Who Do YOU Like Better

Who Do YOU Like Better

  • Ansel Adams

    Votes: 55 20.2%

  • Henri Cartier-Bresson

    Votes: 144 52.9%

  • Garry Winogrand

    Votes: 48 17.6%

  • William Eggleston

    Votes: 25 9.2%
  • Total voters
    272
RayPA

RayPA

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Just curious and for fun, who of the four do you like better (vote one only)?

Ansel Adams
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Garry Winogrand
Willian Eggleston
 
jan normandale said:
Ray, I'm familiar with these famous names but not their work... I should go to the library!
Click to expand...

Yes you should, Jan! Here are some samples to jumpstart your trip to the library: :)

AA
HCB
GW
WE
 
I voted for HCB over Adams just because his work is on more of a human scale, but it was close.

The other two are mostly unknown to me and while I've seen some of their stuff before, I don't feel that they're in the same class as HCB or AA.

Eli
 
eli griggs said:
I voted for HCB over Adams just because his work is on more of a human scale, but it was close.

The other two are mostly unknown to me and while I've seen some of their stuff before, I don't feel that they're in the same class as HCB or AA.

Eli
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works for me! :) I prefer HCB over AA, too—for the same reason.

.
 
RayPA said:
Yes you should, Jan! Here are some samples to jumpstart your trip to the library: :)

AA
HCB
GW
WE
Click to expand...


Ray, thanks for the links. I think I relate a bit more to Eggleston, but I like what Cartier-Bresson does to put motion into a frame. Very interesting guys! Adam's only image that really interested me was Central Park Skyscrapers.
 
When I first saw HCB's work, I was blown away. It was almost like discovering photography for the first time all over again. Of course, I've heard about the man and I was familiar with three or four of his photographs but after reading so much about him on RFF I took some time do some research on his photographs and it was an absolutely wonderful and educational experience. I think we'd all be surprised as to how much HCB is mentioned here on RFF. When I was a newbie here, it really seemed to me that HCB was THE photographer, especially when it came to 35mm rangefinder photography.

I can say that HCB is without question my favourite photographer. I really wonder if this guy ever took a bad photograph. I find many things about the man very inspiring.

I can't say the same thing about the other photographers listed. I appreciate their work and I like many of their photographs but they didn't affect me to same extent.

I also very much like Koudelka, Rodchenko, Erwitt, Alverez Bravo, and Salgado.
 
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I like them all, for different reasons.

Adams pushed the craft of fine image making to a new level. Plus, he was a Bay Area man. HCB is an icon for 35mm and (what is now called) street photography. His best images, imho, are masterpieces. Winogrand was incredibly prolific and imaginative with both subject matter and composition. Eggleston made the ordinary bizarre and the mundane complex. I also lived in Memphis in the late 60's, early 70's, so his images from that time have a particular resonance with me.

In the end, though, everything is just "light on surface". I voted for Winogrand. One of my favorite photos of his is this one, where's honus?, particularly since I am in it.
 
Honus said:
I like them all, for different reasons.

Adams pushed the craft of fine image making to a new level. Plus, he was a Bay Area man. HCB is an icon for 35mm and (what is now called) street photography. His best images, imho, are masterpieces. Winogrand was incredibly prolific and imaginative with both subject matter and composition. Eggleston made the ordinary bizarre and the mundane complex. I also lived in Memphis in the late 60's, early 70's, so his images from that time have a particular resonance with me.

In the end, though, everything is just "light on surface". I voted for Winogrand. One of my favorite photos of his is this one, where's honus?, particularly since I am in it.
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I couldn't have said this better myself.
 
Oh this is hard. How could 35 mm RF users NOT vote for HCB or Winogrand? Well, I voted for Adams. I'm reading his Autobiography and studying his work. Adams was not only a great photographer, he was also articulate about his art. His discussion of visualization, and of the way he integrated craft, technique, and composition with the goal of establishing photography as an art form in its own right and not as derivative of other art forms (e.g., painting), puts him ahead of the others, IMO. Even if one is pursuing different aesthetic objectives than those of Group f/64, there's a lot to learn from his work and his writings. He admired HCB, BTW, and used a Contax from time to time.
 
It was a relatively easy choice for me - I've loved the work of both HCB and GW for ages, but HCB still edges it. AA's work is also superb, but for me a great landscape will never have the same impact as a great shot of life and humanity. And finally, I have to put WE in a very distant last place - I just don't get his stuff at all.
 
My preferences change over time ... and are not always the same.
At this moment i voted Eggleston .... because his work is highly original and impossible to copy or mimic ........
 
Have to admit that I still don't understand the aesthetics of Eggleston, despite all my honest attempts. Probably that part of my brain is underdeveloped.
 
In my opinion HCB is difficult to beat, he has been an innovator in technique and style, he was a painter, and therefore a master of form and composition, he was sensitive to social side of things, so he kept the human condition at the mainstream, and he had an incredible talent and persistence. His best shots are simply miracles of all these elements coming together.
 
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