The most successful photographers. The most famous photographs

The sea is incomprehensible, mysterious and clean. It leaves no one indifferent... Breathtaking photographs by Josh Adamski

Josh Adamski is a famous British photographer, master of modern photography. He gained his fame thanks to the art of conceptual photography. Talented photographer Josh Adamski creates true masterpieces of photography, not only improving his work with digital processing, but also putting his soul into it, displaying the idea and meaning. Josh Adamski is of the opinion that there is no certain rules creating a good photograph, but there are good photographers who do nice photos. And he considers his main motto to be Ansel Adams’ statement: “You don’t take a photograph, you make it,” which translated means: “You shouldn’t take a photograph, you should make a photograph.”

They say that the sea is endless. WITH geographical point This is, of course, not the case. However, if you look at it even for a moment, all doubts immediately disappear. The endless horizon is so vast, so distant.

I love walks by the sea. I never get tired of them, because they are always different. The sea itself is never the same. It is changeable in nature. Today it is calm and quiet and as if there is nothing more gentle than its light waves. Water reflects warm Sun rays and blinds eyes not accustomed to bright light. The warm sand pleasantly warms my feet, and my skin turns golden tan. And tomorrow the sea will stir strong wind and the majestic waves are already beating against the shore with the strength of a huge beast. The blue sky will turn gray and stormy. And that calm happiness of the quiet sea is no longer there. However, this also has its own charm. This is the beauty of rawness and strength. Even the color sea water It often changes - sometimes it is almost blue, sometimes dark blue, sometimes greenish. It’s impossible to even list all its shades.

How much beauty lies in the depths of the sea. Small fish swim in schools among green and yellowish algae. And the sandy bottom is covered with shells, as if precious stones. I love collecting shells. I like to imagine that I am finding lost treasures from sunken ships. How many such jewels are still hidden in the depths of the sea?

There is nothing better than spending a day at sea. You can have fun and swim with your family and friends. And sometimes you just want to take a walk alone, feel the peace while listening to the sound of the waves.

The sea is incomprehensible, mysterious and clean. It leaves no one indifferent.

The image can speak all languages. And their language is understood not only by photographers, but also by photography lovers, simply grateful viewers. Photography has witnessed the evolution of cameras, from the traditional pinhole camera to the modern digital camera. All of them were used to produce excellent images. When you think about some of the most famous photographers from the past and present, you realize that photography is an art, not just freezing a moment.

When William Henry Fox Talbot invented the negative/positive photographic process, he probably had no idea how popular his invention would become. Today, photographs, and therefore the specialization of photographers, are divided into different categories, which range from fashion, wildlife, interiors, portraits, travel, food to... The list goes on and on. Let's take a look at some of the most famous photographers in the most popular photography categories. We will also look at examples of their work.

Fashion

Irving Penn
This American photographer is known for his chic and elegant images, especially those from the post-World War II period. Since 1938, he has collaborated with Vogue magazine and actively uses the technique of white and gray backgrounds. It is his use of this technique that makes him the greatest photographer of his time. Penn's photography was always one step ahead of its time. A series of nude photos caused a lot of noise.

Terence Donovan
This British photographer was famous for his photographs depicting the fashion world in the 60s. His indefatigable thirst for adventure was reflected in his creativity, and to obtain beautiful images, models performed some rather daring stunts. In about 3,000 advertising images, this man was allowed into the homes of London's richest people and was popular photographer from celebrities.

Richard Avedon
It was he who moved away from the traditional understanding of models. Born in New York and created his studio in 1946. Richard Avedon showed models in natural light, and many of his works were published in the pages of Vogue and Life magazines. As a photographer, he received many awards in his time and the images he created were recognized all over the world.

Nature and wildlife

Ansel Adams
Born in San Francisco. Made a huge contribution to the development black and white photography. He was interested in issues related to nature. Ansel Adams is the author of several epic photographic murals. Received three Guggenheim Fellowships.

Frans Lanting
France was born in Rotterdam. His work could be seen on the pages of such magazines as National Geographic, Life, and Outdoor Photographer. France has traveled extensively and his photographs clearly express his love for the flora and fauna of tropical forests.

Galen Rowell
For many years, Galen conveyed the relationship between man and the desert. His photographs, like nothing else, conveyed the fascinating and magnetic beauty of these sultry places. Prize winner 1984. He collaborated with many famous publications of that time. Rowell's work was distinguished by its depth and coverage of everything new in the subject matter displayed.

Photojournalism

Henri Cartier-Bresson ( Henri Cartier—Bresson)
French photographer who influenced the development of photojournalism for many years. Received international recognition for his coverage of Gandhi's funeral in India in 1948. Traveled widely around the world and firmly believed that the art of photojournalism lies in capturing the “right” moment. Some call him the father of photo reporting.

Eddie Adams
Pulitzer Prize winner and winner of more than 500 prizes. His photographs depicting the Vietnam War from the inside shocked the whole world. Adams also took portraits of celebrities, politicians and military leaders of the time. He believed that a photographer should be able to manipulate a scene to reflect the truth.

Felice Beato
Famous "war photographer". His penchant for travel has allowed him to capture many moods of people and moments in different parts of the world. Visited India, Japan, China. It was Felice who captured the Indian uprising of 1857 and the events of the second Opium War. His powerful and timeless works continue to inspire photojournalists today.

Portrait photography

Ueno Hikoma
Born in Nagasaki. Portrait works and landscape photographs brought fame. He started with his own commercial studio, where he gained enormous experience in portrait photography. Author of portraits of many famous and famous people that time. In 1891 he made a portrait of the Russian heir to the throne.

Philippe Halsman
Although Halsman suffered several setbacks in his personal life early on, this did not stop him from becoming a superb portrait painter of his time. His photographs were somewhat harsh and dark and differed significantly from portraits of the time. Portraits were published in many magazines of the time, including Vogue. After meeting the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, he decides to make a surreal portrait of Dali, a skull and seven nude figures. It took three hours to complete the planned work. It was he who developed the philosophy of displaying a person in motion, in a jump. I believed that this was the only way to show a “real” person from the inside. At the peak of his career, he took portraits of celebrities such as Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Judy Garland and Pablo Picasso.

Hiro Kikai ( Hiroh Kikai)
Monochrome portraits of residents of the Asakusa district (Tokyo) brought fame to this Japanese photographer. IN early years he witnessed many clashes and spent all his free time photographing visitors to Asakusa. A perfectionist by nature, he could spend several days searching for the right person - the subject of photography.

Aerial photography

Talbert Abrams
The first photographs in this category were taken while serving in the US Marine Corps during World War II. Photographic images of the squadron during the period of insurgency in Haiti helped decide to continue the art.

William Garnett ( William Garnett)
Born in Chicago in 1916, he began his career as a photographer and graphic designer in 1938. Helped the US Army in production educational films for American troops. By 1949, he had already acquired his own plane and switched to aerial photography.

Photography underwater

Dustin Humphrey
Surfer and big lover of photography, who has his own photo studio in Bali. His passion for surfing helped him take simply masterpiece photographs, for which he received the Sony World Photography Award in 2009. It’s amazing how he managed to gather so many people and film it all without a single edit!

A collection of iconic photographs from the last 100 years that demonstrate
the grief of loss and the triumph of the human spirit...

An Australian man kisses his Canadian girlfriend. Canadians rioted after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup.

Three sisters, three “segments” of time, three photos.

Two legendary captains Pele and Bobby Moore exchange jerseys as a sign of mutual respect. FIFA World Cup, 1970.

1945: Petty Officer Graham Jackson plays "Goin' Home" at President Roosevelt's funeral on April 12, 1945.

1952. 63-year-old Charlie Chaplin.

Eight-year-old Christian accepts the flag during a memorial service for his father. Who was killed in Iraq just weeks before he was due to return home.

A veteran near the T34-85 tank, in which he fought during the Great Patriotic War.

A Romanian child hands a balloon to a police officer during protests in Bucharest.

Police Captain Ray Lewis was arrested for his involvement in the 2011 Wall Street protests.

A monk stands next to an elderly man who died suddenly while waiting for a train in Shanxi Taiyuan, China.

A dog named "Leao" sits for two days at the grave of his owner, who died in terrible landslides.
Rio de Janeiro, January 15, 2011.

African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their black-gloved fists in a gesture of solidarity. Olympic Games, 1968.

Jewish prisoners at the moment of their release from the camp. 1945

The funeral of President John F. Kennedy took place on November 25, 1963, John F. Kennedy Jr.'s birthday.
Footage of John Kennedy Jr. saluting his father's coffin was broadcast around the world.

Christians protect Muslims during prayer. Egypt, 2011.

A North Korean man, right, waves from a bus to a tearful South Korean after a family reunion near Mount Kumgang, October 31, 2010. They were separated by the 1950-53 war.

A dog met its owner after the tsunami in Japan. 2011.

"Wait for Me, Dad" is a photograph of the British Columbia Regiment marching. Five-year-old Warren "Whitey" Bernard ran from his mother to his father, Private Jack Bernard, shouting "Wait for me, Daddy." The photograph became widely known, was published in Life, hung in every school in British Columbia during the war, and was used in war bond issues.

Priest Luis Padillo and a soldier wounded by a sniper during the uprising in Venezuela.

A mother and son in Concord, Alabama, near their home, which was completely destroyed by a tornado. April, 2011.

A guy looks at a family album he found in the rubble of his old house after the Sichuan earthquake.

4-month-old girl after the Japanese tsunami.

French citizens as the Nazis enter Paris during World War II.

Soldier Horace Greasley confronts Heinrich Himmler while inspecting the camp in which he was imprisoned. Surprisingly, Greasley left the camp many times to meet a German girl with whom he was in love.

A fireman gives water to a koala during forest fires. Australia 2009.

Father of his deceased son, at the 9/11 memorial. During the tenth annual ceremonies, on the site of the World Trade Center.

Jacqueline Kennedy taking the oath of Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States. Immediately after the death of her husband.

Tanisha Blevin, 5, holds the hand of Hurricane Katrina survivor Nita Lagarde, 105.

A girl, in temporary isolation to detect and clean up radiation, looks at her dog through the glass. Japan, 2011.

Journalists Yuna Lee and Laura Ling, who were arrested in North Korea and sentenced to hard labor for 12 years, reunited with their families in California. After successful diplomatic intervention by the US.

A mother meeting with her daughter after serving in Iraq.

Young pacifist Jane Rose Kasmir, with a flower on the bayonets of guards at the Pentagon.
During a protest against the Vietnam War. 1967

"The Man Who Stopped the Tanks"...
An iconic photograph of an unknown rebel who stood in front of a column of Chinese tanks. Tiananmen 1989

Harold Vittles hears for the first time in his life - the doctor has just installed a hearing aid for him.

Helen Fisher kisses the hearse carrying the body of her 20-year-old cousin, Private Douglas Halliday.

US Army troops land ashore during D-Day. Normandy, June 6, 1944.

A World War II prisoner freed by the Soviet Union met his daughter.
The girl sees her father for the first time.

A Sudan People's Liberation Army soldier at a rehearsal for the Independence Day parade.

Greg Cook hugs his lost dog after he was found. Alabama, after the March 2012 tornado.

Photo taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission. 1968

Take a closer look at this photo. This is one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken. The baby's tiny hand reached out from the mother's womb to squeeze the surgeon's finger. By the way, the child is 21 weeks from conception, the age when he can still be legally aborted. The tiny hand in the photo belongs to a baby who was due on December 28 last year. The photo was taken during an operation in America.

The first reaction is to recoil in horror. It looks like a close-up of some terrible incident. And then you notice, in the very center of the photo, a tiny hand grasping the surgeon's finger.
The child is literally grasping for life. It is therefore one of the most remarkable photographs in medicine and a record of one of the most extraordinary operations in the world. It shows a 21-week-old fetus in the womb, just before the spinal surgery required to save the baby from severe brain damage. The operation was performed through a tiny incision in the mother's wall and this is the youngest patient. At this stage the mother may choose to have an abortion.

The most famous photograph“that no one saw,” is what Associated Press photographer Richard Drew calls his photograph of one of the World Trade Center victims who jumped from a window to his death on September 11
“On that day, which, more than any other day in history, was captured on camera and film,” Tom Junod later wrote in Esquire, “the only taboo, by common consent, was the pictures of people jumping from windows.” Five years later, Richard Drew's Falling Man remains a terrible artifact of the day that should have changed everything, but didn't.

Photographer Nick Yut took a photo of a Vietnamese girl running away from a napalm explosion. It was this photo that made the whole world think about the Vietnam War.
The photo of 9-year-old girl Kim Phuc on June 8, 1972 has gone down in history forever. Kim first saw this photo 14 months later in a hospital in Saigon, where she was being treated for terrible burns. Kim still remembers running from her siblings on the day of the bombing and cannot forget the sound of the bombs falling. A soldier tried to help and poured water on her, not realizing that this would make the burns even worse. Photographer Nick Ut helped the girl and took her to the hospital. At first, the photographer doubted whether to publish a photo of a naked girl, but then decided that the world should see this photo.

Later the photo was called best photo XX century. Nick Yut tried to protect Kim from becoming too popular, but in 1982, when the girl was studying at medical university, the Vietnamese government found her, and since then Kim’s image has been used for propaganda purposes. “I was under constant control. I wanted to die, this photo haunted me,” says Kim. She later managed to escape to Cuba to continue her education. There she met her future husband. Together they moved to Canada. Many years later, she finally realized that she could not escape from this photograph, and decided to use it and her fame to fight for peace.

Malcolm Brown, a 30-year-old Associated Press photographer from New York, received a telephone call asking him to be at a certain intersection in Saigon the next morning because... something very important is about to happen. He came there with a reporter from the New York Times. Soon a car pulled up and several Buddhist monks got out. Among them is Thich Quang Duc, who sat in the lotus position with a box of matches in his hands, while others began to pour gasoline on him. Thich Quang Duc struck a match and turned into a living torch. Unlike the crying crowd that saw him burn, he did not make a sound or move. Thich Quang Duc wrote a letter to the then head of the Vietnamese government asking him to stop the repression of Buddhists, stop the detention of monks and give them the right to practice and spread their religion, but received no response

On December 3, 1984, the Indian city of Bhopal suffered from the largest man-made disaster in human history. A giant toxic cloud released into the atmosphere by an American pesticide plant covered the city, killing three thousand people that same night, and another 15 thousand in the next month. In total, more than 150,000 people were affected by the release of toxic waste, and this does not include children born after 1984

Surgeon Jay Vacanti of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is working with microengineer Jeffrey Borenstein to develop a technique for growing an artificial liver. In 1997, he managed to grow a human ear on the back of a mouse using cartilage cells.

The development of technology that allows culturing the liver is extremely important. In the UK alone, there are 100 people on the transplant waiting list, and according to the British Liver Trust, the majority of patients die before receiving a transplant.

A photo taken by reporter Alberto Korda at a rally in 1960, in which Che Guevara is also visible between a palm tree and someone's nose, claims to be the most circulated photo in the history of photography.

The most famous photograph of Stephen McCurry, taken by him in a refugee camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Soviet helicopters destroyed the village of a young refugee, her entire family was killed, and the girl traveled for two weeks in the mountains before getting to the camp. After its publication in June 1985, this photograph became a National Geographic icon. Since then, this image has been used everywhere - from tattoos to rugs, which turned the photograph into one of the most replicated photos in the world

At the end of April 2004, the CBS program 60 Minutes II aired a story about the torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison by a group of American soldiers. The story featured photographs that were published in The New Yorker magazine a few days later. This has become the most loud scandal around the American presence in Iraq.
In early May 2004, the leadership of the US Armed Forces admitted that some of its torture methods did not comply with the Geneva Convention and announced its readiness to publicly apologize.

According to the testimony of a number of prisoners, American soldiers raped them, rode them on horseback, and forced them to fish food out of prison toilets. In particular, the prisoners said: “They forced us to walk on all fours, like dogs, and yelp. We had to bark like dogs, and if you didn’t bark, you were hit in the face without any mercy. After that, they threw us in cells, took away our mattresses, spilled water on the floor and forced us to sleep in this liquid without removing the hoods from our heads. And they were constantly photographing it all,” “One American said he would rape me. He drew a woman on my back and forced me to stand in a shameful position, holding my own scrotum in my hands.”

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (often referred to simply as 9/11) were a series of coordinated suicide terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States of America. According to the official version, responsibility for these attacks lies with the Islamist terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.
On the morning of that day, nineteen terrorists allegedly associated with al-Qaeda, divided into four groups, hijacked four scheduled passenger airliners. Each group had at least one member who had completed basic flight training. The invaders flew two of these planes into the World War II towers. Shopping Center, American Airlines Flight 11 into WTC 1, and United Airlines Flight 175 into WTC 2, causing both towers to collapse, causing severe damage to adjacent structures.

White and colored
Photograph by Elliott Erwitt 1950

The photograph of an officer shooting a handcuffed prisoner in the head not only won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969, but also changed the way Americans think about what happened in Vietnam. Despite the obviousness of the image, in fact the photograph is not as clear as it seemed to ordinary Americans, filled with sympathy for the executed man. The fact is that the man in handcuffs is the captain of the Viet Cong "revenge warriors", and on this day he and his henchmen shot and killed many unarmed civilians. General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, pictured on the left, was haunted his whole life by his past: he was refused treatment at an Australian military hospital, after moving to the US he faced a massive campaign calling for his immediate deportation, the restaurant he opened in Virginia every day was attacked by vandals. "We know who you are!" - this inscription haunted the army general all his life

Republican soldier Federico Borel García is depicted facing death. The photo caused a huge shock in society. The situation is absolutely unique. During the entire attack, the photographer took only one photo, and he took it at random, without looking through the viewfinder, he did not look towards the “model” at all. And this is one of the best, one of his most famous photographs. It was thanks to this photograph that already in 1938 newspapers called 25-year-old Robert Capa “The Greatest War Photographer in the World.”

The photograph showing the hoisting of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag spread throughout the world. Evgeny Khaldey, 1945

By the early summer of 1994, Kevin Carter (1960-1994) was at the height of his fame. He had just won the Pulitzer Prize, and job offers from famous magazines were pouring in one after another. “Everyone congratulates me,” he wrote to his parents, “I can’t wait to meet you and show you my trophy. This is the highest recognition of my work, which I did not dare even dream of.”

Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph "Famine in Sudan," taken in the early spring of 1993. On this day, Carter specially flew to Sudan to film scenes of famine in a small village. Tired of photographing people who had died of hunger, he left the village into a field overgrown with small bushes and suddenly heard a quiet cry. Looking around, he saw a little girl lying on the ground, apparently dying of hunger. He wanted to take a photo of her, but suddenly a vulture landed a few steps away. Very carefully, trying not to spook the bird, Kevin chose the best position and took the photo. After that, he waited another twenty minutes, hoping that the bird would spread its wings and give him the opportunity to get a better shot. But the damned bird did not move and, in the end, he spat and drove it away. Meanwhile, the girl apparently gained strength and walked - or rather crawled - further. And Kevin sat down near the tree and cried. He suddenly had a terrible desire to hug his daughter...

November 13, 1985. Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia. The mountain snow is melting, and a 50-meter-thick mass of mud, earth and water literally wipes out everything in its path. The death toll exceeded 23,000 people. The disaster received a huge response around the world, thanks in part to a photograph of a little girl named Omaira Sanchez. She found herself trapped, neck-deep in the slush, her legs caught in the concrete structure of the house. Rescuers tried to pump out the mud and free the child, but in vain. The girl survived for three days, after which she became infected with several viruses at once. As journalist Cristina Echandia, who was nearby all this time, recalls, Omaira sang and communicated with others. She was scared and constantly thirsty, but she behaved very courageously. On the third night she began to hallucinate.

Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995), a photographer working for Life magazine, walked around the square photographing people kissing. He later recalled that he noticed a sailor who “rushed around the square and kissed indiscriminately all the women in a row: young and old, fat and thin. I watched, but there was no desire to take a photo. Suddenly he grabbed something white. I barely had time to raise the camera and take a photo of him kissing the nurse.”
For millions of Americans, this photograph, which Eisenstadt called “Unconditional Surrender,” became a symbol of the end of World War II...

David Barnett has been a photojournalist for 40 years. His camera doesn't hunt beautiful landscapes and cats - it is aimed at important events that become symbols of the era. David's photographs allow you to look at the world from the outside. His works are a living history textbook, which, instead of dry facts, demonstrates the bright events of our time.

I like David. While other pros are shopping, he's carrying around an ancient Speed Graphic video camera that's 60 years old. Of course, he has expensive professional equipment. But, apparently, he understands perfectly well: an expensive camera is a pleasant bonus, and not mandatory conditions For nice photo. A real master can take a good shot even with a point-and-shoot camera for 30 bucks.

A simple example: in 2000, David won the “Eyes of History” competition by taking a photo with a cheap plastic Holga camera for $30.

When Helmut was a teenager, the Gestapo arrested his father. Newton fled Germany and moved to Australia, where he served in the Australian Army until the end of World War II... This seems to be the way to write a description if you've been bitten by a Wikipedia moderator.

The biographies of talented people often look too flawless, like a VIP room in a private clinic - just as sterilely clean and far from real life. German-Australian photographer, worked for Vogue magazine, sometimes shot in the nude genre... This short retelling does not give any idea of who Newton Hellmuth was.

And he was a sincere snob without delusions of grandeur, who loved the glitz of high society. He preferred to photograph rich people and stay in luxury hotels. And he spoke honestly about this, considering himself a rather superficial, but truthful person.

Until he suffered a heart attack in 1971, Helmut smoked 50 cigarettes a day and could party for a week. But a heart attack revealed an incredible truth to the 50-year-old photographer: it turns out that a wild “youth” lifestyle can end very sadly with age.

Having been on the verge of death, Helmut quit smoking, began to lead a more measured life and promised himself to film only what was interesting to him.

Helmut Newton on the things he hates:

I hate good taste. This is a boring phrase that suffocates all living things.
I hate it when everything is inside out - it's cheap.
I hate dishonesty in photography: pictures taken in the name of some artistic principle are fuzzy and grainy.

Yuri Arcurs is one of the most successful stock photographers in the world. Instead of photographing sunrises and fog in a city park, he photographs what sells: happy families and pills, money and students. And on special sites called photo stocks, all this is sold and bought. And in this area, Arcurs became a real guru, who showed by personal example how you can earn money, achieve heights and even have fun doing commercial stock photography.

Yuri was born and raised in Denmark. He started earning money from photo stocks during his student years to pay for his studies. At the time, the only model he could shoot was his girlfriend. But soon additional income became the main one for Yuri: within a few years, in 2008, he was earning up to $90,000 a month from photo stocks.

Today this guy is selling his work large companies: MTV, Sony, Microsoft, Canon, Samsung and Hewlett Packard. His shooting day costs $6,000. And this whole story became a real Cinderella fairy tale for freelancers with a camera.

How realistic is it to repeat this path to success? Who knows. We can only state that today Yuri Arcurs is one of the most successful stock photographers.

Irving Penn loved photography, but did not attach much importance to this hobby. His main job was art design: Irwin designed magazine covers and even got a job as an assistant art editor at the popular Vogue magazine.

But cooperation with famous photographers of this publication did not work out. Penn was constantly dissatisfied with their work and could not explain to them what he needed. As a result, he waved his hand and took up the camera himself. And how he got it: the pictures were so successful that his superiors persuaded him to retrain as a photographer.

Irwin was the first to shoot models against a white or gray background - there was nothing superfluous in the frame. His incredible attention to every detail earned him a reputation as one of the best portrait photographers of his time. This allowed Penn to photograph various celebrities, including Al Pacino and Hitchcock, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.

Gursky inherited his love for photography from his father: he was an advertising photographer and taught his son all the intricacies of his craft. Therefore, Andreas did not hesitate in choosing a profession: he graduated from the school of professional photographers and State Academy arts

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about this because my Wiki-moderator syndrome has flared up again. It’s just that Andreas is one of the few photographers from our rating who approached this activity thoroughly, and did not start shooting by chance.

After completing his studies, Gursky began traveling around the world. Experimenting and getting new experience, he found his own style, which is now his calling card: Andreas takes huge photographs, the dimensions of which are measured in meters. Looking at their smaller copies on a computer screen, it is difficult to appreciate the effect they produce in full size.

Regardless of whether Gursky was photographing a city panorama or a river landscape, people or factories, his photographs amaze with their scale and the peculiar monotony of the details in the photo.

Ansel Adams spent most of his life photographing nature in the western United States. He traveled a lot, photographing the wildest and most inaccessible corners national parks. His love of nature was expressed not only in photography: Ansel was an active advocate for the conservation and protection of the environment.

But what Adams didn’t like was pictorialism, popular in the first half of the 20th century - a shooting method that made it possible to take photographs similar to painting. In contrast, Ansel and a friend founded the f/64 group, which professed the principles of so-called “direct photography”: shooting everything honestly and realistically, without any filters, post-processing and other bells and whistles.

Group f/64 was founded in 1932, at the very beginning of Ansel's career. But he was true to his convictions, so he retained his love for nature and documentary photography until the end of his life.

You've probably seen this desktop screensaver depicting the Teton Range and the Snake River against the backdrop of the setting sun:

So, it was Adams who was the first to capture this landscape from this angle. His black-and-white photograph was included in 116 images that were recorded on the Voyager gold plate - this is a message from earthlings to unknown civilizations, sent into space 40 years ago. Now the aliens will think that we don’t have color cameras, but we do have good photographers.

I like Sebastian's biography. This is a natural evolution that happens to any idealist throughout life.

This story was told by Salgado himself in an interview when he visited Moscow in February 2016. At the age of 25, he and his wife moved from Brazil to Europe. From there they planned to go to Soviet Union and enter the Peoples' Friendship University to build a society without social inequality. But in 1970, their dreams were destroyed by a friend from Prague - the Czechs tasted plenty of communism in 1968.

So, this guy dissuaded the spouses, explaining that no one was building communism in the USSR anymore. Power does not belong to the people and if they want to fight for the happiness of ordinary people, they can stay and help immigrants. Salgado listened to his comrade and stayed in France.

He studied to be an economist, but quickly realized that it was not for him. His wife, Lelia Salgado, had a more creative profession - she was a pianist... but she was also disappointed in her occupation and decided to become an architect. It was she who bought their first camera to photograph architecture. As soon as Sebastian looked at the world through the viewfinder, he immediately realized that he had found his true passion. And after 2 years he became a professional photographer.

According to Salgado himself, his economic education gave him knowledge of history and geography, sociology and anthropology. A huge store of knowledge opened up opportunities for him that were unavailable to other photographers: understanding human society in various parts of our planet. He visited more than 100 countries, taking an incredible amount of documentary photographs.

But don’t think that Sebastian photographed exotic beaches and funny animals while vacationing on tropical islands. His travels don't go that way at all. Initially, an idea is born: “Workers”, “Terra”, “Renaissance” - these are just some of the names of his albums. Afterwards, preparations for the trip begin and the trip itself, which can take several years.

Many of his works are dedicated to human suffering: he photographed refugees in African countries, victims of famine and genocide. Some critics even began to reproach Salgada for presenting poverty and suffering as something aesthetic. Sebastian himself is sure that the matter is different: according to him, he has never photographed those who look pathetic. Those he photographed were in distress, but they had dignity.

And it would be completely wrong to think that Salgado was “promoting himself” on someone else’s grief. On the contrary, he drew the attention of mankind to those troubles that many did not notice. The situation is indicative when Sebastian completed the work “Exodus” in the 1990s: he photographed people who escaped genocide. After the trip, he admitted that he was disappointed in people and no longer believed that humanity could survive. He returned to Brazil and took some time off to recover.

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending: the old idealist regained his faith in beauty, and is now busy with another project, photographing the untouched corners of our planet.

If you start typing in a search engine , then Google will display a drop-down window with the option "Steve McCurry Afghan Girl". This is quite strange, because McCurry is too mustachioed for a girl, even an Afghan one.

In fact, the “Afghan Girl” is Steve’s most famous photograph, appearing on the cover of National Geographic magazine. Even the Wikipedia article about this guy starts with this story:

“Steve is the mustachioed American photojournalist who photographed the Afghan girl.”. (Wikipedia)

Most articles about this photographer begin with a similar phrase, including our story about him. One gets the impression that he is an actor of one role, like Daniel Radcliffe or Macaulay Culkin. But it is not so.

Steve's career as a professional photographer began during the war in Afghanistan. He did not drive around the country in a Hummer, hiding behind the backs of the military, but stayed among ordinary people: he got local clothes, sewed rolls of film into them and traveled around the country like an ordinary Afghan. Or like an ordinary American spy disguised as an Afghan - someone could consider this option. So Steve took a risk, but thanks to him, the world saw the first photographs of that conflict.

Since then, McCurry has not changed his approach to work: he wandered around the world, filming different people. Steve has captured many military conflicts and has become a true master of street photography. Although in fact McCurry is a photojournalist, he managed to blur the line between documentary and artistic photography. His photographs are bright and attractive, like a postcard, but at the same time truthful. They do not require any explanations or comments - everything is clear without words. To create such photos, you need a rare flair.

Annie Leibovitz is a real expert when it comes to photographing stars. Her photographs graced the covers of the most popular magazines, causing strong emotions and discussions. Who else would have thought of photographing a grimacing Whoopi Goldberg in a milk bath? Or a naked John Lennon cuddling up to Yoko Ono in a fetal position? By the way, this was the last photograph in his life, taken a few hours before Chapman’s fatal shot.

Annie's biography looks quite smooth: after studying at the Art Institute in San Francisco, Leibovitz got a job at Rolling Stone magazine. She collaborated with him for more than 10 years. During this time, Annie has earned a reputation as a person who is able to photograph any celebrity in an interesting and creative way. And this is quite enough to achieve success in modern show business.

Having gained some fame, Annie moves to New York, where she opens her own photography studio. In 1983, she began working with Vanity Fair magazine, which sponsored her subsequent shocking photographs of stars. Shooting Demi Moore naked in the last stages of pregnancy or covering her with clay and putting Sting in the middle of the desert - this is quite in the spirit of Leibovitz. Like forcing Cate Blanchett to ride a bike or forcing a goose to take pictures with DiCaprio. No wonder her work is popular!

Who else can boast that they photographed the Queen of England, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama and many, many other celebrities? And, mind you, he was not filming as a papparazi, hiding behind a bush, but was organizing a full-fledged photo shoot? This is why Annie Leibovitz is considered, if not the best, then the most successful contemporary photographer. Although a little poppy.

1. Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri got his passion for art from his uncle: he was an artist and got his nephew interested in painting. This slippery slope eventually led him to a passion for photography. What did Henri do that distinguished him from hundreds and thousands of other photographers?

He realized a simple truth: everything must be done honestly and truly. That's why he refused staged photos and never asked anyone to act out a certain situation. Instead, he closely observed what was happening around him.

In order to remain invisible during the shooting, Henri covered the shiny metal parts on the camera with black electrical tape. He became a real “invisible man,” which allowed him to capture the most sincere feelings of people. And to do this, it’s not enough not to attract attention - you need to be able to determine the decisive moment for the photo. It was Henri who introduced this term, “the decisive moment,” and even wrote a book with that title.

To summarize: Cartier-Bresson's photographs are distinguished by living realism. For such work, some professional skills are not enough. It is necessary to sensitively understand human nature, to capture his emotions and mood. All this was inherent in Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was honest in his work.

Don't be a snob... Repost!

The profession of photographer today is one of the most widespread. Perhaps it would be easier here to become the best of the best at the beginning or middle of the 20th century. Today, when every second or third photographer, well, at least considers himself one, the criteria for good photography, at first glance, are blurred. But this is only at first, superficial glance. Quality standards and focus on talent have not gone away. You always need to keep before your eyes a kind of standard, an example that you can follow. We have prepared for you a list of the 20 best photographers in the world, which will become an excellent tuning fork...

Alexander Rodchenko

Revolutionary photographer. Rodchenko means as much to photography as Eisenstein does to cinema. He worked at the intersection of avant-garde, propaganda, design and advertising.

All these hypostases formed an inextricable unity in his work.

By rethinking all the genres that existed before him, he accomplished a kind of great turning point in the art of photography and set the course for everything new and progressive. The famous photographs of Lily Brik and Mayakovsky belong to his lens.

And he's also an author famous phrase“Work for life, not for palaces, temples, cemeteries and museums.”

Henri-Cartier Bresson

A classic of street photography. Native of Chanteloupe, Seine-et-Marne department in France. He started out as an artist painting in the “surrealism” genre, but his achievements did not end there. In the early 30s, when the famous Leica fell into his hands, he fell in love with photography forever.

Already in 1933, an exhibition of his works was held at Julien Levy, a gallery in New York. He worked with director Jean Renoir. Bresson's street reports are especially appreciated.

Contemporaries especially noted his talent for remaining invisible to the person being photographed.

Therefore, the unstaged, authentic nature of his photographs is striking. Like a true genius, he left a galaxy of talented followers.

Anton Corbijn

Perhaps, for fans of Western rock music, this name is not an empty phrase. In general, one of the most famous photographers in the world.

The most original and extraordinary photographs of such groups as: Depeche Mode, U2, Nirvana, Joy Division and others were taken by Anton. He is also the designer of U2 albums. Plus he shot videos for a number of teams and performers, including: Coldplay, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, country legend Johnny Cash, thrash metal mastodons Metallica, and singers Roxette.

Critics note the originality of Corbijn's style, which, however, has countless imitators.

Mick Rock

There are paparazzi photographers who intrude into personal life stars and mercilessly thrown out of there. And then there are people like Mick Rock.

What does it mean? Well, how can I tell you? Remember David Bowie? Here is Mick - the only person with a lens at the ready who was able to enter the personal space of the discoverer of new musical horizons, the trickster and the Martian from rock music. Mick Rock's photographs are a kind of cardiogram of Bowie's creative period from 1972 to 1973, when Ziggy Stardust had not yet returned back to his planet.

During that period and earlier, David and his associates worked hard on the image of a real star, which as a result became a reality. In terms of budget, Mick's work is inexpensive, but impressive. “Everything was created on a very small scale with smoke and mirrors,” Mick recalled.

Georgy Pinkhasov

An original photographer of his generation, a member of the Magnum agency, a graduate of VGIKA. It was Georgy who was invited by Andrei Tarkovsky to the set of the film “Stalker” as a reporter.

During the years of Perestroika, when the nude genre was a priority among advanced photographers, Georgy was one of the first to draw attention to the importance of a reportage photograph. They say that he did this at the suggestion of Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra.

As a result, today his photographs of that everyday life are not only masterpieces containing authenticity, but also the most important evidence of that era. One of the famous cycles of Georgy Pinkhasov is “Tbilisi Baths”. Georgy notes the important role of chance in art.

Annie Leibovitz

An essential name for our list of the best photographers. Annie made immersion into the life of a model her main creative principle.

One of the most famous portraits of John Lennon was made by her, and quite spontaneously.

“Back then I didn’t yet know how to control models, ask them to do what I needed. I was just metering the exposure and asked John to look into the lens for a second. And clicked...”

The result immediately made it onto the cover of Rolling Stone. The last photo shoot in Lennon's life was also carried out by her. The same photo of a naked John curled up around Yoko Ono, dressed all in black. Who hasn't been captured by Annie Leibovitz's camera: pregnant Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg bathing in milk, Jack Nicholson playing golf in a dressing gown, Michelle Obama, Natalia Vodianova, Meryl Streep. It’s impossible to list them all.

Sarah Moon

Real name is Mariel Hadang. Born in Paris 1941, during the Vichy regime her family moved to England. Mariel started out as a model, posing for various publications, then she tried herself on the other side of the lens and got a taste for it.

One can note her sensitive work with models, since Sarah knew firsthand about their profession. Her works are distinguished by their particular sensuality; Sarah is noted for her talent for especially sensitively conveying the femininity of her models.

In the 70s, Sarah left the modeling field and turned to black and white art photography. In 1979 he made experimental films. Subsequently, she worked as a cameraman on the set of the film “Lulu,” which would receive an award at the Venice Film Festival in 1987.

Sally Man

Another female photographer. Native of Lexington, Virginia. She almost never left her native place. Since the 70s, it has essentially worked only in the South of the United States.

He shoots only in the summer; all other seasons he develops photographs. Favorite genres: portrait, landscape, still life, architectural photography. Favorite color scheme: black and white. Sally became famous for her photographs depicting members of her family - her husband and children.

The main thing that distinguishes her work is the simplicity of the subjects and interest in Everyday life. Sally and her husband belong to the hippie generation, which has become their signature style of life: living away from the city, gardening, independence from social conventions.

Sebastian Salgado

Magic realist from photography. He draws all his wonderful images from reality. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

So, Sebastian is able to discern it in anomalies, misfortunes and environmental disasters.

Wim Wenders, an outstanding director of the German New Wave, spent a quarter of a century researching Salgado's work, resulting in the film Salt of the Earth, which received a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Weegee (Arthur Fellig)

Considered a classic of the crime genre in photography. During the period of his active work, not a single urban incident - from a fight to a murder - went unnoticed by Weegee.

He was ahead of his competitors, and sometimes got to the crime scene even earlier than the police. In addition to crime topics, he specialized in reporting on the everyday life of the slums of the metropolis.

His photographs formed the basis of Jules Dassin's noir Naked City, and Weegee is also mentioned in Zack Snyder's Watchmen. And the famous director Stanley Kubrick studied the art of photography from him in his youth. Check out the genius's early films, they're definitely influenced by Weegee's aesthetic.

Irving Penn

Master in the portrait genre. One can note a number of his favorite techniques: from shooting models in the corner of a room to using a plain white or gray background.

Irwin also liked to photograph representatives of various working professions in their uniforms and with tools at the ready. Brother“New Hollywood” director Arthur Penn, famous for his “Bonnie and Clyde.”

Diane Arbus

Her name at birth was Diana Nemerova. Her family emigrated from Soviet Russia in 1923 and settled in one of the neighborhoods of New York.

Diana was distinguished by a desire to violate generally accepted norms and to commit extravagant acts. At the age of 13, against the wishes of her parents, she married Alan Arbus, an aspiring actor, and took his last name. After some time, Alan left the stage and took up photography, involving his wife in the business. They opened a photography studio and shared responsibilities. Creative differences led to a break in the 60s. Having defended her creative principles, Diana became a cult photographer.

As an artist, she was distinguished by her interest in freaks, dwarfs, transvestites, and the weak-minded. And also to nudity. You can learn more about Diana’s personality by watching the film “Fur,” where she was played perfectly by Nicole Kidman.

Evgeny Khaldey

A very important photographer for our list. Thanks to him, captured key events first half of the 20th century. While still a teenager, he chose the path of a photojournalist.

Already at the age of 22, he was an employee of TASS Photo Chronicles. He made reports about Stakhanov, photographed the construction of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. He worked as a war correspondent throughout the Great Patriotic War. Walking from Murmansk to Berlin with his trusty Leica camera, he took a series of photographs, thanks to which we can at least imagine everyday life in war.

His lens captured the Potsdam Conference, the hoisting of the red banner over the Reichstag, the act of surrender of Nazi Germany and other important events. In 1995, two years before his death, Evgeniy Khaldei received the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Mark Riboud

Master of the reporting genre. His first famous photograph, published in Life, is “Painter on the Eiffel Tower.” Recognized as a photographic genius, Riboud had a modest personality.

He tried to remain invisible both to those photographed and to his admirers.

The most famous photograph is of a hippie girl offering a flower to soldiers standing with machine guns at the ready. He also has a series of photographs from the everyday life of the USSR in the 60s and a lot of other interesting things.

Richard Kern

And a little more rock and roll, especially since this is the main theme of this photographer, along with violence and sex. Considered one of the most important photographers for the New York underground.

Captured many famous, one might say extremely famous, musicians. Among them is the absolute monster and transgressor punk musician GG Allin. Kern also collaborates with men's magazines, where he submits his erotic works.

But his approach is far from the generally glossy one. In his spare time from photography, he shoots music videos. Among the groups with which Kern collaborated are Sonic Youth and Marilyn Manson.

Thomas Morkes

Do you want peace, silence, or maybe even solitude? Then this is one of the most suitable candidates. Thomas Morkes from the Czech Republic is a landscape photographer who chose the charm of autumn nature as his theme. These photographs have it all: romance, sadness, the triumph of fading.

One of the effects of Thomas’s photographs is the desire to get away from the city noise into some such jungle and reflect on the Eternal.

Yuri Artyukhin

Considered the best wildlife photographer. He is a researcher at the laboratory of ornithology at the Pacific Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Yuri passionately loves birds.

It was for his photographs of birds that he received (more than once) a variety of awards not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

Helmut Newton

What about the nude genre? An excellent, very subtle and delicate genre that has its own masters.

Helmut became famous throughout the world for his works. His unspoken motto was the expression “Sex sells,” which means “sex helps sell.”

Winner of the most prestigious competitions, including the French “Order of Arts and Letters”.

Ron Galella

Having covered various areas of photography, one cannot fail to mention the pioneer of such a dubious and at the same time important genre for understanding the modern world as paparazzi.

You probably know that this phrase comes from Federico Fellini’s film “La Dolce Vita.” Ron Garella is one of those photographers who will not ask permission to shoot, but on the contrary, will catch stars when they are not generally ready for this.

Julia Roberts, Woody Allen, Al Pacino, Sophia Loren - that's far from full list those whom Ron had willfully caught. One day, Marlon Brando got so angry with Ron that he knocked out several of his teeth on the spot.

Guy Bourdin

One of the most important photographers needed for a correct understanding of the world of fashion, its origins and aesthetics. He combines eroticism and surrealism in his works. One of the most copied and imitated photographers in the world. Erotic, surreal. Now - a quarter of a century after his death - it is increasingly relevant and modern.

He published his first photographs in the mid-50s. The photo was, to put it mildly, provocative. A girl in an elegant hat against the backdrop of calf heads looking out of the window of a butcher shop. Over the next 32 years, Bourdain regularly contributed entertaining photographs to Vogue magazine. What set him apart from many of his colleagues was that Bourdain was given complete creative freedom.