As the "other" thread went round in circles, and ended up as "Yes it is", "no it isn't"... Post a link to who inspires you visually, and discuss why. I'll start with this chap.. Philip-Lorca diCorcia First of all, I love the way he shoots documentary on some pretty weighty subjects, but does so beautifully. I've always thought there is no excuse for lack of aesthetic in documentary. He uses the real people, but treats them like models. The shots are rehearsed, planned, lit just as any other fashion or portrait shoot. I also love the "street Work" and "Head Shots" series, as these are basically candid shots of people on the street, shot remotely, but because they are captured while walking through an area of studio lit street (also hidden) we're forced to reconsider the random people on the street we pass. Being lit like this, they become an object of interest. Beautiful work.
They're really wonderful! The fact that the capture of everyday life can be so dramatic is really shown in every one of those photos.
I would imagine. Are they happy? Do we all smile all the time? You smiling now? I think we get a truer feel for someone when they're not.. probably because we're so used to being told to smile when friends and relatives shove a camera in our faces. Seeing a photo of someone smiling makes us very aware we're looking at someone who's being photographed... looking at someone with no smile makes just think we're looking at someone. Besides.. for instance... the shots from the series "Hustlers" are mainly rent boys, hustlers, pimps, prostitutes etc... maybe there's not much to smile about. I think this is what gets me... the beauty in the shots and the dissonance with the subject. Same with the "Street Work" images. Just people with their "leave me alone".. or as i call it, their "London Face" on... yet captures it with such beauty. I'm glad you like them... I love this guy's work.
Ah I didn't realise that that was the theme. I guess that I was just expecting to see happiness expressed in at least one photo, the others show fear, sadness, indifference and humiliation so I was expecting to see happiness too. Really like his work!
Dunno about "inspires" per se, but there are loads of photogs that I follow because I like their work. I suppose day-in day-out groupie-ism means they probably inspire me? Scott Schumann Ryan Brenizer Markus Schwarze (especially his older projects) Mathieu Bonnevie Andrew Thompson Gonçalo Reis Bispo Bas Fransen Thomas van Rooij David Bush I find it a little unusual that I am mainly into people that mostly shoot and are good at shooting people, when it's something I suck at and rarely do myself. The aviation photographers that really inspire me are also many: Milan Nykodym Martijn "nustyR" AJ Bufalino Gaz West Dean West Lloyd Horgan Joe Copalman Tyler Rogoway Wayne Willday Mark Jayne Nir Ben-Yosef Neil Bates And lastly, the big daddy of them all, Katsuhiko Tokunaga. He is the reason I got into this in the first place. There are plenty of other photogs (mainly photojournalists) whose work I like but I don't follow them with any regularity, so I dont think they quite qualify as "inspirations".
The first set aren't doing much for me... I think because it's mainly wedding, commercial... some of the car images are very good though, especially Van Rooij Some of that plane stuff is awesome, especially Neil Bates and Mark Jayne. ...I mean..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/markjayne/7761597800/ ....
Here's more that inspire me. Most of this is documentary or fashion.. Alec Soth Seba Kurtis Donovan Wylie Julian Germain Candida Hoffer Tim Walker Nadav Kander William Eggleston Joel Meyerowitz Paulo Roversi I'll post up some other genres later.
Yep, Neil and Mark are especially awesome. Them and Tyler and Joe are particular favourites of mine. As for the first lot - I think it's because, like I said, some of them (Schumann, Brenizer, Schwarze) are very good with people and that's something I'm in awe of, being so shabby at it myself. The car chaps mainly inspire me to get good with post-work. Van Rooij, as you pointed out, is one of the people that changed my stance on processing (from "it's evil" to "if it's good, do it").
Some outstanding stuff in this thread My biggest influence and inspiration as a photographer is Neil Van Niekerk.
Oooh great thread idea! I'll be having a closer look at this thread later. Inspiration - light : I see interesting light and try, try and try to capture it the way it caught my eye. Never works, still I try! I'm not afraid to postproces to get it the way I have it in my mind. - friends and family : sometimes I catch something in my close friends of family and I try to get that in a picture. - couples : even if I don't know them too well, sometimes they really have some kind of a dynamic between them. Nothing prettier then that.. so I'll try to get in a shot as well.. (happens mostly with friends who are used to my camera, or wedding couples who aren't camera aware/shy). Photographers who inspire me I really like Marc Lagrange's work : http://www.lagrange.be/ And I have a whole bunch of inspiration shots on 500px marked as favorites : http://500px.com/michielk/favorites All in all, I don't really look that much at other work to inspire my own photography. I just look around and see what catches my eye. However I will seek technical inspiration for some effects that will help me catch what I see.
