When a photographer creates a picture that matches the creative vision of the artist, successfully tells the story the artist needed told, the photograph is considered fine art. However, there is not one standard and universally accepted definition of fine art; what achieves satisfaction for an artistic photographer can be as diverse as tastes in art by people in all cultures. Fine art photographs are often one of a kind, from an era long past, and taken by photographers made famous previously in the world of photography. As the years progressed, photos considered fine art have evolved as the photographers and technology changed the way pictures are taken. So too has society’s perception changed regarding what is considered fine art. Thus photography that is fine art is now decided upon by each individual and what that person considers to be beautiful. It is the photographer and the beholder of the picture that decide if the photo is treasure or trash. Here is a collection of fine art photography: the work of 24 famous photographers.
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams was a master of fine art photography. He would pour 18 hours a day into his labor of love, his art. Neither he, nor his camera, knew the meaning of a day “off.” He loved his work though, and it shows. His photographs are legends and some of his classics include
Mt. McKinley, Wonder Lake (top left),
Half Dome,
Merced River,
Winter (top right),
Rose and Driftwood (middle left),
Jeffery Pine Sentinel Dome (bottom left) and
Moon and Half Dome (bottom right.) He was a huge activist for the environment and the wilderness.
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was another epic fine art photographer. As often as not, however, his photos stirred controversy and would be banned from an art gallery. Mapplethorpe sometimes used a Polaroid and stated, “it was more honest.” A true artist, he snubbed his nose at social acceptance and conventional projects in favor of nudes, provocative S&M photographic documentation, or whatever caught his fancy. He caused ripples in the artistic community and was a powerful force in shaping fine art. The upper right photo is his self portrait.
Andrew Prokos Architecture and Landmarks
As in all arts, fine art photography can be broken down into specific genres as well as photos that blur the lines and mix categories. Andrew Prokos is one such photographer. Although he has captured many black and white traditional fine art photos, his skillful shots include architectural and landmark collections such as:
Interior of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City (top left),
Spires of Gaudi’s Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (top right),
Rockefeller Center Atlas and St. Patrick’s Cathedral at Night (bottom left), and
Grand Central Station Mercury Clock at Dusk (bottom right).
Andrew Prokos Landscapes Cityscapes, Skyline
Prokos also specializes in skylines, cityscapes, and landscapes. He is based in New York City and the top picture is a panorama of Midtown Manhattan at dusk as seen from Queens. Also in NYC, he captured willows trees reflecting on the Loch in Central Park. In DC one fine Spring day, he snapped a panoramic view of the Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin which is beautifully framed by cherry tree blossoms. From the sea and facing toward Greece, he captured the colorful cliffs of Santorini. In another panoramic landscape (bottom left) is the Japanese bridge in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Back in NYC, he photographed a view of Hearst Tower at dusk (bottom right), showing his great range and artistic eye.
Architecture
Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder when it comes to fine art design and photography of architecture. Blaine Ellis visited Caravansarie in Central Turkey and visually captured
Where Light Dwells (upper left). D’Arcy Leck concentrates on architectural, resort and travel photography such as of the Carlson Companies Headquarters building (upper right). Michael Rauner snaps shots that blend architecture and landscape like
Salvation Mountain (bottom left) during his visionary state:
A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape. Rauner also captured a what he calls a
Meditation hut in Druids Heights during his same visionary journey (bottom right).
James Nachtwey Fine Art of War
James Nachtwey may possibly be the best war photographer to date. His work is definitely fine art as each picture successfully tells a poignant story worth much more than a thousand words. Nachtwey specializes in documenting war-torn countries. He once stated, “I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.” He has jeopardized his life so many times to let the world “see” what is happening that his guardian angel has surely suffered many bruises and busted bones.
Carlos Tarrats Still Life
Carlos Tarrats is a still life fine art photographer. His images are not digital manipulations but are constructed on a set and then printed digitally onto Kodak photographic paper. Much of his focus is on the versatility of plant life and serves as his main subject. When he holds his camera, he is considering life, death, hope and conflict. The protagonist is his photos, plants, may end up visually distorted, however he is shooting to give his viewer’s imagination a big dose of hope. “Hope is the possibility for something else, not necessarily something better and yet not necessarily something worse. Whether one is better than the other depends on one’s perception. It’s the uncertainty of the situation that gives the image tension and creates conflict.”
Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark is an influential fine art photographer with a high degree of humanism. Through her travels and her pictures, she documents diverse cultures throughout our world. Her photo-essays include such work as bringing an Indian Circus and the lives of men, women, and children who work and live there into households and galleries for all to see. She captured one of her mentors and respected colleagues, Ansel Adams, in the upper left photo.
Grace Weston Constructed Fine Art Photographer
From the serious to the loopy, Grace Weston focuses on constructed fine art photographs. Her creativity might make you smile or make you scratch your head and think, hmm. Through her fictions, she stabs at the truth. Weston states, ‘Child-like fantasy scenes are punctuated with anxieties common to adulthood: choices must be made, demons haunt us, beauty conceals danger, the end of the world is near, and perhaps God does not have our best interests in mind. Picasso said, “Art is a lie that tells the truth”. I make up visual stories that address the dilemmas, illusions and fears that at once seem so personal, yet are also universal.’ In the upper left she presents
Couples Therapy, while
Winter Thaw is in the upper right.
Heaven Help Us is at the bottom left and
Winter Wish Winter Dream is at the bottom right.
Walter Astrada
Walter Astrada does not tackle unimportant issues or frivolous acts with his artistic abilities. From one of his fine art photojournalist collections, he offers images daring the world to try and turn their eyes away as if these problem do not exist. The photographs above are from
Femicide in Guatemala. Fine art? Indeed it is. His in-depth images and photo documentaries capture basic human rights, injustice, and social issues.
Werner Bischof
Werner Bischof was originally from Switzerland before he began moving and then traveling as if from a young age he was destined to become a fine art photographer. For a period of his life, he worked for exclusively for a magazine. In fact, he photographed the Olympics, the devastation of the Second World War, and received other international recognition. However he left the ‘superficiality and sensationalism’ of the magazine business behind him and moved forward in search of tranquility in traditional culture. He was a founder of Magnum Photos and died tragically when his car fell off a cliff in the Andes. Above are some of his works, such as Buddha in Japan, children playing ring-around-the-rosie, and a view from Westminster Abbey at The Thames river (bottom right). Bischof is quoted saying,”I felt compelled to venture forth and explore the true face of the world. Leading a satisfying life of plenty had blinded many of us to the immense hardships beyond our borders.”
Nudes and Still Life
Many and varied photographers devote their entire lives to nude or still life fine art photographs. Walter Chappell presented
Mother and Child (upper left) and stated, “Camera vision operates as an intelligent function between the human eyes and the totality of understanding in a moment of active awareness.” Ruth Bernhard studied nudes for 40 years like her image
External Body (upper right). She said, “For me, the creation of a photograph is experienced as a heightened emotional response, most akin to poetry and music, each image the culmination of a compelling impulse I cannot deny.” Imogene Cunningham often used her children as her models like
Twins on the Grass (middle left). Cindy Sherman captured many images, but her untitled series (bottom left) featuring mannequins in flagrante delicto were in protest against people who protested her friend and fellow nude fine art photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. In the bottom middle photo, Pamela Creevey presented
Reclining Nude. Linda Elvira Piedra managed to mix the fine art genres of nudes, figurative and still life like in the bottom right picture.
Other Fine Art Photography Types / Photographers
Laurie Tümer takes fine art photographs as a narrative like
Glowing Evidence: Jack-o’-Lantern (upper left). Thomas Michael Alleman works with urban landscapes such as the angel in downtown LA (upper right). Jarrett Murphy captured this tree (middle left) in Highland Park, yet his fine art photographs are classified as “other genres.” However, James Stillings is fascinated with the Hoover Dam Bypass Project (middle right) and intends to follow the progress with a photo-documentary. “When completed, the 1900 foot bridge will be the longest concrete arch span in the U.S. and 5th longest in the world. Watching the bridge’s construction at night is both magical and inspiring.” The pictures on bottom were taken by Richard Avedon who started as a fashion photographer and moved into fine arts and images of performers.
Narrative and PhotoMontage
Keith Carter enjoys working with images and his imagination such as with
Giant (upper left). He weaves tales of mysterious wonders with photographic narratives. Carter doesn’t seek reality but tries a poetic spin with his pictures. Instead cold hard facts presented through his artistic eye and talent, he hunts “around the edges for those little askew moments – kind of like what makes up our lives – those slightly awkward, lovely moments.” Tom Chambers brings the world photomontages. Chamber said, “I build my images, starting with an idea and converting it to a sketch that I follow to create the final image.” Pictured in the upper right is
Aground. On the bottom left is
Pueblo Fire and on the bottom right is
Horse Talk.