Olga Karlovac, Todd Hido, David Bailey (initially because he took the portrait of Cat Stevens on the Teaser and the Firecat album cover) and Anton Corbijn (for his images of U2). Oh, and someone called Kilbee, Alex Kilbee as he has introduced me to so many names I hadn’t heard of previously! All big influences for my photography.
I find people get very angry if you tell them to better their work by looking at other art or by otherwise learning about art. It’s an amazing thing. It’s one of the few disciplines I know of where people get mad if you suggest they might benefit from learning about what they want to do.
Last Monday I went to the city's annual book fair and I found a couple of photo books, among them, I found a book called "All smiles" which is a collection of photos of... Smiles 🤭. From there I found this absolutely serendipitous photo by Rene Maltete. I can wholeheartedly recommend their photography
A list of photo influences, or those I studied, will probably give me carpal tunnel lol. Some to start would be Alf Kumalo, Catherine Leroy, Peter and David Turnley, Dirck Halstead, Gordon Parks, Robert Frank, Jim Richardson, Lee Miller, Saul Leiter, Fred Herzog, Joel Sternfeld, Annie Leibovitz, William Christenberry, Ilse Bing, Walker Evans, William Eggleston, Dorothea Lange. For starters...:-)
Thank you Alex! Your advice is invaluable! I can't think of another channel that goes so deep in the creative process. I very much appreciate all the advice!
Hi Alex, it's great you opened up the conversation about looking for inspiration not just other photographers but things that interest us. When i look for inspiration i think about things that i haven't photographed like surfing, Ferries, Boats. And when you photograph these things, you see so many other great compositions just waiting to be snapped. Just walking around you see so many cool cars parked, Sports cars, Vintage Cars, its amazing the variety of cars you can photograph. The Sky's the limit, literally the Sky, now there's a great composition to photograph. Great topic Alex, thanks 😊
When looking at long term productive photographers i have noticed most have other ways of being creative. Some may paint, write or even play musical instruments. I'm thinking maybe even writing simple poems conveying thoughts of places/experiences or activates one experiences may be a place to then pull from to try and create an image to convey what comes through the written poem. Maybe I'm just crazy though?
"Why does this photograph work?" Recently on a country road, the leaves beginning their transition to the autumn colours and a driveway over a concrete culvert with the late afternoon sun created a composition, I stopped the car took a few images and it is the combination of light, colours, lines that create the composition that works. For me it is my emotional response to an image. Recently I have been scanning transparencies that I took 4 decades ago, only to look at my work through a more mature lens, and I was actually a better photographer than I thought I was at the time.
If it doesn't inspire you then most likely it won't inspire others. If a sports athlete is not inspired to play the game, will you cheer or boo them? Same applies to photography. Great Talk Alex !
Just 2 remarks (1) about what you said at 3'30" (other media) you took my direct words which I used recently in a presentation Alex! and (2) your principles for finding ideas are well written about in this little book by James Webb Young titled: "A Technique for Producing Ideas".
Obie Oberholzer, who you have as your first image, has been my biggest inspiration - not necessarily in terms of emulation, but in terms of attitude to photography and using invention to enhance the subject matter, to say something extra about it, not for its own sake.
I am also slightly older, and that was my first thought as well. Tubular bells record cover was the first to come to mind, then Abbey road.... Growing up in a remote part of South Africa with no TV being broadcast, now living in the UK its so different now being bombarded continually by imagery on screens all around us.
@@ThePhotographicEye maybe can you add a link in the description, or better yet a pinned comment? Also, recently Tatiana Hopper posted a video about how photographers can learn from painters, Caravaggio being an example. I think that's a great idea. Caravaggio and Rembrandt taught us so much about lighting.
I’ll throw a couple out there for y’all: (Mostly Street) Alan Schaller Trent Parke Matt Stuart Melissas O’Shaughnessy Alex Webb Olga Karlovac Matt Hall
@@ThePhotographicEye Sorry, I wasn't thinking. Now I can see the light right there, with the grid. It suddenly struck me as specular, which I just saw for the first time when trying out my gold reflector. I've never used a grid so I'm not quite sure what it does except direct the light towards the subject. But when I wrote softbox I was thinking of the light in your older videos. That was a softer light, if I remember.
