which photographer would you want to talk with?

Freakscene said:
At the time I was working with a lot of people suffering from traumatic brain injuries. I was in Japan, thinking about Fukase, and got in touch with some people who knew him. They said he didn’t get many visitors. Unsure of whether it would be viewed positively, I went, read to him for a while, and left. The people I met who were his carers and guardians viewed what I did positively, and I wouldn’t have seen him had I not been received this way. Visiting wasn’t about the photography, that was about trying to do something human for someone who was having a rough time. I would have liked to talk to him about photography.
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I understand, thank you.
Freakscene said:
I made a point in my early adult life of seeking out and meeting a lot of people who I was interested in, for one reason or another. NYT Robert Frank: New Orleans Trolley Often they didn’t talk about photography, or whatever the core component of my interest in them was. Sometimes they didn’t really talk a lot at all. Maybe it’s my manner, but I was only asked to go away once, which I did immediately. You can learn a lot about people’s lives, attitudes, and, ultimately, about the things you are interested in about them from small seemingly peripheral details if you go about obtaining them the right way and can absorb them without bias or judgement. I feel like I’m a better person for having done these things, and I can see most people’s points of view, even if I disagree with them.
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Salgado, no hesitation. And I’d ask him about his monograph “Workers”, which a big reason I started my own long term project.

I’d also ask him why Genesis is so bloated with so many redundant photos.
 
This is a tough one. So many photographers to admire. For me it would be Lee Friedlander. I find his perspective to be so unique and inspirational. Maybe Alex Webb for the same reason.
 
jpressman said:
This is a tough one. So many photographers to admire. For me it would be Lee Friedlander. I find his perspective to be so unique and inspirational. Maybe Alex Webb for the same reason.
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Those are good ones, but I think only Alex Webb would talk to you about photography. ;)
 
If the users of the camera lucida are also counted among the photographers, Ingres would be the man I would like to talk to. I would like to talk to him about his paintings and drawings anyway, but paintings and drawings are not photographs and are not participating now.

Erik.
 
For me this is an easy question. Edward Steichen, I love his gum-bichromates and relate to them strongly. Also I feel there's similarity in our visions.
 
phojsu said:
Larry Burrows, Elliot Erwitt
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I've given this discussion further thought and just realized the obvious response to to the Original Poster (OP), look at my book shelf. Probably the only photog still alive associated with my many books is James Nachtwey with whom I would greatly enjoy a conversation over coffees, beers or particularly Scotches (single malt, please).
 
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Welcome back, Lazarus!!

Henri Cartier-Bresson. So we could converse and discuss in French. Living in Australia, I get to use my Franco-langue too little as it is.

Minor White. To see if I could make more sense from his conversation than I've ever done from anything he wrote. Superb images, 'tho. I've met several of his students in my time, who all said he was a great inspiration to them in the classroom.

(Added later) William Eggleston. I am greatly attracted to his minimalism and his superb sense of composition in all his work.

Also a fair few other 'greats' on my list. Others here have listed most of them in their posts, so I won't, as it would make this post much too lengthy and long-winded. Ha!

Not to forget, at least a dozen photographers who are very much with us and post regularly on RFF. They know who they are. On occasion I ask slightly-off-post questions to them, to try and find out what motivates them to make the memorable images they do.

All except one have always responded. Often in great detail.

Many thanks to you all for this - to repeat myself, you already know who you are on my list.
 
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Sally Mann. Did I name her in a previous post? Well, I should have.

And Henry Wessel, if he were still with us. Often overlooked but he shouldn't be.
 
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