Topic: Who's Inspiring you today?

[Susan B.]

Thought if would be interesting to start a thread for people to post the name and link of a photographer who is inspiring them today.
Famous or not---No matter.
Just thought it would be great for all of us to check out works that get your creative juices going.

My constant inspirations are Keith Carter, Jack Spencer and Rocky Schenck.

But for the past few months, I've been hooked on...
Alexey Titarenko:  http://www.lensculture.com/titarenko.html

What photographer is inspiring you today?
(please leave link if possible)

[gary m]

Besides you Susan Im definately hooked on Rocky Schenck also. Alexey Titarenko is awesome. It looks as if he blends photography and painted brush strokes together with those long exposures.

Here are a few links to some others that keep me inspired-
http://www.abelardomorell.net/index.html

http://www.billschwab.com/index.html

http://marthacasanave.com/

http://www.gallerysink.com/marksink/index.html

edited to add this link also http://www.chipforelli.com/

[CarlRadford]

John Blakemore - he has been talking to me whilst I've been doing my first bit of serious printing in ages. Not been feeling too well and been off work but think I am about sorted Lots of people on f295.com which is a pinhole site - especially look out some of the stuff by Katie (heyoka) http://www.slowlight.net/blog/ and Andrew Sanderson is someone who I'll be doing a course with asap: http://www.andrewsanderson.com/ Cig Harvey: http://www.cigharvey.com/pages/portfolios.html and Kerik Kouklis: http://www.kerik.com/ to name some of them.

[LT]

I'm truly sorry to have to drag out the Fromage, but, I'm going to have to say all of the filmwasters are inspiring me at the moment.  People seem to have embraced the site in such a short time - it's just beautiful - you're all just beautiful, man.

[Tammy]

   Feel the love, Leon!

Leon inspires me.  SusanB too, and well, most of the folks here.   I follow the work of several photographers, and not all in the same genre.

Warren Harold http://thatwasmyfoot.my-expressions.com/, and Phil Morris http://philmorris.blogphotography.com/index.html are amazing photographers. Both have an eye for composition that I can't help but envy.

The work of this young lady is amazing too.  I really don't know much about her, but I enjoy her style very much.
http://www.pollychandler.com/.  I also enjoy some fine art children photographers, such as Cheryl  Jacobs  http://www.cheryljacobsphotography.com

[lauraburlton]

Sarah Moon is an all time favorite and I checked out Polly Chandlers site the other day too, great work.
Although today specifically i must be in some weird dark mood because i have been looking over the work of Jan Saudek and Joel Peter Witkin. They remind me of old french postcards and sideshow freaks of old. Very bizarre stuff and very dark. I like the style so much but I do not think I would ever have the guts to take photos like these, can you say police?!? Bizarre stuff of nightmares but very interesting and beautiful at the same time. Like Lewis Carroll on a bad acid trip.

[outofcontxt]

Susan B gets huge kudos for introducing me a mere year ago -- how time flies! -- to the wonderful world of toycams, homemade lenses and delicious blur. You rock, Ms. B!  Among the photobloggers and Flickristas who inspire me daily (or whenever they post) are (in no particular order):

Warren (http://thatwasmyfoot.visualblogging.com/index.html)
Tread (http://gotreadgo.blogtog.com/index.html)
beck (http://rebecca.my-expressions.com/index.html)
Tammy(http://momentsofmine.my-expressions.com/)
Leon (http://darkroom-tales.filmwasters.com/)
Ann Texter (http://www.anntexter.com)
Alison Garnett (http://www.mylalaland.com/hello/index.html)
Laura Burlton (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauraburlton/); and
Valerie Cochran (http://www.yourwaitress.com)

 -- just to name some of many. Their work always sets a higher bar for me and challenges me tomake better photos...

Then there are the legends: Strand, Weston, Steiglitz, Winogrand, Atget, Cartier Bresson... the list could go on. And, of course, the work of contemporary photographers who have consistently thumbed their noses at the notion that photos need to be tack sharp and with infinite depth of field:

Mark Tucker, particularly his Plungercam series (http://www.marktucker.com/)
Mark Sink (http://www.gallerysink.com/marksink/index.html)
Nancy Rexroth (http://www.wirtzgallery.com/exhibitions/2000/exhibitions_2000_09/rexroth/exhibitions_nr_2000_09_images.html)
and, of course, Keith Carter (http://www.keithcarterphotographs.com/).

[lauraburlton]

Thank you Mr Bill! Also you all should check out this guy www.daniellincoln.com I met him at an art show in Galveston a few years back. He usues a hassy with a homemade lens. Esp check out his Horses and Mardi gras series. Seriously inspiring

[outofcontxt]

Thanks for posting the link, Laura. Remarkable work. And a decendent of Honest Abe, no less!

[Dave_M]

My first nod goes to Susan B. I saw her work in Black and White Magazine at Christmas and it set a chain in motion that really changed my outlook on film, toy cameras and photography.

My second nod pretty much goes to everyone else here. I get an enormous thrill when my RSS "feeder thingy" tells me someone has posted a new photograph to a blog.

Lastly, when I need a real photographic 'shot in the arm' I look at the following:
http://www.michaelkenna.net/
http://www.denisolivier.com/
http://www.frozenhistory.com/index.html
http://www.jpgilson.com/-English-
http://www.scottmansfield.com/
http://www.billschwab.com/
http://www.f45.com/html/main.html
http://www.craigmcmaster.co.uk/
http://www.andrewsanderson.com/

[david b]

I think I tend more towards the documentary / photojournalism end of things than y'all - but at the moment I seem to be going through a Latin American phase: Miguel Rio Branco, Graciela Iturbide, back to Manuel Alvarez Bravo ... and was also looking at a book about Edward Weston and Tina Modotti's years working in Mexico back in the twenties. Hmm, maybe I should go with the theme and dig out my old Borges and Marquez novels...

[Janet_P]

I've found I've been drawn to women photographers recently.

Margrethe Mather http://collections.sfmoma.org/THA3522*1$29898*535568

Tina Modotti http://www.masters-of-photography.com/M/modotti/modotti.html]www.masters-of-photography.com/M/modotti/modotti.html

Lee Miller http://www.leemiller.co.uk/gallery.aspx

Sarah Moon http://www.staleywise.com/collection/moon/moon.html

Lilian Bassman http://www.staleywise.com/collection/bassman/bassman_exhibition.html# - I've just found her, she was a fashion designer and photographer. She blurred and bleached her shots until they took on a painterly feel. Beautiful stuff.

I'm also getting into alt processes and larger format photography - but I'm still looking around at the moment to find some good sources of inspiration.

Janet

[warren]

Wow...Humble thanks Tammy, you've made me blush!

I have to share in Leon's cheese, as I am constantly inspired by everyone here as well, on so many different levels. You can put good money on me falling back on all the creativity, talent and drive I find in these pages on an hourly basis.

Edward Weston is always on my mind but recently I've been going back to Jan Saudek: http://www.saudek.com/en/Jan/Fotky.html and Michael Kenna's Ratcliffe Power Station series: http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/rcliff03/index.html.

Keith Carter's current exhibit at the McMurtrey Gallery here in Houston also had my jaw on the floor. There's nothing quite like seeing those images up close.

[katie]

Lady Clementina Hawarden, an early Victorian photographer, with a series of gorgeous, obsessive, claustrophobic pictures of her daughters. Strange, private world of closed rooms and mirrors. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph030

Francesca Woodman: more strange, obsessive, claustrophobic pictures (most self-p work) http://www.heenan.net/woodman

Madame Yevonde: best known for her very stylised series of portraits of society ladies as goddesses, but also the first photographer to have an exhibition of colour photos in the UK. http://www.madameyevonde.com

Hill and Adamson: more Victorians. Incredible innovators and documentary  photographers (who weren't above knocking the camera to induce a spot more blur). http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/index.html

(p.s. thanks, Carl!)

[beck]

Lots of really great names up there....and thanks for that, Bill. I'm not worthy.

I've got tons and pulled some inspiration from most and one of my Diana shots, the one in Toy Joy, I wanted to have a try at Jack Spencer's fantastic, Noemi #2....hardly even close mine was, but his sure ignited a spark. His work is tops. I've always dug the backwoods work by Shelby Lee Adams...of course, Roger Ballen, who's work I'm obessesed with and the husband and wife team of, Robert and Shana ParkHarrison. And of course...all the great folks here...Tread, Susan, Gordon...all of you really.

[your_waitress]

aww geesh, thanks mr. bill! you and susan b. are always at the top of my wow! list too.

i have been revisiting gordon parks amazing work since his passing.

http://www.pdngallery.com/legends/parks/mainframeset.shtml

johan hagemeyer is one of my all-time fave portrait photags and i visit his work often too. i had the honor of working with his images at the bancroft library at uc berkeley for the moac project, and it is one of the reasons i came back to photography. if you aren't familiar with hagemeyer, he was dutch and a good friend of weston until they had a falling out. he got his start with some advice from stieglitz and had studios in san francisco and carmel in the 1920's-40's. he shot everyone from the working class to famous folks of the day such as albert einstein and fellow artists. you can check out his portrait collection here:

http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft267nb1sg&doc.view=items

this is one of my faves of hagemeyer's set on salvador dali:

http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/moac/ucb/images/brk00001158_31a_j.jpg

[FrankB]

I'm truly sorry to have to drag out the Fromage, but, I'm going to have to say all of the filmwasters are inspiring me at the moment.  People seem to have embraced the site in such a short time - it's just beautiful - you're all just beautiful, man.

Right! Group hug!!   

(Sorry mate, couldn't resist it!)



I'm a bit low on inspiration ATM; life's little (or indeed 'thumping great') trials and tribulations have been taking priority recently. However, thank you very much indeed for this thread as I'm planning on perusing all the sites posted here at some length in the hopes of getting my sorry aspidistra finally back into gear!

[Sarah]

Too many names for inspiration including Joel Peter Witkin (as always!) for his dark Victorian-style imagery, Roger Ballen, Robert and Shana Parkeharrison, Gregory Crewdson for his cinematic use of light and colour (http://www.artnet.com/artist/4589/gregory-crewdson.html) and Loretta Lux for her uncanny portraits of children (http://www.lorettalux.de/).

I've also recently just come across Carol Golemboski's compelling, sinister work: http://www.robertkleingallery.com/gallery/album30

[tread]

In no particular order or reasoning...
Shannon Richardson makes me think daily about shooting... http://www.shannonrichardson.com/electrolite.html
As do Bill and Warren and Susan and Becky and LaLa and Leon and Ed and M.Barnes and Bill and Gordon...I can't go a day without checking in with most of them multiple times...
R.E. Meatyard always in my heart and mind.  Keith Carter at the risk of repeating the other thoughts here. Frank W. Ockenfels has a body of work that is amazing... http://frankockenfels3.com/
holy crap just discovered Ragnar Axelsson last week http://www.rax.is/ hold on to your hat. Greta Pratt is remarkable http://www.gretapratt.com/ Hell there are so many on any given day... Bill thank you for the nod and Beck too. Needless to say I concur with Leon, the folks around here are just about anyone needs to get inspired.

[eyecaramba]

Tread, great to see you toss out Greta Pratt's name.  One of my dogs is named for her actually.  She is a friend really, though more a friend of an ex of mine but still.  Wonderful photographer.  Haven't spoken to her in a long time.  I agree with many of the names here and will check out some that I don't know...

As of late, I have been seeing a lot of and liking Noah Wilson,  http://www.noahmwilson.com

Also:

Maggie Taylor, http://www.maggietaylor.com
Tom Chambers, http://www.tomchambersphoto.com
Alec Soth, http://www.alecsoth.com
Nick Brandt, http://www.nickbrandt.com

xoxo,

Gordon

[lauraburlton]

Saw these two yesterday and I almost moved in.....
http://www.josephinesacabo.com/ and www.louviereandvanessa.com

pretty amazing stuff

[Susan B.]

Saw these two yesterday and I almost moved in.....
http://www.josephinesacabo.com/ and www.louviereandvanessa.com

pretty amazing stuff

Wow. gorgeous stuff.

Been a fan of Loviere & vanessa since they placed at Krappy Kamera in 2005. So talented. They had two huge prints in the show--I think one was slumberland. Instant love for me.

[lauraburlton]

yea, I saw something of theirs in shots ( to be honest I was not that impressed with the image he picked) but I never got around to their website. Then I followed a link from the New Orleans Darkroom site and decided to check it out, amazing stuff. I love the holga film and the music is haunting. I felt like the pied piper had roped me in....

[RebekahP]

This is a great thread!!  I have enjoyed looking at the different photographers and their work.  Much to be inspired from.  I enjoy looking at fine art children portraiture (especially B&W) and thought I would add this photographer's work to the list of inspiring photographers.  http://www.tracywrightcorvo.com.  Rebekah

[russmorris]

merkley???

http://www.flickr.com/photos/merkley/

- - - - - - - - - - - -

eyeblink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79119242@N00/