Major Influences ???

[pesphoto]

I didnt start with rangefinders until I found RFF. My biggest influences?
Andre Kertesz, Harry Callahan, Friedlander. I was infuenced by their work, then discovered their use of rangefinders later and I really got hooked.

 

[andrew]

Great question (and a great distraction from the grading I should be doing right now). My very quick list of influences or perhaps inspirations, echoes many of the people above and would be as follows:

Photographers:
My dad - I still have his last Nikkormat
Paul Caponigro
Paul Strand
Josef Sudek
Eugene Richards
Yoav Horesh
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Ernst Haas
Adam Fuss
My students

Writers:
William Faulkner
John Steinbeck
Norman Mailer
Thomas Wolfe

Musicians:
Joe Strummer/The Clash
Tom Waits
Iggy Pop/Stooges
Bob Marley
David Byrne/Talking Heads
Django Reinhardt

I don't think I could find their work in my work, but I react to their creative endeavors with consistent wonder. I could probably spend all day listing specific photos, books, songs, etc. that have altered the way I see and think. It's a kick in the gut that really focuses me on the joy of living.

Thanks for this thread, and thanks to everyone at RFF for adding inspiration on a daily basis.

 

[peter_n]

As for influence of photographers on me, I will not claim that the following folk is the best, but definitely he has gave me a tremendous inspiration, sparking my imagination and pushing me towards his photographic genre: our RFF member Beniliam.

I happened to come into some relationship with this kid, and upon our exchange I can testify, that in contrast to those cases in which a highly popular artist happens to be just a single talented flat mind, Beniliam is a full phylosopher of photography, art and life, very much sharp in what he looks for. And an extra ordinary humble man too. Unfortunately his English control limits his written contributions here to random technical issues here and there. But ask him in Spanish about his opinion on x camera or x photographer and you will get from him the real ABC of the issue.

I don't need to be a HCB, a tenth of Beniliam will suffice.

Cheers,
Ruben

Well expressed sentiments Ruben. Beniliam is a very nice guy and a terrific photographer. He helped me when I was visiting Madrid a couple of years ago and I'm sorry that I didn't get the chance to meet him.

 

[35mmdelux]

I was first drawn to rf photography when I came across Alex Webb's book "Crossings." I have never tried to emulate Webb's photographic style. But from the outset, I have been very inspired by his approach to photography and by his sense of how to communicate through photographs.

I met Alex and his wife, Rebecca, the other day in San Diego. Very nice guy and forthcoming about his work and technique.

He has a great eye! Thank you Alex.

Paul

 

[Rafael]

I met Alex and his wife, Rebecca, the other day in San Diego. Very nice guy and forthcoming about his work and technique.

He has a great eye! Thank you Alex.

Paul

What a great opportunity! In what context did you meet him?

 

[RayPA]

influences for using RF cameras? How about a list of people who have used RF's and whose work I admire:

Winogrand, Friedlander, Koudelka


🙂

 

[John Bragg]

Wow, so many varied answers to my OP. At first I thought no one was going to reply. But hey, not an easy one to answer straight off may be ??
Glad to see some famous and non famous influences alike and if I allow myself to include further influences, I was always so envious of Bob Carlos Clarke,s printing style, Eve Arnold,s kind and sympathetic eye, and Jane Bown,s simple yet deadly effective style with portraits.

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

I really really like Martin Parr and Nan Goldin. When he's not beating you over the head with "shockingness" Terry Richardson is pretty good. I also really like magazines like The Face and I-D. These people didn't really influence my decision to use a rangefinder though ... it just felt right!

 

[Marc-A.]

I don't need to be a HCB, a tenth of Beniliam will suffice.

Same here, Ruben 😉

If I had to refer to one master, I'd say Robert Doisneau. If I could make only one picture à la Doisneau ... oh my. The other one I think about spontaneaously is Dorothea Lange; her portrait of the migrant mother during the depression haunts me
(none of them used RF but still they're my influences).
Though I am deeply impressed by Salgago's work, his pictures make me feel uncomfortable. I mean his work is sometimes too beautiful to be decent (his series on starvation in Eritrea for instance): art can kill photography.

I enjoy this thread. Thanks John Bragg.

 

[richiedcruz]

Some of the ones that I can name off of the top of my head are:
HCB
Eli Reed
Nachtwey
Irving Penn
Imogen Cunningham

Plus I love looking at books of old news and crime scene photos, and old album photos that I find at antique shops.

Richie

 

[lilin menyala]

I really really like Martin Parr and Nan Goldin.

seeing nan goldin's exhibition 'i'll be your mirror' when i was 17 or 18 was quite literally life-changing for me. i still revisit her work on a regular basis, less for photographic inspiration (although that too), but more for general life affirmation.

(vic chesnutt and will oldham did the same for me in musical terms.)

 

[Roger Vadim]

Martin Parr
and, because nobody mentioned him: Wolfgang Tillmans
plus all the photogs on flickr.

did I mention W.H. Fox Talbot?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Jane Bown, Martin Parr, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bert Hardy and David Bailey all influenced me at different times.

Equally visits to the Tate, V&A, National, National Portrait, Photographers' Gallery, South Bank and my local gallery (all in London) whether it was photos or textiles or ceramics.

But only for the images, never for the cameras. That would be so sad. If I chose to use a camera just because HCB used a similar one I'd soon want a replica strap and bag too!

 

[bob cole]

Apart from the Magnum photographers, I guess there was one overriding influence in my choosing to become a Rangefinder user. I became enamoured of the documentary style and sheer talent of James Ravilious. His ability to document a disappearing rural life fascinated me...........

http://www.jamesravilious.com/gallerypic.asp?gallery_id=12

Who would you cite as your inspiration ?

--------------------------------

John, my major inspiration was David Douglas Duncan, a Life Magazine photographer and early [1950] user of the Nikon rangefinder and Nikon lenses...His archive and equipment today is at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas...

http://tinyurl.com/2lu99b


The University of Texas has written that "Upon a suggestion from Dallas' Stanley Marcus, [of the Neiman Marcus department store] David Douglas Duncan donated his archive to the {University's} Ransom Center in 1996. The archive, expansive and unique, serves as a major resource for the study of photojournalism.


"Valued at over $15 million, the archive contains Duncan's lenses, cameras, and other photographic equipment as well as all of his wartime photos and negatives, including his award-winning coverage of both the Korean and Vietnam wars. In addition, the collection includes the total body of writing, editing, and design work Duncan undertook to produce his war trilogy: "This is War!" (1951), "I Protest!" (1968), and "War Without Heroes" (1970). The collection also includes the correspondence, contracts, text, dummies, layouts, and proofs for each of Duncan's books, and houses extensive correspondence between Duncan and his family and friends, editors at LIFE, and numerous notables of the twentieth century."


Below: HCB by Duncan; Picasso by Duncan; Duncan w/Rollei & Heiland gun , El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, 1943.

Photo by Cpl. Var Keljik

 

[Marc-A.]

Thanks Bob Cole! I'm gonna find his work.

 

[peter_n]

The University of Texas has written that "Upon a suggestion from Dallas' Stanley Marcus, [of the Neiman Marcus department store] David Douglas Duncan donated his archive to the {University's} Ransom Center in 1996. The archive, expansive and unique, serves as a major resource for the study of photojournalism.

There is an interesting article in this week's New Yorker about the Ransom Center in Austin.

 

[John Bragg]

--------------------------------

John, my major inspiration was David Douglas Duncan, a Life Magazine photographer and early [1950] user of the Nikon rangefinder and Nikon lenses...His archive and equipment today is at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas.
http://tinyurl.com/2lu99b

Thanks for the link Bob. I had never seen his work until now, and it surely ranks along side the work of Capa. Some of his shots are eerily reminiscent of Frank Hurley,s First world war photos taken half a century earlier.