Photography is a much-admired art form that has inspired the minds of people ever since its origin. After the debut of the traditional camera, photography has grown in leaps and bounds and has undergone a metamorphosis to swing open the doors to digital photography. It is an undeniable fact that a single photograph is sufficient to convey what thousand words cannot. Famous photographers of the yesteryears have contributed innovative techniques to this art, which has specialized into several categories, such as fashion, wildlife, portraits, nature, landscapes, etc., and the list goes on.
Remarkable photographs of famous photographers provide a deep and interesting insight into their way of viewing things and capturing the photographic moment in an artistic and meaningful manner. These experts who pioneered the art opened the doors for countless categories of photography, which serve to inspire the current trendsetters, as well as amateurs and hobbyists who are obsessed by this art. A look at the contribution and achievement of a few notable photographers will help gain some incredible information.
American born Irving Penn was a renowned fashion photographer of the post World War II era, and is known for his work in the ‘Vogue’ magazine, which displayed his innovative backdrops of white and grey. Richard Avedon made his way to the popular magazines of ‘Vogue’ and ‘Life’ by moving from traditional photography to capture his models in natural light. Terence Donovan, a British photographer, was popular in the 1960s in the field of fashion photography and his expertise is evident from almost three thousand commercials that contain his work.
Ansel Adams, who focused on nature photography, is known for his black-and-white photographs highlighting nature, particularly those of the Yosemite Valley in California. He devised the ‘zone system’, a technique of focusing light on negatives to regulate the appearance of finished pictures. His ‘theory of visualization’ explains the act of measuring the light in a scene to visualize the finished photograph. He remained a passionate environmentalist, dedicated to capture images of pristine terrain.
Anne Geddes, an Australian photographer, was among the pioneers to gain recognition for her news, industrial, corporate and scientific photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson, a renowned French photojournalist gained international fame for covering the funeral of Mahatma Gandhi, in India in the year 1948. Felice Beato was among the earliest war photographers, and his interest in travel is visible from the manifold moods and moments he captured in various lands. Eddie Adams earned fame through his works during the Vietnam War and has over five-hundred prizes to his credit, including the Pulitzer award.
Hiroh Kikai, a Japanese photographer, is known for his portraitures in Tokyo’s Asakusa region. Pilippe Halsman was among the leading portrait photographers and is known for his sharp and dark images. During his flourishing career, he captured celebrities like Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe and Pablo Picasso. Nagasaki-born Ueno Hikoma was known for portraiture and landscape photography, whereby he photographed the Crown Prince of Russia in 1891. Talbert Abrams and William Garnett are renowned aerial photographers.
The concepts and principles expressed in the photographs of famous photographers are applied even today, and they enable us to discover distinct ways of viewing with a photographic eye, and utilize the art to the best extent.