Long before I started to shoot photo subjects with a true passion, I studied the works of famous photographers, such as Francesco Scavullo. When I was a tween, I used to pour over spreads taken by the famous American fashion photographer in Cosmopolitan. It wasn’t until I graduated from high school that I stumbled upon a copy of the magazine that included the now infamous centerfold shot of a near-nude Burt Reynolds.
Back then I didn’t concentrate on the individual elements that made Scavullo’s pictures stand-out; rather, I simply focused on the overall image. He had a way of drawing viewers in by placing his subjects in provocative poses, and I’m not just referring to Burt Reynolds. Scavullo also shot a controversial spread featuring a young Brooke Shields and the much talked about split photo of Julie Andrews for the Victor/Victoria movie poster.
During college I was further inspired by another famous portrait photographer named Julia Margaret Cameron. The British shutterbug was a pioneer of close cropping and soft focus. In addition, she was a master at capturing her subjects’ personality in a single shot. Some of Cameron’s most historic subjects include Charles Darwin, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, John Everett Millais, William Michael Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, Ellen Terry and George Frederic Watts.
Finally, you can’t write a post about the planet’s most inspiring photographers without mentioning Dorothea Lange. Known as the first female commercial portrait photographer, Lange made a name for herself during the Great Depression when she photographed the breadlines, waterfront strikes, and haunting images of impoverished migrant farm families. In addition, Lange’s work documenting people housed in Japanese-American relocation camps during World War II is also considered some of the best of the best and is immortalized in museums around the world.
What famous photographer has influenced your shots?
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