7 Famous Photographers That Revolutionized Photography
Who are the world's most famous photographers?
Alfred Ansel once said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” A photograph can be much more than just an image, it can tell a story deeper about whatever message the photographer wishes to convey.
While most days, we focus on being New York Corporate Headshot Photographers, we also like to look at the very creative side to photography. There are different reasons why some images have been able to make an impact on the world. The images invoke emotion and tell an important story about a place in time.
We’ve created a list of some of the world’s most renowned photographers. There are so many inspiring messages that can be translated through their creative visual images, and many lessons to be perceived from their work.
Let’s take a look at 7 influential artists who have greatly impacted the photography world through their contemporary perception and prodigious artistic talent.
Shells 1927, printed later © reserved
7. Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886- January 1, 1958)
He was a famous American still life photographer of the 20th-century. Throughout his 40-year photography career, Weston photographed an ever-expanding collection of subjects. Amongst these were still lifes, portraits, nudes, and landscapes.
Weston began focusing his talent on portraits after working on nature photography (trees and rocks) in California during 1937. He was innovative in his approach and style, making a huge impact on modern photography.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, The Dakota, New York, December 8, 1980
6. Annie Leibovitz (October 2, 1949 - Present)
She is a famous American portrait photographer as well, known for her style that set her apart. One of her most famous images was of John Lennon and Yoko, on the day of his assassination. On January 22, 1981, Rolling Stone published Leibovitz’s photograph leaving a huge impact on the world.
Her photography has been recognized in several media outlets, as well as in an exhibition in Washington’s National Gallery during 1991. She was a famous photographer because of her unique ability to capture images of people that told a more personal story about them.
Serra Pelada Gold Mine, Brazil, 1986
5. Sebastião Salgado (February 8, 1944 - Present)
Far from the world of corporate headshot photography is Sebastiao Selgado. He is journalist, famous for his ability to depict tragedy through his photographs. Salgado traveled the world taking photos, visiting over 120 different countries.
During the 1990’s, Salgado had a new project in Rwanda, Africa. His new photography project turned out to be very impactful, as there were horrible acts being committed in these countries that were unknown to much of the world outside that country. In Rwanda, there was genocide and devastation caused by the killing and pillaging of these innocent people.
This dark period inspired Salgado and his wife Lelia to focus on rebuilding the forests in Brazil. Currently, nearly two decades later, the forest has two million planted trees and an increase in nearly extinct populations of native animals. Photographers can get inspired from their own work to do something greater, in this case making a difference on the planet too.
Albert Camus, 1947
4. Henri Cartier Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004)
He was a French photographer, famous for his candid photography. In 1932 he started to use the Leica camera, and it was history from there on out. While he was no headshot photographer, he was very interested in capturing people living their lives and doing their work.
Renowned as one of the first photographers using mostly 35mm film, he founded a new genre within his field - street photography.
He published his first book, The Decisive Moment and in it, he states, “For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to give a “meaning” to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frame through the viewfinder.”
He had a different perspective about photography for which he received a large number of awards and prizes.
Baigneurs sur la Marne 1944
3. Robert Doisneau (1912-1994)
He was a French photographer and photojournalist, whose photos have become beloved and idolized by many aspiring photographers today. He captured images of a variety of subjects, mostly French people caught in a surreal moment of everyday acts.
He was a photographer for an advertising agency called Renault until 1939 and didn’t return to photojournalism until 1951. In between this time, he worked during the war with the resistance in France and for French Vogue for a few years.
Doisneau has been a featured photographer around the world from the Bibliotheque National in Paris, to the Art Institute of Chicago and the George Eastman House (NY). He has become widely recognized and highly esteemed within the photography community.
The Robert Capa and Cornell Capa Archive, Gift of Cornell and Edith Capa, 2010
2. Robert Capa (Oct 22, 1913 - May 25, 1954)
Robert Capa was known as ‘The Greatest War Photographer in the World’. He was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1913 and was originally named Andre Friedmann by his Jewish parents. Capa attended the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin and studied political science. In 1933 he settled in Paris after he was threatened by Nazis and driven to flee the country. It was there that he met photographer and journalist Gerda Taro, and he was represented by Alliance Photo. Together they created the influential American photographer, Robert Capa. He began to sell his printed photography under that name.
Capa met Earnest Hemingway, and befriended famous photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, and David ‘Chim’ Seymour. From 1936 forward, Capa’s photography of the Spanish Civil War began to frequently appear. His international reputation as ‘The Greatest War Photographer in the World’ was earned by his photograph of a fatally wounded Loyalist soldier. This photograph became a powerful and influential symbol of war.
Mount Williamson- Clearing Storm - Adam Ansel, 1944
1. Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984)
He was an American photographer well known for his black-and-white landscape photographs. Ansel Easton Adams was a passionate environmentalist and enjoyed photographing Western America, most famous for those of Yosemite National Park.
Adams generally shot with a large-format camera to optimize the sharpness of his photographs with their high resolution. The zone system was developed by Ansel and his colleague Fred Archer to determine the proper exposure and to adjust the contrast of the final printed image. This resulted in-depth and clarification which represented his photographs and influenced the work of those he taught the system to. Ansel Easton Adams’s photographs can be enjoyed by its viewers in a variety of formats, as they are reproduced in books, on posters, and calendars.
View our blog including content about Ansel’s Zone system here:
These Photographers Are Unique, Yet They Have Each Contributed to Modern Photography
Photography is not a new concept in the 21st Century, the thing that changes are styles and technology. Sometimes a certain style becomes trendy as certain images become influential. The bottom line is, famous photographers have changed the future of imagery and made an impact larger than words can describe - so the pictures will do just fine.
Which Famous Photographers Did We Miss?
A whole bunch! It's impossible to pick just one photographer as the greatest in the world, there are hundreds of other incredible photographers not included in this list. Everyone has different opinions, we just wanted to share a few of the top photographers in history that made an impact on the world.
Citations:
Intro Quote: https://spark.adobe.com/page/g9tj6VHGPjdqT/
https://shotkit.com/famous-photographers/
https://www.all-about-photo.com/photographers/famous-photographers.php
https://expertphotography.com/create-stunning-black-and-white-landscape-photography/
Doiseneau: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/outside-rene-garraud
Bresson quote: https://www.henricartierbresson.org/en/hcb/
http://www.artnet.com/artists/henri-cartier-bresson/albert-camus-a-Yzncz3rwe4lalxOGCoaSNg2
Capa: https://www.all-about-photo.com/photographers/photographer/72/robert-capa
Ansel: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ansel-Adams-American-photographer
Ansel Zone system: http://blog.reallyrightstuff.com/the-zone-system-and-the-digital-photographer/
