My Favorite Photographers (Dead & Alive)

I have put together a list of some of my favorite photographers, and their work, whom are both dead and alive.  I have given links to all of their websites below.  I might end up making this a permanent link in the sidebar because I think each of these individuals has some amazing stuff that truly inspires.

So here is the list, in no particular order.
First up, Richard Avedon.  When you hit the link it will take you to, possibly, my favorite photograph of all time.  The photograph it titled "Carmen, coat by Cardin".  This photo along with Avedon's other work during this time period are absolutely stunning.  I actually only really like Avedon's work during this time period, 1947-1957.  That is not to say the rest of his work wasn't extraordinary, it just doesn't float my boat.

Next, Annie Leibovitz.  Now I have never found a website that is her own so the link will take you to the Google image search results.  From there you can browse through thousands of her images.  Back to Annie, she has become quite popular in the press lately.  You might have heard of her needless to say.  Why do I like her work, well she likes to do things with 'flare'.  Once again, I am fond of her earlier work when she was working for Rolling Stone but in general I find most all of her work pleasing to the eye.  Bottom line, no matter your view of her, she has done quite a bit with a camera and along the way produced some wonderful images.

Now we come to Shane Young.  Shane has become a friend of mine over the past year and has helped me with my aspirations to become a professional photographer probably more then anyone.  Shane is just a great image maker, plain and simple.  He is a pro photographer who just works and loves photography.  He has been in the photography game for somewhere around 20+ years and I don't think his passion for photography has ever dwindled.  His images are clean, beautiful and wonderfully executed.  

I think now would be a good time to mention Helmut Newton.  This guys' work is some of my favorite.  Newton was with a doubt (in my mind) one of the most bad ass fashion photographers that ever walked the planet.  His images inspire me.  When I look at his work, I always get the feeling that he was someone who just didn't care what others thought of him, and yes, I admire that quality.  His images were also technically beautiful also.   

Moving along, we now come to David Zaitz.  He is an LA based photographer whom I have actually had the privilege to work with.  The reason I like his images, his personal work has a wonderful level of visual irony.  Comical satire if you will.  Oh yeah, he is a pretty nice guy too.

That is 5, there are certainly others but for now I am just going to leave it as is.  I hope you will check out their work.