There's only ever been one for me:
Ernst Hass, whilst I've seen others work because when you start reading about Photography the usual suspects are hard to get way from, HCB, Ansel Adams, Capa etc....But in the early days I never was really a fan of looking at others work because the way my brain works, scared of being influenced too much by others as trying to find my own way, but subconsciously hard to get away from.
I'll mention 2 others that I rarely see talked about in general, Patrick Lichfield and David Bailey, not because of their commercial work but their personal work, as I've mentioned in another thread I wanted to originally be a Portrait Photographer and their work was a deciding factor in those thoughts, but I waver....
It was his work with Colour that caught my eye and the movement, so emotional and expressive and also his simplicity, in his equipment and his abilty to be so versatile in subject matter, his Movie Still work is outstanding, yeah more portraits, ahem!
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From The Misfits
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Johnnie Ray, NY 1952
But the colour motion images captivated me and still do to this day, influence my images.
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Traffic, New York 1957
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Madison Square Garden, New York 1957
He also apparently said;
“The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to SEE.”
Which makes me smile!
I do now buy Photograpy books and look at others work because I'm set in my ways now and nothing is going to change that.