Who is your favorite photographer in history - who has influenced you the most?

Paul Robidoux. Few have heard of him. He died in 1962 or 1963, in his eighties.

He was a newspaper editorial writer, a youth group leader in our school, and a small-town commercial photographer in New Brunswick, Canada. I met him as a barely into my teens photo-newly in 1959. He got me hooked on good cameras by letting me play with his Super ikon 6x6, and from there for me the rest, as they say, is history.

He introduced me to the oft-published Kodak manual for amateurs, 'How To Make Good Pictures'. Which influenced my future photography in both good and less good ways. I still do cheesy landscapes and fight a recurring urge to include tree branches in the top of all my images. Rule Of Thirds composition I've also taken to an extreme, in my long lifetime.

After he died, his house was bulldozed for a retirement village. Sadly, everything was left in it when it got nuked, including I fear his entire darkroom, his negatives, and most likely his beloved Ikonta.

So he has a devoted following of one. A good score, I reckon, for a life doing what he loved most, photography.

Bolo Kukus said:

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He introduced me to the oft-published Kodak manual for amateurs, How To Make Good Pictures. Which influenced my future photography in both good and less good ways. I still do cheesy landscapes and fight a recurring urge to include tree branches in the top of all my images. Rule Of Thirds composition I've also taken to an extreme, in my long lifetime.

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Kodak had a library of great books (yeah, a few that were less than great) but had miles of information that filled my head with lots of ideas, techniques and dreams.

I wonder who owns the rights to such treasures.

BOT (Back On Topic), can't really say there was a single photographer. For me, different folks across decades for different aspects of their style/techniques that impacted they way I see and think.

B2 (;-?

I have 3 for different reasons

Eugene Smith because he had a keen eye for what might be important in his present and also the future.

Sudek. It’s like visual poetry to me

Sam Abel - best teacher I’ve ever seen and forced me to study his work and realize how and why it works.

I wish to thank Paterm and all the contributors for this great thread. In my 20 years with Rff I have learned and keep learning a lot from it. Which along with recognizing the outstanding level of photos I can admire here, is the best compliment I can imagine to Rff.

I don't have a favorite of all time. As my interests and perspective changed, and my own photography developed, I was influenced by a number of photographers.
Early on, due to a class in college called Poetry and Photography, Minor White, Paul Caponigro, Aaron Siskind
Later Danny Lyon, Harry Callahan, Ray Metzger, Helen Levitt
Then Saul Leiter, Harry Gruyaert, Alex Webb, Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston
They all helped expand my understanding of how to see differently and what was possible.