A Big Collection of Great Photographers and Their Inspiring Work
Like painting and sculpture, photography is a visual art. If you are nurturing the idea to become a recognized photographer, you must go through the work of famous contributors of photography. There are many famous photographers around the world. Some have got recognition and some faded out in the page of history unknown. Here in this article, I will tell you about the work of some great photographers.
I started photography as an amateur photographer. By that time, I was doing a course on photography from a famous school of art. I respectfully obeyed the instruction of my photography teacher and gone through the works of famous photographers in the beginning of my career. I have to admit that I learned so much from their works. I was a great fan of candid and street photography. If you carefully notice the works of great artists, you can find hundreds of example of candid and street photography in their work.Later, I explored different genre of photography.
Most famous photographers of all time didn’t take photography as a profession in the beginning. Many of them came from background of painting and other forms of visual art. They took photography for the work of art and creativity. Eventually, some of them turned to photojournalism and other treads of photography. As you know that the art for art’s sake, there is no definite list of famous photographers. But as a student and admirer of photography, I am trying to give you a short exposure to the great personalities in the world of creative and commercial photography.
Photography has different fields. In this article, I will try to cover photographers from different treads, like fashion, wildlife, and the most famous creative photography and photojournalists.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
If you are really a lover of photography by heart, you must have heard of this name. This is probably the most discussed name in the world of creative photography. This legendary French photographer is known as Bresson. He is considered as the master of candid photography. Most of his works are based on people’s activity on The street, popularly known as street photography. 
He worked for the French army in the Second World War as a photographer. The photographer specially worked on 35mm black and white film and invented some special developing technique in his own darkroom. He enjoyed working with shadows and moving objects. Many great creative photographers are inspired by his style.From limited collection of photography, you may learn how to put soul in still photograph. He adapted a narrative style. He had a talent to create stunning visual presentation of trivial occurrence. 
This legendary photographer has limited collection of black and white photography, but for a learner of the subject, they are priceless.
Robert Capa
He was probably the most adventurous Hungarian war photographer of all time. His real name was Endre Friedmann, who moved to France and became a photojournalist. 
Capa was not afraid of any kind of fearful situation, witnessed the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany, and covered many wars including the Second World War. Along with French street photographer Bresson, he was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos cooperative, the objective of which was to highlight current affairs around the globe.
Irving Penn
Penn earned reputation as an American fashion photographer. Penn worked independently as an advertisement photographer.He studied drawing, painting, and industrial arts. In the beginning of his career, he was a commercial artist who practiced amateur photography and later worked for a famous fashion magazine called “Vogue.” 
He loved to work with abstract art, which he successfully implemented in his photography. Simplicity is one of the key aspects of his creation. He was one of the few photographers who used white
and gray background to shoot models. Penn mastered art of black and white printing. His photography is notable for contrast and sharpness. He used bottle, bone, metal, and other objects to illustrate his fashion photography.
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was a famous American fashion photographer, who worked for famous brands like Colgate, Revlon, and many others. Born to a garments manufacturer’s family, Avedon started operating camera at the age of 12 and later became a famous fashion photographer. Avedon contributed for renowned fashion magazine like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. This talented photographer worked for both commercial and creative photography. Apart from fashion photography, he also worked in a mental hospital as a photographer. He covered the fall of Berlin Wall and protested against Vietnam War. The use of animal in
fashion photography distinguished him from other fashion photographers. Once, he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic.This famous photographer portrayed many celebrities and politicians. He experimented with different kinds of lighting.
Jim Brandenburg
Jim Brandenburg is an American wildlife photographer. Although he started his career as a photojournalist,he later turned to a wildlife photographer. He worked for National Geographic for more than 30 years.
He wrote several books on wildlife photography.“White Wolf—Living With an Arctic Legend” is a famous book written by Jim Brandenburg.
Paul Nicklen
Paul Nicklen is a Canadian-born wildlife photographer and marine biologist, working with National Geographic. He is best known for his photography of polar
animals. He is also famous for underwater life photography. He photographed almost every creature living in the Arctic region. Nicklen was awarded by many wildlife conservation societies. He also wrote some books on Arctic wildlife.
Nick Knight
Nick Knight is a British fashion photographer. Apart from fashion photography, he has a strong affection to nature. 
He worked for 15 years on a theme that shows relation between man and plants. He was the official photographer to shoot the portrait of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles for the queen’s 90th birthday.
Bruce Weber
He is an American fashion photographer and film maker.His early photography raised controversy and someone told him he would not get another chance in fashion photography. Bruce’s clients include Revlon, Pirelli, Calvin Klein, and many
other globally famous companies. He also worked for some famous fashion magazines like Vogue. Bruce also directed some films.
Dorothea Lange
Many years ago, photographers researched on different techniques of photography.Their work reflects the contemporary society and socioeconomic conditions. They portrayed major social issues with an artistic approach. Dorothea Lange is one of them. She was an American photojournalist and documentary photographer. 
Most of her works are based on the Great Depression and its effect on society. She successfully documented unemployed and homeless people on the street, which was a potential aftermath of the Great Depression. Dorothea was taught photography at Columbia University.In her early life, she worked as a photo retouch artist. She was appointed as a faculty of fine arts in the Department
of Photography at California School of Fine Arts. She was awarded many times for her achievement in capturing detailed image of contemporary society.
Sally Mann
This extremely talented female photographer used imagery of nature to portray decay and death. She is famous for her large black and white prints. She admits that she like to spend hours with her boyfriend in her own darkroom. 
This great photographer was introduced to photography by her father. Most of Sally’s work related to adolescence and relationship. Many of her photographs appeared on The New York Times magazine. She received a Doctorate of Fine Arts degree and honorary fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society.
Art Wolfe
Up to this point,I basically focused on classic photographers of black and white roll film era. Now, I am going to focus on a famous American wildlife photographer, who is popularly known as Art Wolfe, whose parents were both commercial artists.
Shooting wildlife in black and white is not a good idea. Art Wolfe is famous for native cultural and wildlife color photography. He is a conservationist, who captured many endangered species. The photographer wrote several books on wildlife and tribal photography. He worked with National Geographic. 
Art Wolfe travelled extensively around the world to unleash the beauty of nature and tribal culture. He received an honorary award from the Royal Photographic Society.
