Name your influences

[Digiteyesed]

I am curious to hear from some of the folks here which photographers (living or dead) they consider to be their greatest photographic influences? Here's my top three in no particular order:

Courtney Milne
Mr. Milne is a photographer living in Saskatchewan who has probably done more than any other artist to bring alive the hidden beauty of Canada's prairies. Being a fellow rural dweller, and living just a stone's throw from Saskatchewan, I'd have to say that Courtney Milne's work really speaks to me.

Ansel Adams
Studying Ansel's work taught me the importance of previsualising my images. I can now look at a fairly drab scene and realize that there is a great photograph there if I have the patience to work it over a bit in my digital darkroom.

Michael Reichmann
I like Michael's work because of its subtlety. His images are permeated by an understated elegance, shibui if you will. His ability to isolate details in his photographs, ones that most others would overlook, gives me heart palpitations.

Anyone else want to share?

[Richard Dawson]

My wife and I went to the Margaret Bourke-White exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum yesterday.  Stunning.  It's hard to think about anything else.

She (my wife) has added Bourke-White to her very short list of women, living or dead, that she would like to have dinner with.  I concur.  A fascinating woman and photographer.

[Jonathan Wienke]

Ansel Adams would be high on the list. Not so much for his visual style per se, but his approach to the process--starting with a visualized end result, and then performing the entire process of composition, shooting, post-processing, and printing to bring that result into being with the highest possible level of technical and artistic excellence.

[boku]

I used to use the stock answer: Ansel. Then, this image changed everything for me...



Thank you Michael!

[Frere Jacques]

Salgado, Salgado, Salgado! The man has biblical composition. I am also very fond of the early --> mid 20th century French photographers -- Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Ronis, Brassaï. Magical stuff created with what we would consider primitive equipment. Just reinforces the point that it doesn't matter what technology you use, the image is all that matters!

Happy shooting!

Bon Nouvel An!!!

[tshort]

James Nachtwey, for his respectful yet unstoppable approach to his work.

Cartier-Bresson for his vision in giving a name to that which at one time or another has captured many a shooter's imagination (that would be the Decisive Moment)

Adams for providing us with one benchmark for what b/w should look like, and, maybe more important, a process for achieving it.

Salgado for his inspiring relatively late entry into the photography world, and his deeply moving images.

Many of the modern shooters whose names I don't know, whose work I couldn't name, but whose images in the media catch my eye and make me pause long enough to consider, "How'd they do that?"

[DarkPenguin]

Jim Brandenburg and Craig Blacklock.

[Bobtrips]

I used to use the stock answer: Ansel. Then, this image changed everything for me...



Thank you Michael!
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I have a short list of images that I wish I had taken.  This one is firmly on my list.

As for influences, Galen Rowell showed me that one could photograph the light that I had already seen in the high mountains, especially in the Himalayas.

[collum]

Richard Misrach ( http://www.edelmangallery.com/misrach.htm )

Paul Caponigro ( http://www.artincontext.org/artist/c/paul_...igro/images.htm  )

Brett Weston  ( http://www.brettwestonarchive.com/ )

Aaron Siskand ( http://www.robertkleingallery.com/gallery/siskind )

[Lisa Nikodym]

Galen Rowell & Charlie Waite for color landscapes

for B&W, Bill Schwab (who I just discovered last year) and some of the film work of Jean Cocteau

Lisa

[Paul Sumi]

I'm all over the map.  Among others:

Group f/64 (Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, et al) for obvious reasons

Jerry Uelsmann as a master of darkroom manipulation and post visualization

Henri Cartier-Bresson for the decisive moment

Galen Rowell for his active landscapes

Robert Frank for The Americans

Minor White for Aperture

Garry Winogrand for his street photography

Eliot Porter for pioneering color in landscape photography

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I'm all over the map.  Among others:

Group f/64 (Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, et al) for obvious reasons

Jerry Uelsmann as a master of darkroom manipulation and post visualization

Henri Cartier-Bresson for the decisive moment

Galen Rowell for his active landscapes

Robert Frank for The Americans

Minor White for Aperture

Garry Winogrand for his street photography

Eliot Porter for pioneering color in landscape photography
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Thanks, Paul. You have named almost all the ones I consider of major importance. My list includes:

Minor White (I studied with him)

Ansel Adams (for technical, business, and artistic merit)

Edward Weston

Paul Caponigro (I studied with him, too)

Jerry Uelsmann (for doing before Photoshop so much imaginative stuff that is now so much easier in PS)

Michael Reichman (yup)

Plus all of the others you named, and a number of others also.

Eric

[tsjanik]

All of the above, but for me two in particular who have not been mentioned are Ernst Haas and Harald Sund.

[bob mccarthy]

I think there's a subtopic that may be interesting to many. That is who is your most influencial "teacher" of photography.

The art side of my experience was begun by attending workshops in the late 60's early 70's. They include AA/Alan Ross & John Sexton. I am an unabashed Weston fan.

But my favorite teacher of "technique" was the late Fred Picker. The cool thing about Fred was if he found a nuisance problem, he had a device invented to solve the problem. dry down, just dial in 3-5%(paper dependent). Cool light head output varing with voltage, build a stabilizer. My whole darkroom is populated with Zone VI equipment. Some really bright guy (I think from MIT?) worked with him to solve darkroom issues. He was one hell of a printer.

I am fortunate to live 15 minutes from the Amon Carter Museum, one of the more photo-centric museums in the country. My kids grew up, being in tow being exposed to the great American photographers. The Porter permanent collection is located there. The Avedon exibit, the American west, is there now. Impactful.

In some ways, Michael is the current Picker, in that his greatest influence is the imparting of information to many.

bob

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I think there's a subtopic that may be interesting to many. That is who is your most influencial "teacher" of photography.

The art side of my experience was begun by attending workshops in the late 60's early 70's. They include AA/Alan Ross & John Sexton. I am an unabashed Weston fan.

But my favorite teacher of "technique" was the late Fred Picker. The cool thing about Fred was if he found a nuisance problem, he had a device invented to solve the problem. dry down, just dial in 3-5%(paper dependent). Cool light head output varing with voltage, build a stabilizer. My whole darkroom is populated with Zone VI equipment. Some really bright guy (I think from MIT?) worked with him to solve darkroom issues. He was one hell of a printer.

I am fortunate to live 15 minutes from the Amon Carter Museum, one of the more photo-centric museums in the country. My kids grew up, being in tow being exposed to the great American photographers. The Porter permanent collection is located there. The Avedon exibit, the American west, is there now. Impactful.

In some ways, Michael is the current Picker, in that his greatest influence is the imparting of information to many.

bob
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Good points, Bob. My own darkroom and film setups were heavily influenced by Picker, too. Zone VI view camera, cold-light enlarger head, viewing filters, etc., etc. Minor White really got me to try to see things (two workshops with him in the 60s), but later on, Fred Picker's newsletter and equipment helped out a lot.

Ah, the good old days! One of these days soon I hope to go back into my darkroom and see if I can still make a decent wet print.  
My one remaining film camera is a Mamiya 6 RF (6x6).

Around Boston in recent years at the Museum of Fine Arts there have been several truly great Weston exhibits and one great Adams exhibit (just closing bout now).

Eric

[Digiteyesed]

I think there's a subtopic that may be interesting to many. That is who is your most influencial "teacher" of photography.

If I had to name my most influential teacher, it would be Larrie Thomson. Larrie was kind enough to take me on some road trips and teach me his light painting technique, which I adapted to digital. While he's nearly 100% nocturnal, his biggest influence on me was not to make me fall in love with light painting (which I am), but to make me fall in love with rural photography. I get heart palpitations whenever I find an abandoned barn, a lone tree in the prairies, or a dead car lying in some farmer's field. I blame Larrie for this.

[Edited for typos, dammit.]

[mozart1957]

Edward Sheriff Curtiss' portraits of Native Americans (especially of the Southwest) and Galen Rowell's landscapes have always inspired me.

[BlasR]

 no one pic me? that is so sad
BlasR

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

no one pic me? that is so sad
BlasR
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Actually, from Blasr I have learned that he gets his LLVJ long before I do!  

[raven4ns]

Robert Bateman, not for the main subjects necessarily but for the exquisite detail work and Freeman Patterson. While I prefer shooting B & W, these 2 gentlemen had a wonderfully profound impact on my appreciation for shooting nature.

Tim