Guy Bourdin (1928-91)

Guy Bourdin was born in Paris, he had a profoundly influential impact on fashion photography.
His fashion editorial and advertising was published principally in French Vogue from the mid-1950s through to the late 1980s, where it had its greatest impact in the decade of the 1970s.
His early inspiration was from Surrealism, and specifically the work of Man Ray, with whom he struck up a relationship, the Surrealist whose vision had reconfigured notions of what a photograph might be.

i like his images because i found it unusual and unique. i like the surreal mood that he created, that other people wouldn't do.

Tokihiro Sato

Tokihiro Sato is one of Japan’s best-known contemporary photographic artists although the majority of his training
lies in sculptor.His work deals mainly with his ideas about light and space.  I really love the energy that is infused
in his work even though there is no actual sign of life.It creates an interesting contrast between everything in the
image being completely static and sharp and the fact that there is a great sense of movement and energy.  

The method he uses to obtain these results is distinctly his own.  He uses an 8 x 10 camera and makes long
exposures of up to 2 to 3 hours.During that time, he moves through the frame with a mirror (or often he buries the
small mirrors around the scene) to reflect light back at the camera.A reflective triangular frame is mounted around
the camera lens so he can see whether the light is being accurately reflected at the camera, or moves through the
scene with a small flashlight to draw the light in long waves.Because Sato is constantly moving throughout the long
exposure, he is invisible in the photograph. Only the points of light show evidence of his movement. 

His works are held in major museums and are presented as large and medium scale black-and-white transparencies
lit from behind so as to heighten the effect of the lights in the image

Bob Martin

Three time winner of the British Sports Photographer of the Year and internationally acclaimed sports photographer with an exceptional body of work. Bob Martin has photographed just about every sport you could think of. I had seen many of shots in the past, but did not know they were his shots till late last year. Bob specialises in shooting action, graphic and editorial pictures supplying papers and magazines all over the world.


Check out his website at www.bobmartin.com

Lori Nix

I recently came across Lori Nix' work and was immediately drawn to her original and unique concept. Her photos are taken of elaborate and detailed miniature built sets, covering a range of scenes such as the series, Accidentally Kansas inspired by her interest in disaster movies.
Some of her photos have an eerie mood, yet others seem to have a more humourous feel to them. I love her interesting use of selective focus and the sense of life and movement in all of her images. I find it amazing how much work and precise detail has been put into making each set perfectly to communicate her idea.
Lori has recently left Kansas - where she grew up and which has been a big influence on her work - to move to New York, which is inspiring some ideas for new work focusing on, where city and rural landscapes meet.

Check out her website at www.lorinix.net

Josef Koudelka

The aspect of Josef Koudelkas work a appreciate is, unlike any other photographer of his genre, the play of shadow and light becomes a major component in his photography. Although Koudelka doesn’t stage his images, he still manages to produce photographs with an almost architectural discipline and understanding of how simple shadows can frame and contribute to the overall effectiveness of an image.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find the best examples of his work online, but if anyone’s genuinely interested in his work, I have one of his books ‘Exiles’ which is just beautiful.

Ralph Gibson

I really love Ralph Gibson’s images, his use of geometric shapes is striking.
Gibson took up photography during his 4 years in the navy, he assisted Dorothea Lange and Robert frank and has a slightly surreal quality to his work. He predominantly shoots on black and white, this adds to the geometric nature of his work.

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is one of the greatest social documentary photographers of our time. This is partly because of his interest in the idiocies of mass tourism but also his exploration of the lower and middle class’ interaction within themselves and the world at large. The defining feature of his work is his humor, a very British humor that when combined with the vivid use of colour brings about a very lurid emotive image.
I personally enjoy his work, especially the ‘common sense series’ of which there are 4 of his images at the NGV international. They are rather large images and I think the size accentuates the lurid nature of his work. (The first 2 images of this blog are at the NGV)

Avedon's Portraits

Richard Avedon reinvented the genre of photographic portraiture.

We don't look at Avedon's portraits and think "What a great photographer", we stare at the sitters in the portraits and think "What an interesting person."

His talent was to make us engage with the sitter directly, almost unaware of the photographers presence - the fundamental purpose of portraiture.

The images can be of weary, neurotic, melancholy subjects, but they are riveting images that capture a psychological state.

Avedon said:

"I've worked out of a series of no's. No to exquisite light, no to apparent compositions, no to the seduction of poses or narrative. And all these no's force me to the "yes." I have a white background. I have the person I'm interested in and the thing that happens between us."

David Bailey said:

"His photography does not intrude in the image. His subject becomes the centre of the universe."