Photographers

I love photography. There, I said it. You all know I've been trying to keep it from you, but I love photography. It's been a passion of mine for nearly two decades now, and I was recently thinking about photographers who inspire me, and whose work I admire. It seems that these thoughts would make a great post for you, o faithful reader, so here it is:

Initially, I loved the breathtaking landscape work of Ansel Adams. Beautiful work, visually stunning, and highly technically competent. He is still inspiring to me in how he made photography a widely accepted art medium, and how he was an activist for environmental causes through his work. However, as time went on, I realized that landscape photography was not for me - it was highly saturated, and it was difficult for me to express myself through landscape work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoDY9j7UoWI

Another photographer I discovered early on was Craig Varjabedian. To me, he is one of the inheritors of the photographic and artistic legacy of Adams. He is a great technician, and I think much more expressive in his subject than Adams was. If you are so interested, here is a link to a site with his images.
http://www.craigvarjabedian.com/GRmovie/movie.html

More recently, I discovered the work of Larry Towell. He is immensely inspiring to me, both as a human, as well as an artist. I love his images - how they so infuse the people, or subjects with a sense of identity. He is an activist for landless people - those exploited in the world, and he also seems to be a great father to his family. All of this while producing some of the most moving images I have ever seen. His intimate and moving portraits have influenced my more recent portraits of my family, and my wife.
http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/frontporch

There are three other photographers about which I wish to write - two of them famous, one not. The first one is Richard Avdeon - the famous fashion photgrapher. I am not terribly enthusiastic about his fashion work, but his fine art portraiture is amazing to me. The honesty of these portraits is breathtaking to me. On the surface, they seem very simple, but are actually very perceptive and revealing images of the subject - something which I hope influences my work. One of the greatest works I have ever seen is his series In the American West, which was commissioned by the museum where I work. Lyrical, moving, and intimate are all good words for that body of work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQHn0EEvHl0

Another famous photographer whose work I admire is the work of Annie Leibovitz. It seems to me that she has managed to do something very difficult for most photographers - express herself artistically while working commercially. However, her personal work is the most moving - the images of her children, and of her partner are especially moving to me. Being the documentarian for my family is something that is missed by myself, and Leibovitz inspires me to document while being artistic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRhbqtV6RcA

One final photographer whose work I recently discovered, and very much enjoy, is David Bram. He does great work with a Hasselblad - a lovely blending of modern and traditional.
http://davidbram.com/

And finally, the photographer that has had the most profound impact on me as a photographer is my grandfather, Stan Blevins. He initially taught me the fundamentals of photography when I was twelve years old. He let me read all of his photography books - technical and artistic, and gave me the confidence to continue in photography as a medium of artistic expression. It was his initial time and effort that set me on this path - and he who I would like to thank now.


- Jason Dean