985 and 1992)
18. Mario Testino
Mario Eduardo Testino Silva is a fashion and portrait photographer from Peru. His work found its way into magazines such as Vogue, V Magazine, Vanity Fair, and GQ. He has also taken pictures for brands such as Gucci, Chanel, and Estée Lauder.
Testino has also worked as a creative director and guest editor. He is also an art collector, museum founder, collaborator, and entrepreneur.
The Observer described him this way… as “the world’s most prolific magazine and fashion trade photographer.”
19. André Kertész
André Kertész was a Hungarian photographer. He created avant-garde photographic compositions. In the early years of his career? His unorthodox camera angles and style produced very powerful street photography.
Kertész never felt that he was recognized enough during his life. But today, many consider him one of the most significant figures of photojournalism.
20. Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky is a German photographer. He also works as a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. Gursky is famous for his large-format architecture and landscape photographs. He often uses an elevated point of view.
Before the 1990s, he did not change his images digitally. Now, he relies on digital manipulation. It helps him to create his style of straightforward, enigmatic, and deadpan photography.
21. Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer.
He was known for his approach to controversial subject matters. His highly stylized black-and-white images depict celebrity portraits and male and female nudes.
He also covered self-portraits and still-life images of flowers. But his most controversial work is about the underground BDSM scene. He dcoumented this in the late 1960s and early 1970s in New York City.
22. Henri-Cartier Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist photographer. He is referred to as the master of candid photography. He was an early user of 35mm film, where most others used large or medium format cameras.
His view on photography produced a book, describing the decisive moment. When “…elements of people in a real-life scene spontaneously and briefly come together in perfect resonance.”
This incredible photographer was a pioneer in street photography. And he captured powerful moments.
23. Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou “Annie” Leibovitz is a portrait photographer from the US.
She became the first woman with an exhibition at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery. And her work has been featured on many album covers and in magazines.
She photographed John Lennon on the day of his assassination. And when she says she wants to photograph someone, what it really means is that she’d like to know them. Her unique style sets her images apart from every other portrait photographer.
24. Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Júnior is a social documentary photographer and photojournalist. He is from Brazil. And he has travelled in over 120 countries thanks to his photography assignments. His work appeared in countless press publications and books.
Salgado is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He documents the powerless and the poor. And he also takes nature photography and tries to find the beauty in everything. Salgado has received many awards and honors:
- The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant (1982)
- Foreign Honorary Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992)
- The Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in 1993
25.
BrassaïBrassaï was a Hungarian-French photographer who gained international fame in the 20th century. He was among the Hungarian artists who flourished in Paris between the World Wars.
His black and white street photography is both descriptive and even humorous. The streets were his canvas. And he found himself wandering through late at night. He was a master of photography composition. He learned this during his time studying painting and sculpture.
26. Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. He often used a large format camera. And he is best known for his black-and-white landscape photographs of the American West… especially Yosemite National Park.
Ansel and a colleague developed the “zone system.” It was a proper way to expose an image and help adjust the contrast of the final print. He was an original founder of Group f/64. He created the group with fellow photographers Willard Van Dyke and Edward Weston.
27. Robert Capa
Robert Capa was an American-Hungarian war photographer and photojournalist. He was also the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. Capa was a nickname (meaning shark in Hungarian). This was due to his up-close and personal style.
He was arguably the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history. Capa’s most notable work is about the Spanish Civil War. He was present with the first wave of soldiers during the D-Day landing in World War II. Only a few of his images survived.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve been inspired by our list of famous photographers. Perhaps they inspire you to try out a new photography style. Try our Wow Factor Photography course to learn how to take breathtaking images!
Top 8 famous photographers from around the world and their photos
If you are an aspiring photographer and want to learn from the best, take a look at these photographers who have achieved a lot in a short period of time.
Some of these top photographers may be familiar to you, and some have a very good reputation in the history of photography. It is interesting to follow the path of these famous photographers as their photographs are a beautiful collection of vibrant colors that keep traditional photography alive. Photography is no longer a business, it is a passion for many people as they decide to leave their high paying jobs and follow their dreams which take them to distant lands, meeting people from different cultures and environments unknown to many people. Patience and hard work - sitting still in the wild, in order to take the perfect shot, is necessary for becoming a professional photographer.
1. Jimmy Nelson
Jimmy Nelson is a famous British photographer who has been taking photographs since 1987. Since 2010, he has been working on the "Before They Disappear" series, thanks to which he has traveled extensively to places such as Vietnam, Tibet, Africa, etc.
. He visits people from different tribes and photographs them in their natural habitat, which is really amazing, as emotions are beautifully conveyed in his photographs. His first part won him several international awards and he is currently working on the second part. Jimmy Nelson's photographic work has been exhibited in many international museums and leading art galleries.
2. Rean
Rean is a French photographer currently based in Vietnam. He is quite popular for his photographs of India, Vietnam and Cuba. He published his first book Vietnam, A Mosaic of Contrasts in 2014, featuring over 150 photographs of Vietnam highlighting their diverse culture. According to his biography, "by capturing images of these exceptionally contrasting cultures and collecting their traditional costumes and precious artifacts, he created a collection of precious heritage that is now the core of the museum-gallery of the same name." He is also known as a photographer who captures the souls of his models.
Well, this is not a literal meaning, he just knows how to portray the emotions of the models in such a touching way.
3. Lee Jeffries
Lee Jeffries from Manchester, UK loves to travel the world to take black and white portraits of the homeless. His passion for portrait photography of the homeless began when he was running a marathon in London. He accidentally stumbled upon a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag, and his idea of homeless people changed dramatically. According to Lee Jeffries, the emotions of the homeless seem to flow outward, which can tell amazing stories. Since then, he has been photographing the homeless as his subjects and raising funds through his photographs to help improve the lives of the homeless. We take our hats off to this photographer, in whose work there is modesty and nobility.
4. Joe McNally
Joe McNally is an internationally recognized award-winning photographer.
His works are quite popular in more than 70 countries around the world. According to his biography, "McNally is known the world over not only as one of the finest, tech-savvy photographers of his generation, but his charming demeanor, confidence and humor make him a sought-after choice from CEO to celebrities in commercials and magazines. He belongs to a rare breed of photographer who has bridged the world between photojournalism and advertising by amassing an impressive list of commercial and advertising clients including FedEx, Sony, ESPN, Adidas, Land's End, General Electric, Epson, MetLife, USAA, New York Stock Exchange, Lehman Brothers, PNC Bank and the Beijing Cultural Commission." His photographs have been published in leading magazines such as National Geographic, Life and so on.
5. Eric Almas
Eric Almas is a Norwegian photographer currently based in San Francisco. He was given a camera at the age of 12 and since then his photography studies have taken him to many places.
He continued his education in photography at the University Academy of Fine Arts for 4 years. He had some of the best mentors and developed his own sense of photography which definitely made his career. He is the proud owner of numerous awards and his photographs have been published in some of the leading fashion magazines, news magazines and so on. He has worked with international clients such as Absolut, Pfizer, Toyota, Hyatt and many more.
6. Mario Testino
Mario Testino (born October 30, 1954) is a Peruvian fashion photographer. His work has been featured in magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair. Mario Testino, one of the most sought after fashion photographers, was born in 1954 in Lima, Peru. He came to London in 1976, rented an apartment in an abandoned hospital near Trafalgar Square, and began selling a portfolio (for £25 including hair and make-up) to aspiring models. Today, he is best known for his polished, exotically flamboyant advertising campaigns and exquisitely framed photographs of the couture scene, all of which carry a deceptively lighthearted quality.
At the pinnacle of his career, Testino photographed Madonna for Versace and also photographed the late Diana, Princess of Wales for her famous Vanity Fair cover at 1997 year. His popularity with designers and fashion editors stems from both his professionalism and good nature and his unerring ability to take beautiful photographs.
7. Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry was born February 24, 1950 in Pennsylvania and attended Pennsylvania State University. Steve McCurry is an American photojournalist best known for his photograph "Afghan Girl", which first appeared in National Geographic magazine. He originally planned to study cinematography and filmmaking, but ended up getting a degree in theater arts and graduated at 19.74 year. He became interested in photography when he started shooting for the Pennsylvania newspaper The Daily Collegian. After working for the Today's Post in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania for two years, he went to India to freelance.
It was here that McCurry learned to observe life and wait. If you wait, he realized, people will forget your camera and your soul will float into view.
8. Timothy Hogan
Timothy Hogan is an award-winning luxury and still life photographer and filmmaker based in New York, Los Angeles and London. As a photographer, director, cinematographer and avid surfer, he is a jack-of-all-trades, working with clients from all over the world on everything but the kitchen sink, from still life to films to fashion. He recently released a collection of photographs called Project FIN, which combines his love of still life. Photographs remind us of how the simplicity of objects can become beautiful masterpieces in photography.
Most Influential Photographers of the Decade PDN Magazine's Top 30 - Russian Photo
Most Influential Photographers of the Decade
PDN Magazine's Top 30
August 28, 2013
Photo: Steven Meisel
The editors of PDN Magazine voted among their readers to choose 30 of the most influential photographers of the decade.
PDN Magazine is an American monthly magazine for professional photographers covering all aspects of the photographic industry for more than two decades. Each month, the magazine provides readers with news, analytics, interviews, and a portfolio of recent photographs.
He first picked up a camera at the age of 16, immediately fell in love with photography and quickly realized that he should devote his life to it. Becker is now a well-known wedding photographer who has been shooting professionally since 1997. When asked why he chose wedding photography, he replies that he likes noisy holidays and people in beautiful clothes. The secret of good shots, in his opinion, is simple: you need to relax and enjoy what is happening.
Penelope Cruz and Woody Allen. Photo by Annie Leibovitz
Today Annie Leibovitz is one of the most sought after photographers in the world. Moreover, many of her works are so famous that they have passed into a different quality: they have separated from the personality of the author and began to take on a life of their own as well-known works of art.
And Annie Leibovitz was born in 1949 in the United States, in the state of Connecticut. Her parents often moved, and later she admitted that it is not difficult to become a photographer if from early childhood you see the world already in a ready-made frame, through a car window.
One of the most recognized American photographers. His works are published in leading publications, and exhibitions attract crowds of spectators. Seth is also a founding member of the D-65 Association of Photographers and author of courses for professional photographers, art directors, photo editors, and advanced hobbyists. In addition, he also collaborates with Adobe, NEC, Canon, X-Rite, Epson and other companies, participating in the creation of products for photographers.
American photojournalist and war photographer. At 19In 76, he began working as a photographer on the staff of the Albuquerque Journal, and four years later he moved to New York and became a freelance artist.
Nachtwey has been shooting armed conflicts and social issues, working in South Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe. He also worked on social issues in the USA and Europe.
Sebastio Salgado was born in Brazil, in a small provincial town, and from the late 1960s, having received an economic education, he worked in the Brazilian Ministry of Finance. At 19In the 70s, having found himself as an economic adviser in Africa, he became interested in photography. As a result, in 1973 he left the ministry and became a professional photographer. He worked for the Sygma and Gamma agencies, and since 1979 became a member of the Magnum Photos photo agency. In 1994, Salgado created his own agency, Amazonas Images.
Jasmine Star made her debut by being named one of the top 10 wedding photographers of 2009 by American Photo magazine. At the same time, just three years before, Jasmine studied at law school and did not think about taking up photography.
She never studied photography professionally, but that didn't stop her from becoming an excellent photographer. Jasmine herself describes her style as "fresh, youthful and fun".
After studying painting and graphic design at Cooper Union and Yale, Jay Meisel began his photography career in 1954. While his portfolio includes the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Miles Davis, he is perhaps best known for capturing light, color, and gesture found in everyday life. This unique vision has kept him busy for over 40 years shooting annual reports, magazine covers, jazz albums, commercials and more for an array of clients around the world. Some of his commercial accomplishments include five Sports Illustrated swimsuit covers, the first two covers of New York Magazine, the cover of Miles Davis's View of Blue (the best-selling jazz album of all time), twelve years of United Technologies advertising, and a long list of awards from organizations such as PMS, ASMP, ADC, PPA, and Cooper Union.
American photographer who has worked extensively for a variety of periodicals. American Photo magazine called him "perhaps the most versatile photojournalist of our time" and included him in their 1993 list of "The 100 Most Important People in Photography". McNally began his career in 1976 as, oddly enough, a courier for the New York Daily News. Quite far from photography work. But by the end of the 1970s, he was taking pictures for The New York Times, The Associated Press, and United Press International. From 19He has been shooting for National Geographic for 87 years. From 1994 to 1998 he was a photographer for Life magazine. Collaborates with a host of publications such as Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Geo, Fortune, The New Yorker, BusinessWeek, Life, Men's Journal and many others. In 1996, the World Press Photo Foundation awarded him the third prize in the People in the News category.
Chris lives in Melbourne, Australia. He shoots mostly in black and white.
Wedding photographer from California. One of the most famous wedding photographers in the world.
Wedding photographer from Chicago. Works in various genres
The secret of Chase Jarvis, an American photographer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, is simple: a creative person must embody his ideas, work hard and believe in himself, then everything will work out. Chase got into photography in a rather atypical way: he inherited a huge amount of photographic equipment from his grandfather. As a result, he began to learn the secrets of photography through his own observations and practice. Today he is a sought-after photographer specializing in sports and travel photography.
Dane Sanders is a renowned photographer and popularizer of photography. In 2010, Photo District News named him one of the 30 most influential photographers of the last decade. Dane is the author of two books on photography technology and tips for amateur photographers, and is a successful lecturer and guest speaker at WPPI, Imaging USA, and PhotoPlus Expo.
In addition, he conducts his author's seminars in different countries of the world. But even this was not enough for Dane, so he also founded a popular annual photographic conference.
Irving Penn
One of the most famous photographers, Irving Penn was born in 1917. In his youth, he studied at the art school, but soon, for some reason, he gave up this occupation and destroyed all his paintings. Whether the world lost the good artist Irving Penn is unknown, but that he gained the famous photographer is absolutely certain. Already in 1943, his first photograph appeared on the cover of Vogue. He did not like unprincipled works and invented a script for each, and the models turned into actors and played the prescribed roles. Not surprisingly, many of his works are exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
"Salvador Dali of the third millennium" - this is the nickname in the art world received by one of the most successful photographers of our time, David LaChapelle.
It is difficult to pass by his works, they evoke a wide variety of emotions in people: shock, amazement, admiration, irritation, but certainly not indifference. Born in 1963 in Connecticut, David took his first photograph at the age of six while on a family vacation in Puerto Rico. It showed his mother sunbathing on the balcony with a glass of champagne in her hand. Looking at this simple black and white shot, David knew for sure that he would definitely become a world-famous photographer.
Eugene Richards is a renowned documentary photographer. His very personal works deal mainly with social issues. They have been exhibited in the most famous galleries and published in the most reputable magazines. Richards has worked as a freelance artist for publications such as Life, National Geographic and The New York Times. His first book, A Little Bit of Comfort and Surprises. The Arkansas Delta, published in 1973, focused on rural poverty in Arkansas. Later, many more of his books were published on poverty, racism and terrorism.
Modern American photographer, film director and cameraman, one of the most important photographers of the second half of the 20th century, Robert Frank was born in the family of a German architect of Jewish origin and a Swiss citizen. Together with his father and brother, in 1935, as a Jew, he was deprived of German citizenship, in 1945 he received Swiss citizenship. From 1941 to 1947 he worked as a photographer in Zurich and Geneva, then in New York. Until the mid-1950s, he traveled the world a lot, working for Look, Life, Vogue and others. At 19In 1953, Robert Frank, together with Edward Steichen, prepared in New York for the Museum of Modern Art a large exhibition "Post-War European Photographers". Since 1958, he practically did not engage in photography, concentrating on cinema, but since 1972 he again became an active photographer.
Mary Ellen Mark was born in 1940 in Pennsylvania. I started taking photographs at the age of nine. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962 with a degree in painting and art history.
From 19She has been a photojournalist in New York for 67 years. Since 1969, she began working as a photographer on film sets. Since then, Mary Ellen Mark has been on the set of more than a hundred films, and her photographs have been published in the world's most famous magazines for both photography and cinema for more than 40 years.
David Hobbie was born in 1965 and is best known as the world's foremost expert on artificial light in photography. David has devoted his whole life to this, writing many tutorials and books on the subject, constantly giving master classes around the world and maintaining his own blog Strobist.com, which has more than one hundred thousand unique visitors per day.
This American photographer specializes in social photography. He is most famous for his project "Scar", in which he photographed women with breast cancer and undergoing one or more operations, with ugly scars on their chests. Thus, he wanted to draw attention to this problem, because every year thousands of women find themselves on the operating table due to this disease.
American documentary photographer, one of the most famous contemporary photographers, Steve was born at 1950 years old, and from the mid-1970s he became interested in photography. He repeatedly visited the places of hostilities and took pictures of people crippled by the war, both soldiers and civilians. Steve McCurry is best known for his 1985 photograph of an Afghan girl in a Pakistani refugee camp, which has been reprinted many times and first appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine.
Ed Kashi is an American documentary photographer born in 1957. He worked as a photographer in Vietnam, Pakistan, developed numerous social stories: about oil in the Niger Delta, about old age in America, about the development of India and Madagascar. He photographed the daily lives of children affected by the Vietnam War. At times, he took to work with charitable organizations like Azafadi, which helps the poor in southeast Madagascar get out of poverty while keeping their land.
American photographer Stephen Wilks has been a photographer for a quarter of a century, able to combine pure creativity with commercial work. His Day to Night project received the most rave reviews from critics, and this is not surprising, because the photographer spent dozens of hours on each shot, shooting the city first during the day and then at night, and painstakingly connecting the photos. Stephen Wilks' work is in private collections and museums, he arranges solo exhibitions and is actively published in leading magazines. And although he is considered mainly a commercial photographer, even in commissioned shots he brings an element of pure creativity, which makes them unlike others.
Yuriy Arkurs is the best-selling stock photographer in the world. In January 2008, for example, he made $64,000 selling photographs through microstock, setting an all-time record. Together with sales through classic photobanks, his total income was more than $80,000 in just one month.
Its current figures are more than 1,100,000 sales per year only in 16 main photo banks. Buyers of his photographs include Time, MTV, Sony, MSN.com, Microsoft, Canon, Samsung, Hewlett Packard and others. In 2008, given the popularity of his shots, Hasselblad Corporation provided him with a unique and extremely expensive h4DII-39 medium format camera.with a 39 megapixel sensor.
Elliott Erwitt was born in France to Russian parents. Then the family moved to Italy, where he spent the first ten years of his life, and just before the start of World War II, he ended up in the USA. In Los Angeles, in college, he studied photography. At first, Elliott made a living making portraits of stars with a facsimile of their signature on the image. In the 1950s, he ended up in the army, working there as a photographer's assistant. Since 1953, Elliott Erwitt has been an employee of the Magnum Agency. Thanks to this, he became one of the most famous reportage photographers, whose pictures reflected all the main events of world history over the past 50 years.
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Steven Meisel was born in 1954. He started his career as an illustrator in the advertising department of clothing manufacturer Halston and did not even think of becoming a photographer someday in the future. But one day he ended up in the Elite modeling agency for work. Steven was interested in the work of photographers, and he was allowed to take some pictures of models. This is where his passion for photography began. For a long time he combined his main work and his hobby: he painted on weekdays and photographed on weekends. But at some point, the advertising photo won. Steven Meisel is considered the creator of many supermodels: he promoted Sasha Pivovarova, Snezhana Onopko, Coco Rocha and many others. The main publication for him is the Italian Vogue, where he is allowed to actively experiment and create informal materials.
William Eggleston mainly photographs the world around him. His large-format shots immortalize the most ordinary scenes.
He grew up in the southern United States, among the cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta, and from the late 1960s he created a portrait of his native south, trying to preserve as much detail as possible. Without a specialized education, William studied on his own, using illustrated books by Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. Today, Eggleston's work is widely published, and he himself is tacitly hailed as a pioneer of color photography, for being one of the first to use color not only in commercial, but also in creative photography. It was with his works that the appearance of color photography in museums and private collections began. William Eggleston Exhibition 1976, hosted by John Szarkowski, Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, heralded color photography as an art form.
Martin Parr is a contemporary English photographer and photojournalist. He studied photography from 1970 to 1973 at Manchester Metropolitan University and then practiced extensively as a reportage photographer.
Since 1994, Martin Parr has been a member of the Magnum Agency, although very many within the agency itself were strongly opposed to his admission, since his style was seen as unnecessarily provocative, and his work itself as a ridicule of others. Yet Martin remains one of the greatest photographers of our time. Parr's works indeed depict reality somewhat grotesquely: the gray and boring everyday life, the joyless withering of old people, the ugly and funny sides of human existence. Martin Parr actively publishes his works, more than twenty of his books have been published to date.
Yervant Zanazanyan became seriously interested in photography at the age of 11, and the start of the young amateur turned out to be more than successful: he won a real, adult photo contest. His father, an Armenian by nationality, worked in a slightly exotic position as the official photographer of the King of Ethiopia, so from the age of six the boy got used to handling photographic equipment, helping his father in his laboratory.
