6n6: Photographers
January 21, 2009 by cynthia
For anyone who says photography is not fine art, take a look at these 12 artists, in no particular order.
6 living
- Annie Liebowitz: I can’t say I always love her stuff, but I’m always moved to think about it.
- Michael Durham: Nature with nothing cute about it
- James Nachtwey: Moving modern social photography to rival Eugene Smith
- Steve McCurry: Remember that fabulous National Geographic cover of the Afghan girl with the piercing eyes? That was him.
- Lisa M. Robinson: She’s relatively new on the scene, but her landscapes are stunning, especially her “Snowbound” series.
- Elliott Erwitt: Pure dry wit as photographic commentary
6 dead
- Weegee (Usher Fellig): Ironic depiction of the human condition
- Edward Weston: The nude (and how much nudes resemble vegetables)
- Edward Steichen: Amazing technique
- Henri Cartier-Bresson: Perfect composition with incredible graphic line
- Fred Holland-Day: As much for his elevation of photography to art as anything else.
- Eugene Smith: Some of the most moving social photography ever shot.
I feel compelled to add my personal favorite, Ansel Adams. His black and white photography is amazing to me. I have had a couple of opportunities to see the actual photographs in galleries and his “Clearing Winter Storm” brought tears to my eyes.
Hey, Kathleen;
My ex and I worked Adams’ Zone system for quite awhile and I agree, I enjoy his B&W work very much. (And the fact that we grew up near Yosemite, where he took a lot of his best stuff, helps–Adams was all over the place).
I have to admit that, side by side, I prefer Weston’s work to Adams. It’s probably because I am less fond of scenics than I am portraits and still-life work, and Weston was just amazing at that stuff. Still, I was very tempted to unsymmetrize (is that a word?) the list and make it 6n7. But then we’d also need to add Arbus, Cameron, Ray, Winogrand, etc….
Hi Cynthia,
I definitely agree that you have some heavy weights in your list; incredible works by all listed.
I’ve yet to make it to Yosemite. It’s on our list and hopefully we’ll get there in the next 5 years. I would imagine it was great growing up in that area…I grew up surrounded by corn fields so I’m not all that enthralled by them, but I do find beauty in them when I head back to the midwest now. Mountains captured my heart and I’m happy to see them every day.