Documentary photography Black & white photo
Robert Adams is an acclaimed American photographer known for his profound exploration of the American West's changing landscapes. His work, which gained prominence in the mid-1970s, delves into the tension between the natural beauty of the land and the marks of human encroachment. Adams's photography is a reflection on humanity's relationship with the environment, offering both a critique and a celebration of the landscape.
Robert Adams's notable series, such as "Turning Back" and "The New West," showcase his unique perspective on environmental and urban development issues. His work extends beyond just capturing images; it is a thoughtful commentary on the balance between nature and industrialization. His photographs, often devoid of people, focus on the land itself, telling a story of alteration and resilience.
Exhibitions of Adams's work, such as "American Silence: The Photographs of Robert Adams" at the National Gallery of Art, provide insight into his 50-year career and his ability to capture the silent yet profound narratives of the American landscape. His pieces are part of major collections and have been featured in numerous retrospectives, underlining his influence and significance in the world of photography.
For art collectors and enthusiasts, Robert Adams's work offers a poignant perspective on the American West, blending aesthetic beauty with critical environmental commentary. Engaging with his work invites reflection on our interaction with the landscape and our role in shaping the environment.
If you're interested in staying updated on Robert Adams's work and exhibitions, consider subscribing to newsletters from galleries and museums that feature his art. This way, you'll be informed about new displays of his work and opportunities to engage with his insightful perspectives on the American West.
Ike Altgens, born James William Altgens, was an American photojournalist, photo editor and reporter for the Associated Press (AP).
After graduating from North Dallas High School, James joined the Associated Press, first as a reporter and in 1940 he was assigned to the photojournalism staff. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II and returned to the Associated Press in 1945 as a photographer, working as an editor and part-time actor and model.
On November 22, 1963, Altgens was assigned to photograph President John F. Kennedy during his visit to Dallas. And as fate would have it, he was able to take historic photos of the Kennedy assassination, which appeared in newspapers around the world the next day.
Altgens left the Associated Press in 1979, then worked on advertising for Ford Motor Company. On December 12, 1995, James Altgens and his wife were found dead in different rooms of their home in Dallas. According to the investigation, the cause of their deaths was carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty furnace.
Margaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and photojournalist. She studied photography at the Clarence H. White School of Photography. White, where she developed her trademark style using dramatic angles and strong contrasts of light and shadow.
Burke-White was one of the first women photographers to work for Life magazine, and her images became synonymous with the magazine's coverage of major world events such as World War II and the Korean War. She was also the first woman photographer to work in war zones during World War II, where she captured powerful images of warfare and its impact on civilians.
In addition to war photography, Bourke-White also documented the Great Depression in the United States and was one of the few photographers to gain access to the Soviet Union in the 1930s where she documented Soviet industrialization and the lives of ordinary people.
Bourke-White's work was known for its powerful impact and stark realism. She often risked her safety to get the perfect shot and her images continue to inspire photographers today. She published several books of her work, including 'Eyes on Russia' and 'Dear Fatherland, Rest in Peace'.
Bourke-White left behind a legacy as one of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century.
Cornell Capa is an American photographer, photojournalist and founder of the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, the younger brother of the famous war correspondent Robert Capa.
Cornell Capa was known for his humanistic approach to photography, often capturing the lives and struggles of ordinary people. Throughout his career, he covered many important events, including the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War. Capa also photographed many famous people including John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Pablo Picasso.
In 1974, Cornell Capa founded ICP, which has since become one of the world's leading photography education and exhibition institutions. The ICP's mission is to promote the understanding and appreciation of photography as an art form as well as a means of communication and social change.
Throughout his career Capa has received numerous awards and honours, including the National Medal of Arts in 1988. His photographs continue to be exhibited in galleries and museums around the world and his legacy lives on through ICP.
Robert Capa is a Hungarian-American photographer and photojournalist. He is considered one of the greatest war photographers of all time, known for his dramatic images of combat and conflict. Cornell Capa's older brother and a classic of documentary photography.
Capa began his career as a photographer in the early 1930s and soon became known for his coverage of the Spanish Civil War. He went on to cover many major conflicts, including World War II, the First Indochinese War and the Arab-Israeli War.
One of Robert Capa's most famous photographs is Falling Soldier, taken during the Spanish Civil War. The photo depicts a Republican soldier as he is shot and falls to his death. The authenticity of the photograph has been the subject of controversy for many years, but it remains an iconic image of war photography.
Capa also co-founded Magnum Photos, which was established in 1947 as a cooperative for independent photographers. Since then Magnum Photos has become one of the most prestigious and influential photo agencies in the world.
Capa died in 1954 while covering the First Indochina War, stepping on a mine. His legacy as a war photographer and photojournalist continues to inspire generations of photographers and his work remains an important part of photographic history.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist renowned for his groundbreaking work in photography, particularly in the realms of photojournalism and street photography. Born on August 22, 1908, in Chanteloup, France, Cartier-Bresson's early artistic endeavors were in painting, which he began studying at the age of five. His transition to photography was marked by his adoption of a 35mm Leica camera in 1931, a tool that became synonymous with his work.
Henri Cartier-Bresson's photography is celebrated for its unique blend of spontaneity and composition, capturing moments that reveal deeper truths about their subjects. His theory of "the decisive moment" – that is, capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, yet significant – has had a profound influence on the field of photography. His work has been exhibited in prestigious venues such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and is held in high esteem in art collections worldwide.
In addition to his personal achievements, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a co-founder of Magnum Photos in 1947, a cooperative agency for worldwide photographers that significantly influenced photojournalism. Later in his career, Cartier-Bresson returned to painting and drawing, demonstrating his lifelong commitment to the arts.
For art collectors and experts, Henri Cartier-Bresson's work offers a pivotal exploration of 20th-century photography, blending artistic vision with the unguarded moments of life. His influence extends beyond his images, shaping the way we perceive and engage with visual narratives.
To explore more about Henri Cartier-Bresson's influential career and works, and to stay updated on exhibitions or sales featuring his photography, you might consider subscribing to updates from art institutions or galleries that frequently showcase his work.
Bruce Landon Davidson is an American photographer. He has been a member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1958. His photographs, notably those taken in Harlem, New York City, have been widely exhibited and published. He is known for photographing communities usually hostile to outsiders.
Alfred Ehrhardt was a universally talented German artist. He was an organist and choirmaster, then a music and art teacher in a remedial school, and finally an art teacher and painter, before becoming a photographer and director.
After spending the winter semester 1928-29 at the Bauhaus Dessau, where he was decisively influenced by Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer, he transferred the Bauhaus pre-course concept to his art lessons with children and young people, beginning in first grade and continuing through Abitur. Based on this experimental experience, in 1930 he was appointed to the Landeskunstschule Hamburg, where he created the first preliminary course in materials science outside the Bauhaus. After being dismissed by the National Socialists from the university in 1933 because of his modernist views of art, he turned to photography and film.
Alfred Ehrhardt is considered an outstanding representative of the new objective photography. After publishing more than 20 photobooks, he became one of the most successful photographers among the former Bauhaus artists. His "absolutely artistic films", which defy modernity and are inspired by the avant-garde of the 1920s, place him among the old masters of cultural and documentary cinema. Alfred Erhardt is considered "Germany's most important post-war creator of cultural films" and has received numerous national and international awards for his more than 50 films, including four Federal Film Prizes.
Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He is best known for his work as a staff photographer for Life magazine, where he captured iconic images of celebrities, politicians, and everyday people.
Eisenstaedt began his career as a photographer in Germany, working for the Pacific and Atlantic Photos agency in Berlin in the 1920s. He emigrated to the United States in 1935 and joined the staff of Life magazine in 1936, where he remained until the magazine ceased publication in 1972.
Eisenstaedt's images are notable for their candid, spontaneous feel and their ability to capture the essence of his subjects. He is perhaps best known for his photograph "V-J Day in Times Square," which depicts a sailor kissing a nurse in celebration of the end of World War II. The image has become one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century.
Throughout his career, Eisenstaedt photographed many of the most famous and influential people of his time, including Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and John F. Kennedy. His work has been exhibited in major museums around the world, and he received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the field of photography.
Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8×10-inch (200×250 mm) view camera. He said that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are "literate, authoritative, transcendent".
Many of his works are in the permanent collections of museums and have been the subject of retrospectives at such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the George Eastman Museum.
Arthur (Usher) Fellig, known by his pseudonym Weegee, was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City.
Weegee worked in Manhattan's Lower East Side as a press photographer during the 1930s and 1940s and developed his signature style by following the city's emergency services and documenting their activity. Much of his work depicted unflinchingly realistic scenes of urban life, crime, injury and death. Weegee published photographic books and also worked in cinema, initially making his own short films and later collaborating with film directors such as Jack Donohue and Stanley Kubrick.
Lewis W. Hine was not an artist in the traditional sense, but rather a photographer and social documentary photographer who used his camera as a tool for social change. He is best known for his work in the early 20th century, documenting the living and working conditions of children in the United States.
Hine's photographs were instrumental in bringing about changes in child labor laws in the United States, and his images were used as evidence in court cases and Congressional hearings. He believed that photography could be a powerful tool for social reform, and he used his camera to highlight the injustices and hardships faced by working-class Americans.
In addition to his work as a photographer, Hine was also a teacher and an advocate for the arts. He taught at the Ethical Culture School in New York City, where he encouraged his students to use photography as a means of social commentary.
Hine's legacy as a photographer and social activist continues to inspire generations of artists and advocates for social justice. His photographs are considered a valuable historical record of life in the early 20th century, and his commitment to using art as a means of social change remains a powerful example of the role that artists can play in shaping society.
Walde Huth, née Waldberta Huth, is a German photographer known for her street photos and portraits of famous people and fashion models.
She graduated from the State School of Applied Arts in Weimar, and after World War II she became a freelance photographer doing portrait and art photography. Walde Huth is primarily known for her fashion shots of the '50s, she also took unique stills and advertising photos, and created portraits of famous contemporaries. Her iconic fashion shots were taken in Paris. She shot the most famous models of her time not in the studio, but on location in the city, in front of the Eiffel Tower, along the Seine River, in contrast to the architecture and street life.
Walde Huth was an exceptional woman, a creative artist and a versatile photographer.
Robert Hill Jackson or Bob Jackson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American photographer.
Robert attended Southern Methodist University while pursuing a passion for photography. While serving in the National Guard, Jackson became a photographer for an Army general. In 1960, he began working as a photo reporter for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper.
On November 22, 1963, Jackson was assigned to cover President John F. Kennedy's arrival at Love Field and his motorcade through the city. He witnessed Kennedy's assassination, but did not have time to film it. Two days later, however, he was able to photograph the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Lee Harvey Oswald, by Jack Ruby in the garage of the Dallas police station. Robert Jackson was awarded the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in Photography for these photographs.
Klaus Kinold is a German architectural photographer.
Klaus Kinold studied architecture at the Technical University of Karlsruhe with Egon Eiermann, and then decided not to build but to show architecture. He opened an architectural photography studio in Munich and studied panoramic photography. For more than 25 years, Kinold was editor and illustrator of the Swiss professional publication KS Neues, which featured silicate brick buildings, and lectured on photography at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.
In 1983, Klaus Kinold had his first solo exhibition at the Rudolf Kieken Gallery in Cologne, followed by many other prestigious shows. From 2019 to August 2020, the DKM Museum in Duisburg designed the exhibition "Architecture through the eyes of a photographer", featuring the work of architects Carlo Scarpa, Rudolf Schwarz and Hans Döllgast.
Kinold documented almost all of the famous architects' projects. It was important to the photographer that his preferably black and white photographs were clear, objective, rational and factual in their presentation.
Helga Kneidl, née Claus, is a German photographer.
Helga worked as a dancer in her youth and married stage designer Karl Kneidl in 1961. She then learned theater photography in Zurich and worked in theaters as a staff photographer. Helga Kneidl gradually gained a reputation for taking portraits of many famous people, and her work was published in newspapers and magazines.
In May 1973, Helga Kneidl spent three full days with actress Romy Schneider in Paris, taking a series of photographic portraits of her.
Since 1997, Helga Kneidl lives in Berlin and works mainly in portrait photography.
Helen Levitt was an American photographer known for her street photography of New York City. Levitt began taking photographs as a teenager and went on to work for the photo agency, the Photo League, in the 1930s and 1940s.
Levitt's work focused on capturing the daily lives of ordinary people, particularly children, in the neighborhoods of New York City. She used a small 35mm camera to take candid shots of children playing in the streets, creating images that were both playful and poignant. Her work was often compared to the work of fellow street photographers, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans.
In addition to her photography, Levitt also worked as a filmmaker and created several acclaimed documentaries.
Levitt's photographs have been exhibited in major museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She was awarded numerous honors for her work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant.
Stefan Moses was a German photographer living in Munich.
His documentary portraits of people and professions in West Germany (Germans) and later in East Germany (Farewell and Beginnings) made him accessible to a large audience. Moses took people out of their working environment and photographed them in front of a grey linen cloth — thus creating contemporary documents.
Edward Quinn is an Irish photographer famous for his portraits of celebrities and artists.
Edward Quinn began his career as a photojournalist, covering events such as the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. In the 1950s he moved to the French Riviera and began photographing the rich and famous — Pablo Picasso, Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali, Graham Sutherland, David Hockney.
Quinn's photographs are noted for their naturalness and spontaneity. He had a talent for capturing his subjects in inconspicuous moments and revealing their true essence. His portraits often show his subjects relaxed and at ease, as if they were unaware of the camera's presence.
In addition to photography, Quinn was also a writer and filmmaker. He wrote several books about the French Riviera and made a documentary about Pablo Picasso.
JR (French: Jean René) is the pseudonym of a French photographer and artist who does not give his full name. He lives and works in Paris and New York.
He describes himself as a "photograffeur" (photographer and graffiti artist in one word) and claims that the street is "the biggest gallery in the world". His work is flyposting large black and white images in public spaces. JR works at the intersection of photography, street art, filmmaking and social activism. Over the past two decades he has developed many public projects in cities around the world, from buildings in the slums of Paris to walls in the Middle East and Africa or favelas in Brazil.
JR places large-scale photographic images in public spaces. He started creating graffiti as a teenager on the streets and rooftops of Paris and on the subway. In 2007, he gained worldwide attention by placing huge photographs of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities on both sides of the separation barrier. In his works, the photographer always addresses current political and social issues in the world. For example, in 2019, JR worked with a group of inmates of a maximum security prison in California and created a large format piece with portraits of the inmates.
JR has traveled to many cities with his work, participating in exhibitions, he has collaborated with magazines and created films about his work. JR has also directed three feature-length documentaries, one of which, Women Are Heroes (2011) was nominated for an Oscar. At the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, he won the Golden Eye for Best Documentary.
Rainer W. Schlegelmilch is a German motorsport photographer and photojournalist.
He studied at the Bavarian State College of Photography in Munich and already presented his work from motor racing at his graduation in 1962. Since then, this sport has been the main subject of Schlegelmilch's work. In 1964 he opened his own studio in Frankfurt for photo design and advertising photography.
The series of photographs of Formula One and FIA championships, which Schlegelmilch began in 1962, represent one of the most extensive collections of photographic material in the history of motor racing. His archive contains more than 600,000 images, which were black and white until 1970 and then color.
Schlegelmilch has published some 40 illustrated books on motorsport and calendars from various racing series, and has participated in exhibitions around the world. For his unique skill he is called "the eye of Formula 1", and Bernie Ecclestone many years ago gave him a press pass valid until the end of his life. Brands such as Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and Aston Martin have used his work for luxury publications.
Dayanita Singh is an Indian photographer whose primary format is the book. She has published fourteen books.
Singh's art reflects and expands on the ways in which people relate to photographic images. Her later works, drawn from her extensive photographic oeuvre, are a series of mobile museums allowing her images to be endlessly edited, sequenced, archived and displayed. Stemming from her interest in the archive, the museums present her photographs as interconnected bodies of work that are full of both poetic and narrative possibilities.
Alec Soth is an American photographer. He is known for his large-format color photographs that often explore the themes of American life, culture, and landscape.
Soth began his career as a newspaper photographer before transitioning to fine art photography. He gained recognition for his project "Sleeping by the Mississippi," which features photographs of people and places along the Mississippi River.
Throughout his career, Soth has continued to produce photographic projects that explore various aspects of American life, from small towns to suburban communities. He has also published several books of his work, including "Songbook," "Broken Manual," and "I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating."
Soth's work has been exhibited widely and is included in the collections of many major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has also received numerous awards and honors for his photography, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Philip "Snapdragon" Stern was an American photographer noted for his iconic portraits of Hollywood stars, as well as his war photography while serving as a U.S. Army Ranger with "Darby's Rangers" during the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II.
Bert Stern, real name Bertram Stern, is an American fashion photographer and documentary filmmaker.
His career began with the iconic and legendary Smirnoff Vodka advertising campaign in 1955. Using a well-equipped studio, Stern experimented with many of the latest techniques, including videotaping, screen printing, photo offset combinations and computer prints. His brilliant work made him a star in the advertising world, photographing advertising campaigns for Canon, Dupont, Pepsi-Cola, US Steel and Volkswagen brands. One of the high points of Bert Stern's career was working for Vogue in the 1960s.
Despite his drug addiction, the fashion photographer was sought after by Madison Avenue, Hollywood and the international fashion scene for decades.
Stern was one of the last photographers to shoot Marilyn Monroe in June and July 1962, six months before her death. Some of these photographs were published in Vogue magazine. In 1982, Bert Stern published The Last Sitting, a book that includes many of his more than 2,500 images, including those that Monroe did not like and were crossed out.
Stern directed and cinematographed the films Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), A Date with an Angel (1987), and The Unknown Marilyn (2012).
Dennis Stock was an American photographer known for his iconic images of celebrities and musicians, as well as his extensive coverage of social issues and cultural events.
Stock began his career as a freelance photographer in the 1950s and was soon hired by the Magnum Photos agency, where he worked alongside other influential photographers such as Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson. He quickly became known for his photographs of jazz musicians, including Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
In 1955, Stock received an assignment from LIFE magazine to photograph a young actor named James Dean. The resulting images, including a now-famous photograph of Dean walking through Times Square in the rain, became some of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century.
Stock continued to photograph celebrities and cultural figures throughout his career, including Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando, and Andy Warhol. He also covered major events such as the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the Woodstock music festival.
Stock's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world and has been the subject of several books and documentaries. He was known for his ability to capture intimate moments and his talent for revealing the personalities and emotions of his subjects through his photographs.
Sabine Weiss is a Swiss artist and photographer who became known for her street photography and portraits. In 1942 she moved to Zurich to study photography with Hans Finsler, where she met her future husband, the American artist Hugh Weiss.
After the Second World War, Weiss moved to Paris and began working as a freelance photographer. She became associated with the humanist photography movement, which sought to capture the daily lives of people in cities. Weiss' photographs often focused on working class neighbourhoods, street scenes and children's lives. Her photographs were known for their sensitivity and empathy as well as her strong sense of composition and use of light.
Weiss's work was exhibited widely throughout her life and she received numerous awards and prizes, including the Niepce Prize in 1955 and the Grand Prix National Photography Award in 1995. Her photographs have been collected by major museums and institutions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.
