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Shaun1960

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Shaun
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After a long layoff from photography, it got in the way of other pursuits ie Fly Fishing and Shooting.
The recent Corvid Lockdowns got me thinking about it again. Watching Gary Gough's youtube Channel and his no-nonsense approach to Landscape photography was a real inspiration, who has inspired you and why.
 
I’m going to be pedantic and say that I don’t think anyone has inspired me, but plenty of photographers have influenced me in my photography. So to answer the question of who has influenced me, I’d say that it’s mainly photo journalists / documentary photographers plus some ‘fine art’ photographers (define that as you will). For instance, John Davies, Michael Kenna plus Bernd and Hilla Becher in the latter category, and in the former people like Don McCullin, John Bulmer, Denis Thorpe, Chris Killip, Ian Beesley, etc. Also a gentleman called Leigh Preston, an English photographer who most won’t have heard of but whose book ‘Shadows of Change’ has maybe had the most impact on my photography. As to why - I think their work has shown me what is possible in terms of the aesthetics of the tiny genre I work in (black and white / industrial) plus how to tell a visual story.

Not so much for the photographs in them, but the writing in the books of David DuChemin, Brooks Jensen and Bruce Barnbaum have had a massive influence on me.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
I’m going to be pedantic and say that I don’t think anyone has inspired me, but plenty of photographers have influenced me in my photography. So to answer the question of who has influenced me, I’d say that it’s mainly photo journalists / documentary photographers plus some ‘fine art’ photographers (define that as you will). For instance, John Davies, Michael Kenna plus Bernd and Hilla Becher in the latter category, and in the former people like Don McCullin, John Bulmer, Denis Thorpe, Chris Killip, Ian Beesley, etc. Also a gentleman called Leigh Preston, an English photographer who most won’t have heard of but whose book ‘Shadows of Change’ has maybe had the most impact on my photography. As to why - I think their work has shown me what is possible in terms of the aesthetics of the tiny genre I work in (black and white / industrial) plus how to tell a visual story.

Not so much for the photographs in them, but the writing in the books of David DuChemin, Brooks Jensen and Bruce Barnbaum have had a massive influence on me.
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Very much agree, and also recognise some of those names as being influential.
 
I suppose I may be an odd one out here but I can't say anyone influences or inspires me and I have no real interest in influencers or bloggers beyond helping me to understand what kit is available and what it's capable of.

I suppose this could show up in my rather simplistic photography but I don't care as I take pictures of people and places I love and things that interest me and my pictures are for me and my close family. Beyond that I have a shallow interest in the kit and specifically lenses and that's as far as my "photography" goes. The thought of being influenced or inspired by someone on line doesn't cross my mind.

As I type this I see a post above, so maybe I'm not alone :D
 
No person really. I shoot for me and me only. I'm not interested in watching vlogs by folk twittering on, or even looking at others work that doesn't suit the mood I like to feel in an image. If an image doesn't stir up an emotion, then for me that photograph doesn't work, that goes for my own work as well as other peoples. I'm taking photos because I love being outdoors, so I guess the land or seascape in front of me inspires me. I know what I want to capture and how I want to capture it, the rest comes from a feeling within and there's only myself who can muster up that drive and desire. Sounds pretentious as I type it, but that's my take on making photograps.
 
Shaun1960 said:
Watching Gary Gough's youtube Channel and his no-nonsense approach to Landscape photography was a real inspiration, who has inspired you and why.
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I agree with all that has been posted, I don't think looking at other people's photographs or vlogs ever inspire me to go out and take photographs, as the inspiration comes from my relationship with the subjects I photograph.

How I interact with those subjects photographically is certainly influenced by looking at the work of other photographers, and reading what they have to say.

Although, he doesn't produce my favourite photographs, one of the most influential was Ansel Adams, as he really brought home how important it was to master the craft of photography if you wanted to produce photographs that reflected how you saw and felt about a subject. Before Ansel Adams, I saw producing technically excellent photographs as an end in itself.
 
I guess André Kertész inspired me in the sense that his pictures opened my eyes to the fact that photographs can be of anything, and be more than the camera club/Amateur Photographer fare I'd been exposed to, leading me into a different world of photographs and freeing me up to take photos of whatever the hell I wanted to in any way I wanted.
 
My father inspired me.
 
It was my Dad too that inspired me, and it has been McCullin, Larry Burrows and Doisneau who I would have liked to emulate, plus someone who I worked for for a year or so without discovering until much much later was a top aviation photographer, Robin Adshead. However I am very modest in my aspirations and just want to take shots good enough that my wife will let methem put on the wall!
 
I can't say there were any particular people who inspired m, neither can I name any photographer I look up to, guess I started doing photography just out of curiosity. I have friends who do that, though, and I always loved the way they capture the moments and emotions, so I wanted to try and do the same. I was eager to learn how does photo editing work, too, so learning Photoworks tricks was a part of inspiration for me.
 
Suvv said:
Andreas Feininger, in particular his book The Complete Photographer.
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That was the book recommended to me by a neighbour of an aunt who was a skilled photographer - he had a framed carbon print hanging on his wall. He was kind enough to critique my prints, and I still have his comments almost 60 years on.
 
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