[drphoto]

Old school: Edward Weston (gorgeous prints....just radiant)
                Richard Avedon (a portrait master....the American West series was amazing)
                Irving Penn (yeah he was a commercial shooter, but he did some really nice portrait work)
                Helen Levitt (street shooter w/ a sense of humor)
                Pete Turner ( another commercial guy who changed the way we look at color)
                Ansel (he was way beyond just landscape.....the guy was a real artist who deserves all the aclaim he's gotten)

More recent:  Sebastian Selgado (his "Workers" series was some of the finest documentary work I've ever seen)
                   Matt Mahuran (dark, gritty.....I love it)

New school: Uwe Deuttman (commercial guy who has a beautiful lighting style)

[brj]

I've never really gone looking for photographers, but that has slowly been changing as I run across the work of various artists.  Ansel Adams tops my list and was the first to open my eyes a bit.  I ran across one of Michael Fatali's galleries last year and was really impressed.

(I tend to enjoy architecture, landscapes and similar natural subjects, although I can appreciate the skill involved in shooting other subjects, even if I don't personally enjoy them as much.)

[Lensman]

Check out Indonesian photographer Rarindra Prakarsa:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?include=all&user_id=2231437

Lensman

[drphoto]

Oh man.....that guy is good.  Thanks for the link.

[Lensman]

Rarindra totally blew me away when I first encountered his work.  A complete paradigm shift for me.

Lensman

[Lensman]

I was most influenced by W. Eugene Smith, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Paul Caponigro.
Wow, what a lot of talent.

Lensman

[drphoto]

Gene Smth and others mentioned rock. Those guys make me want to throw my cameras in the river.

However....If I can continue to find fools who will pay my to take pictures, I'll hang it there.

[1000a]

ditto many of the classics above:

add all these heavy hitter classics, if you've not seen their work worth the trip

Bret Weston
Minor White
Arron Siskind
Harry Callahand
Garry Winogrand
Lee Friedlander
Ralph Gibson
Clarence John Laughin
Christian Voight
Jean Loup Sieff
Walker Evans
i know i missed some others i really like - a current one I enjoy is Alex Webb, a journalist and also a journalist James Natchwey

now for shameless self promotion you can see some of my stuff (beginning in 1977) at

 http://www.bludomain2.com/georgeelsasser/

[drphoto]

There you go. A bunch of heavy weights.

Hey 1000a your stuff is really nice. I'm much more of a commercial hack, but I like what you're doing.

Don't feel bad about the self promo....that's the name of game...right??

[1000a]

Hey drphoto

 :DThanks a mil for taking a look, I pay my bills doing the wedding photojournalism thing which has become very popular with brides in the last 10 yrs so thats pretty fun, I shot some ad work type stuff for a few years before becoming involved in that.  Prior everything retail wholesale.  always loved artistic things but it does not pay the bills.

The shear beauty of a Weson or an Adams print in person is really wonderful.  or a  Caponigro really his prints are off the scale good he lives near Rockport Maine where they do the photoworkshops, spoken to a few who know him well been up there numerous times.  At one time I was heavily into the zone system so the the Westons and the like always hold a special place for me.

Check out some of Alex Webb's stuff I believe you can see a good deal of it on the Magnum website.  He Natchwey and Salgato are incredible image makers although they do not come from the FA world where most of my study resides their imagery blows my mind.  these 3 guys are the real deal. 

Natchwey has a DVD called WAR photographer that is well worth checking out, talk about a guy on a mission, a spiritual one at that as he sees it, his mind is a little scary, his courage is fearless I guess because of his incredible conviction and scarafice, Read he has no life that remotely resembles normal, everything is game to trade to the image Gods, even his life in its entirety if his pictures might awaken somebody.
I saw it in a theatre full of photgraphers who walked out scratching their heads at such a comitment.  NetFlix is sure to have it as Amason, I hope you guys keep this thread cooking.

[1000a]

Check out Indonesian photographer Rarindra Prakarsa:

  yes that is some incredible stuff very etheral and magical, I may not have studied the text long enough but isn't alot of it heavily photoshoped for effect?  Which is not a problem I just think the strait photos should be seperated from that kinda of work it seems of 2 mind sets. Could be I did not dig deep enough?

Many that I percieve to be strait forward images have a poetry and wonder that is nearing sublime from the shear beauty captured, verging on surreal.  like the painter Casper Frederick and his group.

Some of it reminds me a little of Gregory Crewdson (spelling wrong?) who sets up these tableu type shots loaded with etheral light but they are more like the film Magnolia where the images have a strong kinda unsettling mental effect on the viewer.

[Lensman]

1000a,

Yes, Rarindra's images are ALL photoshopped. The images are etherial, magical, surreal, and yes, colors are highly saturated.  It's his trademark style, quite distinct from say, Gene Smith or Ansel Adams.  I find them visually stunning and I don't compare or measure them against the work of photographers who excelled in other genres. 

I visited your website and liked the images very much.  Looks like you have a number of images shot with a 500 mirror lens, utilizing its out-of-focus "donuts" as a visual element.
Nice collection!

Lensman

[Scott F.]

Hey lensman,

Great link to Rarindra Prakarsa. I have to say that I haven't searched out any of the photog's out there but this guy does some pretty cool stuff.

I love the way he caught this shot. If you notice, the pic has sort of a tunneling effect around the subject. The waves coming in on the right along with the cloud formation on the right (sort of) mirror the sticks washed ashore and the cloud formations on the left. They all point (sort of) towards the distant mountain.



Even though his shots are Photoshopped (apparently), I love the effects and the subject matter. 

[kbuzz3]

Great thread.

I agree on helen levitt.  Also check out roy decarava...relatively underrated.

More recently i also think ken schless is terrific.

There is a documentary type photogrpaher that is great as well but i cant recall his name. His most famous pic was in ireland of the bloody sunday confrontation, but his other stuff is profound as well.

[1000a]

1000a,

Yes, Rarindra's images are ALL photoshopped. The images are etherial, magical, surreal, and yes, colors are highly saturated.  It's his trademark style, quite distinct from say, Gene Smith or Ansel Adams.  I find them visually stunning and I don't compare or measure them against the work of photographers who excelled in other genres. 

I visited your website and liked the images very much.  Looks like you have a number of images shot with a 500 mirror lens, utilizing its out-of-focus "donuts" as a visual element.
Nice collection!

Lensman

Thanks for letting me know whats going on in his work it is pretty interesting stuff, great link.  His subject matter is very interesting and his ways of presenting it are quite compelling.  I will certainly be going back again.

Also thanks for taking the time to look at my work, I figured or hoped some involved in this thread would have some appetite for it.  I am not sure which group of images you are referring to, I did not use a 500, really never used anything much longer than a 105/135 in group-5 (gallery II).  I just became very interested in investigating out of focus areas in a photograph (particularly the distortion effects that can appear as the lens kind of materializes and dematerialises objects as one focuses in and out on a branch or what not- direct light can cause these things to really glow) and wondered if I might be able to use them from corner to corner and make interesting images.

In Group-1 (gallery I) I did use a 70-300 on a digi Nikon so that would be up to 450 for some of the images.   I don't know whether any of that is interesting or helpful, anyway thanks a mil for looking!   Anybody here rented "WAR Photographer" it is a documentary and excellent?

there are quite a few people on AC that are creatively inclined in many ways, I find trying to get my system where (I think) I want it to be or envision it (probably the key word) a similar journey of trail and error, intuition, speculation, study, imagination and discovery that all is still grounded from concrete things like electrical laws, physics and so forth very similar to making images.  ie the golden rectangle (see the Cadras site) and the rule of thirds and so on. 

Putting a system together is kinda like we are each are working on our own personal jumbo, some similar but no 2 the same - its really quite fun and challenging.  and it seems this whole desire is pushed forward to (create) an imaginary 3d image we can see as we close our eye, it is really incredible.  Creating a machine to take us to another place ie a studio or performance far from home, is truly an engaging and enriching experience.  When I listen to Buena Vista Social Club I am taken to that place.   and I never even went to the airport now that is very very cool!

[1000a]

Scott F.

I love the way he caught this shot. If you notice, the pic has sort of a tunneling effect around the subject. The waves coming in on the right along with the cloud formation on the right (sort of) mirror the sticks washed ashore and the cloud formations on the left. They all point (sort of) towards the distant mountain.

Now thats a sounstage! ,

damn I said I was not gonna do AC today and here I am again, you guys and gals (a few I assume) are a fasinating bunch.

[1000a]

Hey Doc Photo are those your images from the Ridge Street/Sasson photo shoot?