There are many great and famous photographers, examples of their work are easily found from a web search. There are also some less well known but brilliant and exceptional photographers that are not so easy to find. This page links to some of these less-familiar but inspirational photographers’ web sites.
Recent additions shown in RED.
Not one photographer but a commercial, French retouching / CGI agency. Inspiring work. |
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Fashion and portraits |
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Fine art. Mostly black and white. Specialises in longer exposures where people movement is blurred |
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1898 – 1995 was a German-American photographer and photojournalist. He is best known for his photograph capturing the celebration of V-J Day and for his candid photographs, frequently made using various models of a 35mm Leica rangefinder camera. You will recognise many of his images. |
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Travel photographer and photo-journalist. Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic magazine photographer Ami Vitale has traveled to more than 90 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. |
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American portrait photographer |
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Fashion photographer |
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Fine Art Photography, based in Phoenix, Arizona. Often minimal images. Prefers using basic analogue equipment and techniques to create his work—simple images that invite quiet contemplation. |
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American weddings and portraits |
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Widely recognized for his unusual celebrity portraiture, his scientific photography, photo illustrations, drawings and photojournalistic stories |
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David Burnett is a photojournalist with more than 4 decades of work covering the news, the people, and visual tempo of our age. In July, 2011, David worked with Photographers for Hope to create a workshop for homeless news vendors in Glasgow, Scotland. Their work (see here) is a really wonderful show of what photography can do, when there is motivation. |
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Landscape photographer |
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A member of the World Photographic Academy, Erwitt, is recognised as a documentary and commercial photographer and has also been honoured with this year’s ICP Lifetime Achievement Award. His style of photography fairly reflects the work of Henri-Cartier Bresson, the father of photojournalism who coined the term “the decisive moment”. Erwitt is known for capturing street scenes of silhouettes with precision as well as expressing his witty persona through his humorous photographs. WPO |
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(1921–1986) is acclaimed as one of the most celebrated and influential photographers of the 20th century and considered one of the pioneers of color photography. Haas traveled extensively, photographing for LIFE, Vogue, and Look, to name a few of many influential publications. See landscape photographer BBC |
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Philippe Halsman |
Creative Portraiture 1906-1979. He produced reportage and covers for most major American magazines, including 101 covers for Life magazine. His assignments brought him face-to-face with many of the century’s leading personalities. He found unique ways to capture their real, undistorted personality and character. |
Great Portraitists |
Some brilliant portrait photographers: |
1907 – 2009 |
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Documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues. |
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Creative people photographer |
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Fine art portraits and full length. Mainly mono and female in Photoshopped locations. Dreamy and unsual. Take a look at her past exhibitions, eg Baptism. Her blog from a workshop shows many examples of how she starts her pictures that will evolve into the final print. |
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Photojournalism for LIFE magazine |
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Mostly black and white |
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People and Flowers/trees (some nudity) |
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AKA Sylwana Zybura an award-winning Polish-German image maker and linguist based in London/UK. Her clients include Canon, Selfridges, Topshop, Cutler&Gross, Kris van Assche, Le Monde, Maison Martin Margiela, Stella Artois, Svarowski and Rankin’s Hunger Magazine. The main focus of her work lies within the (in-camera) creation of character design infused with surreal and abstract elements, the contemporary hybridised body, its sublime beauty and its study in connection to fashion and design. |
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Photographer Maggie Steber has worked in 64 countries focusing on humanitarian, cultural, and social stories. Her honors include the Leica Medal of Excellence, World Press Photo Foundation, the Overseas Press Club, Pictures of the Year, the Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service to Journalism from the University of Missouri, the Alicia Patterson and Ernst Haas Grants, and a Knight Foundation grant for the New American Newspaper project. |
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Artist, illustrator and photographer. |
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Landscape photographer National Geographic Bio |
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1908-1976 Minor Martin White was an American photographer born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. White earned a degree in botany with a minor in English from the University of Minnesota in 1933. |
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It’s been said that Monte Zucker changed wedding photography as we know it today. He’s also change the way we photograph couples and families. When it comes to posing people and lighting them, Monte is one of the all-time legendary masters. Monte Zucker has achieved just about every photographic degree that exists including Portrait Photographer of the Year from the United Nations in 2002. Monte’s images are simple, direct, and emotional. |
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One of the most interesting portraitists working today, see his Work > Portraits section of his Flash gallery. Has an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery as a tie-in to the 2012 Olympics |
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An Italian-born fashion photographer who lives and works in Paris. Unofficial web site of many amazing studio shots here (some nudes) |
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Fashion, beauty, advertising, fine art |
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Born 1950 in Finland. Mono photographer. Sammallahti was included among the 100 favourite photographs in the personal collection of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Also see The Photographers Gallery and Intospective Magazine |
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Cairns, Australia. People, landscape and commercial |
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Phil Penman comes from Dorset, England. Today he works as a freelance street photographer in New York. Phil was recently listed as one of the “52 most influential street Photographers” alongside Henri Cartier Bresson and Sebastiao Salgado. See Phil on Instagram and Facebook |
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Photo journalist, editorial and commercial. His photos have changed the world, especially some visually upsetting and harrowing events, see Blood and Honey and Testimony One hour YouTube interview |
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Portrait and reportage photographer. Shoots for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Marie-Claire, l’Egoïste, Vanity Fair, Liberation. Also see Strange Items for Sale |
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Tim is a photographer best known for his highly conceptual portraits of animals. His images are a departure from traditional wildlife photography and he has been described as “a potent example of a commercially trained photographer who’s now reaching a global audience through the boom in fine art photography. He is the author of the books Equus, Dogs Gods and More Than Human.Tim Flach has repeatedly been honoured by leading organisations and publications in the photography world, including: the Association of Photographers, American Photography, Photo District Annual,Communication Arts,Cannes Lions, Creative Review and Design & Art Direction.He has also won the International Photography Awards Professional Photographer of the Year, Fine Art. |
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Not one but many great photographers and techniques, from the 19th century to the most modern, to explore. |
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Photo journalist with Magnum and Life. Some brutal war images and fine art. An American photojournalist, renowned for the dedication he devoted to his projects and his uncompromising professional and ethical standards. Smith developed the photo essay into a sophisticated visual form. Video biography |
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Landscape photographer Colour abstract |
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Karsh has photographed many of the most iconic people in the lather half of the 20th century. If you read nothing else read the background to his Winston Churchill photograph |
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Five Photography Monographs Everyone Should Know
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“There are artists with life-long careers who produce an incredibly large number of works; nevertheless, it is possible in the majority of cases to recognise in retrospect a single body of work or art project that encompasses or best summarises the artist’s entire research, conveying the essence of their aesthetic and approach.” References: Robert Frank – The Americans, Stephen Shore – Uncommon Places, Zoe Leonard – Analogue, Helmut Newton – SUMO and Andreas Gursky |
Also see Famous Photographers