This place is pretty dead and I have a feeling this topic is going to sink like obama’s approval rating but maybe some of you guys are interested?

does anyone here know anything about photography? i’m actually kinda curious if you guys have fave photographers aside from like ANSEL ADAMS or something

my exposure to photography is mainly based on asian photographers, mostly japan. I don’t know if this is because that’s what most of my friends are inspired by and talk about and buy books about, or because photography basically IS japan nowadays (pretty much every major photo company is japanese (canon Nikon sony mamiya yashica Olympus etc etc) save for a few other well known ones like leica or carl zeiss)

my biggest inspiration is probably nobuyoshi araki, and even though I’m pretty much lightyears away from his photos (mainly because I don’t have naked women posing in ropes) he’s pretty much everything I wish I could be, but I know I won’t.  there’s a picture of him in my avatar.
He’s a pretty fucked up dude. I’d say he probably went a lil crazy after his wife died, where he took pictures of her (dead, see below) and that’s probably when all his photos started being of naked jap women

araki's dead wife


Heres some photos he did of bjork






Lady gaga






Self portrait



Some more photos












here are a few good images by Manabu Yamanaka. He started off by taking photos of homeless people in 1989 and ever since has been taking photos of people on the margins of society, especially the physically deformed and elderly. these might be a lil disturbing













Haruto hoshi takes photos in a really captivating style in major cities, I don’t really know much about him but I like his photos. he has a lot of really honest portrayals of urban life and he's pretty amazing at capturing the right moments.













Avedon is pretty much just fucking amazing. He revolutionized fashion photography in every way and has taken pictures of everyone you like. Seriously. He’s one of the most original photographers I’ve ever seen. i suggest checking out his website, he's taken pictures of picasso, the beatles, aldous huxley, william burroughs allen ginsberg and pretty much anyone famous ever.

bob dylan



burroughs
















These are probably the most powerful images in this topic.  Nhem En was an ordinary guy who was assigned under pol pot to photograph incoming prisoners at prison “s-21” in Cambodia. He had almost no previous training to photography.

Here are a few words he said

"I saw the suffering of prisoners who were arrested and tortured with electricity. This is beyond what I thought of. If they tied me and whipped me to get me to confess that I was a thief, I would say that I am a thief because I could not bear such torturing. As far as I know, out of 1,000 people there were two or three of them [who ][/who]. I say this because some from my village, who arrived here with me, were arrested and charged with being the enemy. As they could not endure the torture, they confessed that they were enemies.
It was difficult to take pictures of the newcomers who were blindfolded and tied up when they were leaving the truck. Sometimes they arrived in chains. Sometimes we got reprimanded; for example, if we took a picture of A and the photo was not good and A was already killed, then we were charged as the enemy. In here, if we did not carefully do our jobs we could not escape from being jailed or stopped from working.
If the photos of the important people, such as the KGB, were not taken well, then the photographer would be in difficulty. They were looking for CIA, KGB and the invaders.”
























so uh, discuss and post some photos you guys like. if you like these i could post more photographers i like

Hey I appreciate this topic, I'll post somethings in it later. When I am less of a ded man typing

whats up with ansel adams anyway

im not being a dick but for the renown he has amassed i simply do not see the artistic merit

i think he was mocking gaming w's artistic brow-level.