Famous Portrait Photographers to Inspire You
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is probably the most popular and one of the oldest forms of photography. Most of us will know a good portrait when we see one, but is there a universal recipe for taking a portrait photo? To take someone’s portrait photo is to capture their essence. It is getting the most authentic emotion and expression out from a subject, then freezing it in a single moment in time. There is no better way to learn the art of portrait photography than to study the best portrait photographers out there.
Defining the Art of Portraiture
Portraits are often about capturing the personality of the subject, using effective lighting, backdrops, and a variety of different candid and staged poses. The best portrait photographers are many and the names will vary depending on who you ask. Below is a list of famous portrait photographers who have been able to unveil the raw beauty of our fellow humans, providing a mixture of masters from past and present to get you inspired.
Yousuf Karsh
Yousuf Karsh is known for his portraits of famous world leaders, artists, celebrities and royalty. His photo of Churchill made it to almost every paper of the time. Every great photographer has a distinguishing portrait style; for Karsh, it became the use of dramatic lighting. Some of the people he photographed are Albert Einstein, Picasso, Mother Teressa, Ernest Hemingway and Marilyn Monroe.
Dorothea Lange
If you are interested in documentary photography, then Dorothea Lange is someone worth studying. Dorothea travelled across the US and photographed migrants and unemployed workers during the Great Depression. For her, the camera was a powerful tool that she could use to show the unseen. In documentary photography, knowing how to approach people and situations is key. She was said to put her camera down if her subjects objected, waiting until they were used to her.
Steve McCurry
The American photographer and photojournalist became world-famous after his photo “Afgan Girl”. He is interested in discovering cultures across the world and captures portraits of people he encounters while travelling. The most prominent element in his portrait style is bright, vivid colours and a focus on the subject’s eyes. McCurry manages to beautifully capture conflicts and ancient cultures by becoming intertwined with them.
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer and a master of his craft. He was renowned for his ability to capture raw emotion, evoking life into his subjects while retaining formality. Avedon’s work helped redefine photography as an expressive art form. He was fascinated by photography’s capacity for suggesting the personality and evoking the life of his subjects, registering poses, attitudes, and clothing as vital, revelatory elements of an image.
Other Influential Portrait Photographers
The history of photography is filled with individuals who have had a huge impact on the world around them. Here are several other notable figures to study:
- Eve Arnold: A pioneer of photojournalism who specialised in capturing natural shots of famous celebrities and is responsible for some of the most memorable photographs of Marilyn Monroe.
- Diane Arbus: Her work often focused on the unique characters amongst our society and has had a lasting legacy on urban street culture.
- David Bailey: An English photographer who gained a reputation for his fashion photography in the “Swinging Sixties” with subjects like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
- Irving Penn: Considered to be a technical master, he would utilise a variety of camera and printing processes to capture iconic fashion photographs.
- Nadav Kander: Renowned for his portraiture, he has photographed prominent figures such as Barack Obama, aiming to demonstrate the humanity within rather than making a simple documentation.
Summary of Iconic Photographic Styles
Based on the provided material, here is a summary of the key contributions of these masters:
- Yousuf Karsh: Use of dramatic lighting for world leaders and celebrities.
- Dorothea Lange: Documentary field investigation of the Great Depression.
- Steve McCurry: Focus on vivid colors and the subject's eyes.
- Richard Avedon: Redefining photography through raw emotion and formal attitudes.
- Henri Cartier-Bresson: Creating the concept of “The decisive moment”.
- W. Eugene Smith: Pioneer of photo essays and documenting social issues.