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

[David Murphy]

Garry Winogrand is high on my list. I like his work, but I don't consider myself a photographer really. However, some of the things he was quoted as saying sort of validated my own personal feelings about photography I've had since I was a child with my first camera, which I sort of kept to myself since they seemed too trivial to express in the world of "high art". Here's one: "I photograph to see what things look like photographed"

 

[kshapero]

HCB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[38Deardorff]

Hands down Vittorio Sella, the mountain photographer. A remarkable life and an outstanding body of work.

 

[kshapero]

Garry Winogrand is high on my list. I like his work, but I don't consider myself a photographer really. However, some of the things he was quoted as saying sort of validated my own personal feelings about photography I've had since I was a child with my first camera, which I sort of kept to myself since they seemed too trivial to express in the world of "high art". Here's one: "I photograph to see what things look like photographed"

Yes agree

 

[Peter_S]

Ragnar Axelsson.

 

[Harry the K]

For portrait photography it is Jim Rakete:

Jim Rakete Fotografie Photography

Jim Rakete - Fotografie „Man kann die Wirklichkeit nicht einfach abbilden. Wahrheit, das ist eine Haltung

www.jimrakete.com

I love his book 1/8sec. from 2009. It is about his last large format project (Linhof 5 x 7 inch) before switching over to digital.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Donna Ferrato, Cindy Sherman, and Elliott Erwitt.

 

[JohnWolf]

For me it’s a lot like my experience with music or poetry. I like one or two songs from this album, one or two poems from that book, some from this genre, some from that. There’s so much great stuff to take in. But if forced to choose, I’d say the work that touches me most deeply is by Frank and Leiter.

 

[p.giannakis]

Hands down Vittorio Sella, the mountain photographer. A remarkable life and an outstanding body of work.
View attachment 4881511

I could easily have assumed that you had taken this photo.

 

[Rangefinder M-P]

As a teenager, I had an Argus C-3 and fired on anything of interest only to confirm after developing that my "work" was firmly between mediocrity and tedium. After several "missteps," I found myself in the US Army in '68 and attending the photo school at Fort Monmouth, NJ. There I learned the workings of a Speed Graphic and how to compose a photo. Upon graduation from that institute of higher learning, the Army sent me to Vietnam to hone my skills. After a few months in the jungle with a Bessler Topcon, Leica M-2R and Nikon F, I found myself at Saigon's Caravelle Hotel. I knew that's where a lot of civilian photographers lived and I was looking for advice on how I could get hired by one of the wire services and return to Vietnam after my military discharge. While at the Caravelle Hotel, I met a very nice British gentleman, Larry Burrows, and he was very patient with this GI. I'm sure I bored him to tears with my questions. Before parting company, I told him about an upcoming operation and invited him to accompany us. Well, a couple of weeks later, he showed up! During the day or two he was with us, I made more inquiries about getting into the world of news photography. He told me to build my portfolio, get a degree in journalism and look him up. I just knew I was on my way!

I got out of the Army and was busy working on the journalism degree. One day, I went to the college library to work on a term paper when a new Life Magazine featured a story called, Death of a Photographer caught my eye. It was Larry and it broke my heart a little. My desire to be a photographer fizzled. These days, I find my Leica is mostly trained on my grandchildren.

Mike

 

[mconnealy]

I got seriously interested in being a photographer in the late '60s when I was living in NY. Arbus and Winogrand were rising stars whose work I admired. My pictures did not look like theirs because I couldn't be them, but they got me out on the street to record my own view of the world. I also have to give some credit to the anthropologist, Oscar Lewis, who brought science to the street. I still consider that period to have produced my best work.
I have admired the work of many photographers over the years: Salgado, Brandt, Sudek,Blossfeldt... I had no illusions about doing work at that level, but their examples showed what the ultimate possibilities were of what could be done with photography. As for actual influence I have to give a shout-out to Rick Drawbridge who posts his work at Photonet and Flickr. Rick's ability to get the most exquisite tonalities from his black and white work inspired me to use Kentmere and PMK Pyro for years.