Heroes of Canadian Photography

ebino said:
All great Canadian photography heroes are working and in most cases living in US...
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Two of the greatest are alive, kicking, and residing in the Great North. Larry Towell(already mentioned) is my vote for the greatest living photographer anywhere, he resides in rural Ontario and still shoots film. His long list of awards, exhibits and books is impressive. He's not even all that old; still in his fifties.
Ted Grant, who many people call the father of Canadian photojournalism, has practised photography for 60 years and although now retired, still packs a camera with him everywhere he goes. He lives in Victoria BC and has always been based in Canada. I went to a film about, and lecture by Ted, which showed just what a leading light he was. Ted started useing Leicas early in his career, at a time when most news photographer were still using Speed Graphics. He also shot by available light whenever possible. His belief is, if you can see it you can shoot it. Ted's signature style was to shoot on the dark side of his subject, placing the subject between the light source and himself. Many of his photographs capture the mood of the situation and not just the individuals in the picture. Many Canadians will recognize his most famous picture; Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau sliding down a bannister on his butt with his hands thrown up in the air. Ted currently shoots a Leica M8, and when he was asked for his comments on film versus digital, he said "Digital came 50 years too late". I guess I have to excuse him something.
 
I was lucky enough to meet Boris Spremo at King Clancy's funeral, up in the balcony. Very nice guy and was nice enough to let me see his Widelux F7 :).

Heroes for me? I thought many of the guys from the local papers, the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald, were amazing shooters. I still do. And my PJ instructor Don Wise at SAIT. Don taught me how to "get it right" and how to shoot the photo essay.

I always loved Freeman Patterson's work and just heard a wonderful interview with him on CBC Radio.
I would love to meet him someday soon.

And most of all, my mom who first let me shoot with her Olympus Trip.
And bought me my first camera.
Over the years, she has been nothing but supportive of my photographic journey.

These are some of my heroes.

Gregory Rogalsky
 
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i am occasionally hearing questions or chats about the nationalities of photographers. i could not figure out why people are mentioning about the nationality of any photographer. why is it important?
 
Hero or well known?
I see someone mentioned Spremo and Bud Watson. What about Freeman Patterson, Sherman Hines, Courtney Milne and Ctein. (At least I think Ctein)
Sorry if some have been mentioned and I missed it.
 
taylan said:
i am occasionally hearing questions or chats about the nationalities of photographers. i could not figure out why people are mentioning about the nationality of any photographer. why is it important?
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In my opinion you will see certain styles emanate from countries in art in literature and in photography. For example I enjoy the subject of "landscape photography" as a result if you want to see American landscapes.. check Ansel Adams. If you want to see American people look at Walker Evans work during the depression, Diane Arbus' work with the social fringes, Martin Parr's analysis of Britian and it's people.

Context does educate and inform both the public and other photographers. That's why it is important.
 
jan normandale said:
In my opinion you will see certain styles emanate from countries in art in literature and in photography. For example I enjoy the subject of "landscape photography" as a result if you want to see American landscapes.. check Ansel Adams. If you want to see American people look at Walker Evans work during the depression, Diane Arbus' work with the social fringes, Martin Parr's analysis of Britian and it's people.

Context does educate and inform both the public and other photographers. That's why it is important.
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yes you are right, if i want to see American landscapes, i must check the Ansel Adam's works. But in this point his works are independent from his nationality. He might be a French, Canadian or Iranian. For example if you want to see about streets of Istanbul, you can look at Alex Webb's work. He is not Turkish. What can we say about his work? What about Robert Capa, Abbas, Salgado or HCB. Can you link of their works and nationalities. Honestly i can not.
On the other hand, we are living in globalization age. Now i am in front of my library and i can see the books i have read. Writers are all over the world. For example in the gallery of this site i can look the works all over the world. i can buy any DVD film belongs to any side of the world. To sum up, art materials produced all over the world influence all of us.
Now i am asking again. why is the nationality important?
 
I am glad somebody, jan, mentioned Freeman Patterson. I was lucky enough to attend a local talk he gave on photography. Very nice fellow and not gear centric at all in his talk.

Bob
 
As has already been mentioned, it doesn't get much better than Jeff Wall as far as contemporary art photography is concerned. Wall is, in my personal opinion, the most significant photographer of the past twenty years.
 
taylan said:
yes you are right, if i want to see American landscapes, i must check the Ansel Adam's works. But in this point his works are independent from his nationality. He might be a French, Canadian or Iranian. For example if you want to see about streets of Istanbul, you can look at Alex Webb's work. He is not Turkish. What can we say about his work? What about Robert Capa, Abbas, Salgado or HCB. Can you link of their works and nationalities. Honestly i can not.
On the other hand, we are living in globalization age. Now i am in front of my library and i can see the books i have read. Writers are all over the world. For example in the gallery of this site i can look the works all over the world. i can buy any DVD film belongs to any side of the world. To sum up, art materials produced all over the world influence all of us.
Now i am asking again. why is the nationality important?
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Umm where are you going with this.. ? You asked a question. I gave my opinion. If you don't like it that's fine. I'm not about to get into a sophmoric debate on this one. Clarify your view on this with someone else. I've said my piece.
 
taylan said:
i am occasionally hearing questions or chats about the nationalities of photographers. i could not figure out why people are mentioning about the nationality of any photographer. why is it important?
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My original post was from pondering why Canada doesn't have much of a "camera culture."

It seems like other countries have photographers who are almost household names, like Ansel Adams for example.

I was mainly wondering if there are Canadian photographers who are (or should be) household names. That's all.
 
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