Dream Team

If you were going to pick five photographers you think everyone interested in photography should be familiar with, who would they be?

I thought of this question the other night because the DJ on the jazz station on XM Radio asked his listeners who their Dream Team of jazz players might be. You could pick any players from any era and put them together. And I made myself laugh by immediately saying "Hank Jones, Ron Carter and Tony Williams."

You have to know jazz to know why that's funny.

My five would be Dorothea Lange, André Kertész, Josef Koudelka, Helen Levitt, and Elliott Erwitt. I guess that reflects my taste in photographs.

There's a book idea for me, though—I should pick "100 Photographers You Should Know" and write mini-essays about each of them.

One of the few photography jokes I've ever come up with—"I have no idea what Cindy Sherman looks like." I can't take too much credit. It just came out of my mouth.

So if you were going to pick five photographers you think everyone interested in photography should be familiar with, who would they be?

Mike

P.S. later in the day: Of course my list above leaves out Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dave Heath, Roy DeCarava, Jane Bown, and Lee Friedlander. (I think I'm just listing my heroes here....)

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

hugh crawford: "My funny Cindy Sherman story is that she used to live upstairs from my friend Jamie Livingston’s loft on Fulton street. I used to run into her in the elevator from time to time and I always thought she looked really familiar but I couldn’t figure out why."

Paul Richardson: "Here goes: Kertész, Robert Frank, Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter, and—don’t laugh—Edward Hopper. I’m dead serious about Hopper. I’ve learned more about photography by looking at his evocative paintings than I have from studying the work of a hundred middling photographers. I truly think he was a photographer at heart."

Geoff Wittig: "I find it very difficult to recommend five photographers that 'everyone interested in photography should be familiar with.' The world of photography is just too broad and varied to boil it down like that. But I can name five photographers for particular subject areas. Christopher Burkett, Charles Cramer, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Elizabeth Carmel and Marc Adamus would be the five living artists I would cite providing a nice survey of what's possible in expressive color landscape photography. Black and white? David Plowden, Clyde Butcher, Don Kirby, Alan Ross and John Sexton."

Chester Williams: "Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Galen Rowell, and Sam Abell. Growing up on a tiny island, the only photography books available to me were outdated ones in our public library featuring the first three photographers. Sam Abell, who told stories in his images, which I studied in my Dad's National Geographic magazines. I was lucky to have met Galen Rowell much later on while living in California and became an immediate fan of his lifestyle and work."

Gil Maker: "Here are my five: Michael Kenna, Shoji Ueda, Masahisa Fukase, Jungjin Lee, and Wei Bi. As you can see I am really into the Asian photographers."

Steve: "August Sander, Dorothea Lange, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, William Eggleston. Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Bill Evans, Dave Holland, Elvin Jones."

Paul Parkinson: "My top five would be: Platon, Bailey/Duffy/Donovan (picking one of these is too hard), McCullin, Nick Knight, Mike King."

Stan B.: "OK, I'll bite—but I'll try and stray a tad from the oft repeated and anointed: Les Krims, Boris Mikhailov, John Davies, Seydou Keita, and Andrew Boroweic."

Marc Lankhorst: "This is so difficult...H.C.-B., Ansel Adams, the Bechers (they count as one, right?), James Nachtwey, and Martin Parr, because they all represent an entirely different approach to photography, an ethos even. But can I have another list of five? And another? And another?"

RKWallen: "My Dream team: Jacques-Henri Lartigue—seeing with a camera and having fun. Alfred Steiglitz—photography as art. Henri Cartier-Bresson—time flows but can be stopped. Ansel Adams—technical mastery as art. Fred Herzog—the sense of place."

Sharon: "Edward Weston is top on my list. He had a confidence in his work—an assurance that I admire. I have read his Daybooks many times. Gordon Parks. Margaret Bourke-White. Dorothea Lange. Minor White. I think I could name a lot more. 😃 "

John: "There are four that I think of immediately. Jeanloup Sieff—I like his 'vertical landscapes' and the way he used a 21mm lens. I've also seen a lot of his images online that were obviously scanned from prints. You can see the dodging and burning artifacts and that reminds me of how hard it was for me to find a (darkroom) printer I liked. Saul Leiter—because of the range of his work. Paolo Roversi—I love his long exposures that are not sharp at all. I think there's a lesson there that sharpness is overrated. Daido Moriyama—because I identify with the concept of being like a stray dog while doing street photography."

David Comdico: "It's impossible to only pick five so I'll start from the premise that most people know the famous heavy hitters. 1. Jason Eskenazi, Koudelka version 2.2. 2. Trish Murtha—her daughter is keeping her legacy alive. 3. Paul Graham, critical darling. Decide for yourself. 4. Mark Steinmetz, quietude that grows heavier the more you look. 5. Jeff Mermelstein. traditional street photographer who runs one of the most innovative Instagram accounts."

Ronnie A Nilsen: "Guy Tal, Bruce Barnbaum, Morten Krogvold, John Sexton, Joe Cornish."

David Lee: "I can’t believe only Carlos and me choose Ralph Gibson."

Mike replies: I can't believe no one has said Carleton Watkins.

Russell Young: "This was an essay question I used in exams in my photohistory course—I have thought about it for nearly 40 years now, so the answer comes easily. Carl Christian Heinrich Kühn, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Josef Sudek, Léon-Robert Demachy, Éduard Jean Steichen. Oh, to have been able to meet any of them...."

Peter Conway: "Quite a few mentions of Edward Weston, and certainly well deserved, but I didn’t see any for Brett Weston, his son. The breadth and depth of Brett’s vision from the age of 12 until his eighties is simply remarkable. Most people probably assume that the father was the one influencing his son, and that undoubtedly occurred. But a point was reached fairly early on where the son was at least as much of an influence on his father. Edward might make my top five—Brett absolutely."

David Boyce: "Hiroshi Sugimoto, just because. Laurence Aberhart (a New Zealand photographer who should be world famous). Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. Alhazen [Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham —Ed.], the Arab scientist who in the 11th Century developed the principles which underpin photography as we know it."

Mark W: "Rennie Ellis, David Moore, Roger Scott, Harold Cazneaux, Frank Hurley."

Mike replies: Go Aussies!

s.wolters: "Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, Dorothea Lange, Dana Lixenberg, Rinko Kawauchi."

Mike replies: Go females!

Comments

[Andrew Lamb]

Kertesz, Lartigue, Leiter, Strand, Doisneau.

Not sure if I've just picked my favourite photographers.

[marcin wuu]

So easy

Yousuf Karsh
Philippe Halsman
George Hurrell
William Mortensen
(collectively) Studio Harcourt

[Ed Wolpov]

How about: Michael Kenna, Minor White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sally Mann, and Josef Sudek.

[Niels]

Lee Friedlander
Richard Avedon
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Christer Strömholm
Jacob Riis

[Dogman]

Just five? Okay.

Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Andre Kertesz, Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston.

Check back next week. The list will probably have changed several times.

[Eric Rose]

Well I guess I don't know enough about jazz to know the inside joke. Even with the link you provided.

My fab four would be Edward Weston, Bill Owens, Robert Frank and Richard Avedon.

[hugh crawford]

I didn’t have time to make this shorter

Harry Callahan
William Klein
Lee Miller
William Eggleston
Diane Arbus
Lee Friedlander
Richard Avedon
Ruth Orkin
Alec Soth
Garry Winogrand

BTW try typing those names on an iPhone

[Rob L.]

Levitt, Capa, Arbus, HCB, and themselves, regardless of whether or not they consider themselves a photographer or not.

[Lance Saint Paul]

Atget(!), Edward Weston, Andre Kertesz, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gary Winogrand, and Harry Callahan. I know that's 6, but I can't do it with 5, and really it should be one dozen (I'd probably make it a baker's dozen at that). I must be a rebel - but really there's too many to include.
Walker Evans, Helen Levitt, Imogen Cunningham, Jane Bown, Diane Arbus, Berenice Abbott, Laura Gilpin, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Roy DeCarava, Saul Leiter.
This is one area of human endeavor where I have too much love.
I've still left off many more whose work should be known. Mea Culpa.

[James Bullard]

Photography covers a broad range and, as you note, the choices will inevitably reflect individual taste. When I was a young photographer in the late 50s/early 60s Alfred Eisenstaedt would have headed my list along with Andre Kertesz and Eugene Atget. Ansel Adams would have made the list somewhat later in my life but all would now be supplanted by others and I'd be hard put to name only 5. Until I read about Koudelka in one of your posts here, I'd never heard of him and Elliot Erwitt doesn't move me at all. It's all about taste.

[Nicholas Hartmann]

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Ansel Adams, Josef Koudelka, and Jay Maisel. (I can elaborate if you like, but do I need to?)

[Eric Peterson]

Robert Frank, Pennti Sammallahti, Graciela Iturbide, Chris Killip, Helen Levitt. Some of these are hard to spell, could easily have chosen a few alternates just based on ease of spelling

[Kevin Hart]

Gene Smith, Edward Weston, Robert Capa, Dorothea Lange, and Ansel Adams.

[Edward P Richards]

For a little color: Ernst Hass, Jay Maisel, Art Kane

[Mike Plews]

Arnold Newman, Nancy Rexroth, Pete Turner, Wright Morris and Mose Allison*
* yeah, yeah not a photographer but if you don’t know about Mose your life is seriously incomplete.

[Chris Fuller]

This is a hard one. As with you, my selections likely reflect my aesthetic preferences. They are Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, Meyerowitz, Salgado, and (Pete) Turnley.

[David Lee]

Edward Weston, Cartier-Bresson, Irving Penn, Sebastiao Salgado, Ralph Gibson,

[Benjamin Marks]

Interesting question. Here are four ways to answer. You could answer from within your favorite discipline, or comfort zone, and get five greats who all did versions of the same thing or who developed serially:

Brassai, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Saul Leiter, Garry Winnogrand

Or you could cover a broader range of "disciplines" within photography broadly:

Ansel Adams (landscape); Irving Penn (portraiture); Elliot Erwit (humor); Harry Callahan (color); W. Eugene Smith (documentary)

Or you could do "greatest the non-photographically obsessed have never heard of."

Koudelka, Newman, Kertesz, Leiter, Karsh.

Or you could do, "greatest" who really weren't all that great:

Leibovitz, Avadon, Steiglitz, McCurry, Eggleston

(sorry, not trying to be mean . . . just showing my own limitations)

Or the "greatest" that you all (surely) have never heard of:

Marina Berio, Kate Milford, Erik Van Straten, Robert Krasker, Naftali Jamboni Cronkite.

Sorry. Made that last name up. So much ground to cover, so few names with which to do it . . . As usual, the list says more about the list-maker than it does about the "greatness"of the photographer listed.

[Speed]

I should pick "100 Photographers You Should Know" …

It may be the case that I don't even really know 100 people.

[Michael Eckstein]

Richard Avedon, Alfred Eisenstadt, André Kertész, Elliot Erwittt, Edward Weston.

[Gordon Lewis]

I'd play except that there are so many genres of photography that the answers you get will depend too much on who you ask. Could we at least narrow it down to landscape photographers or portrait photographers or fine art photographers? No one cares about street photographers of course, so no need to get that specific. (Sarcasm Alert)

[Gordon, of course, is a street photographer:

https://amzn.to/2YtXzw1

--Mike]

[Malcolm Myers]

My five would be:
1) Jane Bown
2) Lord Snowdon
3) Jeff Ascough
4) Don McCullin
5) Galen Rowell

I'm sure you could easily do 100!

[Edd Fuller]

My perhaps somewhat quirky list:

Andre Kertesz - what was he not capable of?

Walker Evans - because, well, he's Walker Evans and his work started my interest in photography.

Marion Post Wolcott - The most humane of all the FSA photographers, her work just speaks to me.

Saul Leiter - His work in color is unparalleled.

David Plowden - admittedly chosen because of my interest in railroad photography, but his vision of the disappearing American landscape is haunting.

[Mike Rosenlof]

Everybody's Five is naturally going to reflect their personal tastes. Here's mine.

Imogen Cunningham
Dorothea Lange
HCB
Sally Mann
Walker Evans

There are more, or course, but I'm not going to cheat and add them as runners-up!

[Bill Poole]

In no particular order, and certainly an incomplete list, but rules are rules:
Edward Weston
Josef Sudek
Lee Friedlander
Sally Mann
Imogen Cunningham

[tex andrews]

Well, my quick list, partly picked because no one else will, at least for the reasons stated: Julia Margaret Cameron for early (and still haunting) portraiture; Stieglitz or Steichen (I lean towards Steichen), as they are bridges from an older form of photography into a newer one; Brassai, preferred over HCB; Adams for his and Archer's Zone System as much as for his photography; Eliot Porter, for how to do things quietly.

And then there are so many more

[Larry]

These choices obviously reflect my photographic tastes: Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell, Eliot Porter, Tom Mangelson, Bill O'Neil

[Dave Levingston]

I'm going to pick a couple that aren't all that well known despite being very important to the history of photography.

1. Clarence H. White, Sr.
2. Anne Brigman

And some that are well known, but maybe not as well known as I think they should be.

3. Mary Ellen Mark
4. David Douglas Duncan
5. Berenice Abbot

[Richard Howe]

Jack Delano, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Gordon Parks, Marion Post Wolcott (and also, actually, Walker Evans, Karl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, and John Vachon, i.e., the whole team of FSA photographers — hope I haven't left anyone out).

But then I'm more interested in what's in front of the lens than I am in "photography" (which is not to say that I'm not interested in photography … my much depleted bank account being proof enough of that), and for me, anyway, the FSA photographers were the best at subordinating their skills and their art to their subject: America in a time of crisis.

[Craig C. - Minneapolis]

Eugene Smith, Walker Evans, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Josef Koudelka

[Kurt Kramer]

Harry Callahan, Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Frank, Edward Steichen

[richard.l]

André Kertész, 1894 — 1985 (aged 91)
Dorothea Lange, 1895 — 1965 (aged 70)
Helen Levitt,1913 — 2009 (aged 95)
Elliott Erwitt,1928 — present (age 91)
Josef Koudelka, 1938 — present (age 81)

who you know; when you knew them; what you know about them

[Nigel]

Ok, here is my list of the five photographers everybody should know.

André Kertész head and shoulders above the rest as an artistic influence for me, followed up by Cartier Bresson who has had a massive impact on photography. We all wanted to Bresson when we started out taking photography seriously.

I would choose William Klein over Robert frank for the technical quality is subservient to content hole.

For landscape, Michel Kenna for having taken some landscape photographs in a place I photographed often and which left me with the urge to give up on photography after seeing them.

To fill the last hole, well it is a tossup between Jane Bown the portraitist and Faye Godwin who has photographed the British landscape so well. I chose Jane Bown by a short margin, I think.

[Alan Huntley]

My five would be: Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Oliver Gagliani, John Wimberley, and Ray McSavaney. There are several others, but I guess if I had to pick...

[John Krill]

Dorothea Lange, Larry Burrows, Sam Able, William Klein, Vivian Maier

[mike]

Koudelka, Jane Bown, W. Eugene Smith, Saul Leiter, Annie (particularly for her personal work and the stuff at RS).

[Carl Siracusa]

Along with a Dream Team, what about a Nightmare Team, famous photographers whose work we regard as vastly overrated and just not worth all the fuss? My personal nominations are: Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ansel Adams, Steve McCurry, Annie Liebovitz. (BTW, I do also have a Dream Team: Frank, Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Arbus, Koudelka. Really, about the only photographers whose work I never tire of.)

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I dunno; Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and two others? Feels weird skipping Edward Weston. I will argue that, when limited to 5, we're kind of forced out of including anyone recent because it's nearly impossible to be foundational to a genre when you're not in at the founding (there will never be another science fiction writer as important as Robert Heinlein, for example).

[Craig Beyers]

Hmmmm...Ernst Haas, Joe McNally, Dave Black, Neil Leifer, and Jerry Uelsmann. Why? In order, color vision, portraits, sports, sports, photo composites. I'd add Kristi Odom (https://www.kristiodomfineart.com/) for her nature images and Rahshia Sawyer (http://www.rahshia.com/) for her abstracts, bringing me to seven .

[Peter Jehle]

Tom Stoddart, Don McCullin, Sebastiao Salgado, Phillip Jones-Griffiths, Dorothea Lange - and if I was allowed to add a sixth it would be Tom Stoddart (again).

[Rick Graves]

Since my tastes run more towards nature and landscapes than people or street photography, my 5 are (in no particular order):
Galen Rowell
Ansel Adams
Frans Lanting
Guy Tal
Tom Till

[Terry Letton]

The trouble with this is unless you are satisfied with a bunch of old dead white guys, hardly anyone knows younger folks whose work illustrates the current day due to the wacky distribution systems we have backed ourself into. There doesn’t seem to be any system that brings a body of work to public attention anymore. Single images do break thru (dead refugees) but that doesn’t seem to bring recognition to the photographer or the rest of their work. But if I knew the solution I could retire.

[Mark O]

Adams (no surprise but there you are) Walter Iooss, (every body has some kind of connection to sports and Walter's work is unique), Vivian Maier (out does the big names in street photog and is so mysterious to boot) P. Turnley (journalism and art all in one box) NASA (the deep field photos changed how I look at the world)

[JimH]

Last night we saw the trailer for “Jay Myself,” a documentary by Stephen Wilkes. It covers the move out of the “Bank” and all his “stuff.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8890074/
Speaking of what Cindy Sherman really looks like, there is an exhibit of contemporary art from Hammer Museum’s own collection we saw yesterday that has a work by David Robbins called Talent that has a photo of Cindy Sherman that must be from a yearbook. It’s 2nd from right on the top row here:
https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2019/celebration-of-our-enemies-selections-from-the-hammer-contemporary-collection/#gallery_40f5eec96fab49219fc683e56f11027ef1a01e50

[Eolake]

André Kertész.

[Peter Wright]

My list could be: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lewis Hine, Robert Frank, Koudelka, and Jane Bowen. I say "could" because I would probably have a different list tomorrow, and a different one again the day after that. As a corollary, I wonder if anyone has famous names they would NOT put on their dream team? In my case my non-dreamers would include William Eggleston, and possibly Ansel Adams. Nothing personal, I just find they don't move me much these days.

[Eolake]

I also vote for Friedlander, but André Kertész is my main man.

[Gerard Geradts]

Ed van der Elsken
Vincent Mentzel

[GH]

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Jane Bown
Guy Bourdin
Harry Gruyaert
Alec Soth

[Manuel]

Tough one, Mike.
W. Eugene Smith would be first, then surely Henri Cartier-Bresson. From then it gets a bit hazy, especially because I'd rather rate photographs than photographers. Perhaps Mary Ellen Mark, Josef Koudelka and a German photographer who used the alias Chargesheimer. His portrait of Konrad Adenauer is something I behold in awe.

[Ken]

Any mention of a dream team calls to my mind the 1992 men's U.S. Olympic basketball team. I don't think anyone at that time could have made a truly objective list of top U.S. players that did not include Michael Jordan. But a list of "dream team" photographers that everyone should know is subjective and depends on one's interests and tastes, no?

You couldn't pay me enough money to care about the works of, e.g., Cindy Sherman, Lee Friedlander, Andre Kertesz or Josef Koudelka - they leave me unmoved - so I can't imagine telling anyone else to become familiar with their work. For some of your other readers, a photography "dream team" to be familiar with probably begins and ends with some of those names.

On the other hand, I can spend (and have spent) hours *really looking* at great photography by Frans Lanting, Paul Nicklen, Michael "Nick" Nichols, David Doubilet and the late Galen Rowell (though there are others too). As with everything, each to his / her own, I guess.

[Dan Khong]

Henri Cartier Bresson, Sebastiao Salgado, Ansel Adams, W Eugene Smith, Richard Avedon.

[Walter Foreman]

Wynn Bullock, Ansel Adams, Jerry Uelsmann, Fay Godwin, Fan Ho. But wait, there are no color photographers in that list (except for Bullock's "Color Light Abstractions"). Can I add Ernst Haas and Galen Rowell? I think Bullock, Adams, and Uelsmann would always head my list, but for the last two places I also cycled through Josef Sudek, André Kertész, Eugene Smith, Paul Caponigro, and Brett Weston before I gave up on being definitive. Hmm, photographers that "everyone interested in photography should be familiar with" . . . . Only five? And how can Henry Fox Talbot be left out?

[Animesh Ray]

Today, mine probably would be Cartier-Bresson, Michael Ackerman, Josef Koudelka, Sebastião Salgado, and Saul Leiter. But tomorrow it might be a slightly different list, with Larry Towell, Elliott Erwitt, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, or Bruce Davidson somewhere there.

[Daniel Speyer]

Arbus, Cameron, Hockney (David), Sherman, and whomever I saw/see last that excited me.

[c.d.embrey]

Here's a quick five—with a photo from each. Man Ray https://bit.ly/2SPuTbG , Bob Richardson (Terry's father) https://bit.ly/30VPjm2 , Alexander Rodchenko https://bit.ly/2LNKiZ7 , Lee Miller https://bit.ly/2YdrVnf , László Moholy-Nagy https://bit.ly/2Ka99TW , Juergen Teller https://bit.ly/332dAc6 .

Mike also wrote: I have no idea what Cindy Sherman looks like. Here's a Marc Jacobs ad shot by Juergen Teller of he and Cindy Sherman—now you don't know what Teller looks like either 8-) https://bit.ly/2Zfieku

Mike wrote: There's a book idea for me, though—I should pick "100 Photographers You Should Know" and write mini-essays about each of them. Here is Eric Kim's take: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/learn-from-the-masters/ BTW I disagree about many on his list (Gilden and Soth, to name two.

I'm listening to Krystal Klear as I write this. https://soundcloud.com/krystalklear

[Carlos Quijano]

Cartier Bresson
Sebastiao Salgado
Ralph Gibson
Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Diane Arbus

[Oskar Ojala]

Top 5 is so limiting that one has to paint with broad strokes. At this minute, my list is August Sander, Margaret Bourke-White, Josef Koudelka, William Eggleston and Stephen Shore. I could find faults here, such as many styles/subject matter not being represented at all, or the centrism on Western photographers, or the predominantly male list, but a longer list would be easier to balance.

[Kenneth Wajda]

Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Sally Mann, William Eggleston, Garry Winigrand.

If had more to add, Berenice Abbott, Saul Leiter, Fred Herzog, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus.

Left out HCB because I find him ok, but overrated. [Ducks for cover.]

I also left myself off the list, though I think some of my street photos can go up against some of the best, and I want to be in that jazz group, and if we don't tout our own work, who will?

Wajda the Famous (Wait, dammit, that's taken.)

[Omer]

Well, these lists are a good reference.

Mary Ellen Mark
Joel-Peter Witkin
Mike Disfarmer
Martin Chambi
Ralph Eugen Meatyard

Plus: Raghubir Singh

Embarrassingly I cannot name a youngish, contemporary photographer.

[David Bennett]

Chris Killip
Robert Maplethorpe
Werner Bischof
Susan Meiselas
Don McCullin
Larry Burrows

Six is the new five.

[David Kaufman]

I love architectural, urban and industrial photography so I would pick Eugene Atget, Berenice Abbott, Charles Sheeler, and Ezra Stoller. Among living photographers Jeff Liao's early images of New York are amazing, also Fred Herzog of Vancouver, Andrew Moore, Ed Burtynsky of Toronto, Robert Bourdeau and a nod to Robert Polidori. I heartily agree with another poster's comment about Edward Hopper; his urban images are inspiring.

[William Flowers]

Sally Mann, HCB, Josef Soudek, Bill Brandt, Nancy Rexroth

[Bob Blakley]

Easy for me.

For color:

Galen Rowell
Steve McCurry

For b&w:

Robert Mapplethorpe
George Hurrell
Herman Leonard

I guess this strongly reflects my interest in portraiture and performance photography, but for me what ties all of them together is an insane level of study, focus, and achievement in the tiniest details of technique, especially as applied to their particular subject matters.

I could go on to the point of exhaustion about each of them in this respect, but I'll just say that McCurry is the best color theorist of portraits I've ever seen; Rowell understood how the light of the sun worked better than anyone since Newton; Herman Leonard could make slow black and white film SING in total darkness, and used cigarette smoke like no one before or since; Hurrell knew where the light should stand for every face and could doctor an 8/10 negative like it was a sculpture; and - Mapplethorpe. What do you even say about him? His technique was immaculate in every way - just a towering icon of greatness - but what really stood out for me about him was the way he captured gesture with absolutely perfect grace in everything he photographed, even if what he was photographing was incapable of movement.

This is my favorite topic of yours in the last few months :-)

[David C]

Arthur Meyerson
Ernst Haas
Jay Maisel
Pete Turner
Franco Fontana

[RayC]

The first couple were easy even if not necessarily fashionable. Ansel Adams and Jay Maisel were the first two photographers who I knew of when the photo bug hit me as a teenager (many decades ago). Iterestingly I was introduced to them as “artists” not commercial photographers but they were certainly that as well. I was next introduced to Edward Weston, and while I find many things of interest I don’t think he would make my final five.

I think controversies aside I’d have to add Steve McCurry to my list as the visual storytelling of his images always stops me. Without too much additional consideration I’d also add Joel Meyerowitz and Pete Turner. So that’s five already and I’ve barely scratched the itch. It also says something about early influences having a stronger pull than some of the younger generation of photographers I admire.

[Joseph Vavak]

A very thought-provoking exercise. The answer is subject to change depending on my mood or momentary interests...

O’Sullivan, Atget, Evans, Frank, Shore.

[Dirk Bumann]

HCB, Ernst Haas, Jay Meisel, Saul Leiter, William Albert Allard. I guess that reflects my love of color photography.
I also think the guy who listed Edward Hopper has a good point. A photographer at heart!

[Jeff Pressman]

For me: Lee Friedlander, Paul Caponigro, Harry Callahan, William Eggleston, Ray Metzger

[Dirk Bumann]

Damn, I forgot Salgado!

[Robert Roaldi]

There's a Dave Heath exhibit going on at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa at the moment.

Info: https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/exhibitions-and-galleries/multitude-solitude-the-photographs-of-dave-heath

[Maggie Osterberg]

Ringo Starr
Sammy Davis Jr.
Me.

[grant]

The Dream Team of social media photographers, would be me, me, me, me, and me.

[TC]

Hopper's been mentioned, so I'd say Raymond Chandler, Wassily Kandinsky, Thomas Merton, Eric Satie, and Hayao Miyazaki.

[Peter Cameron]

In no particular order:
Yousuf Karsh
Andre Kertesz
Bruce Davidson
Walker Evans
Dorothea Lange

[Bill Bresler]

Five? What, are you kidding? But I do want to second Paul Richardson's choice of the painter Edward Hopper. Uncle Eddie Weston is certainly in my top five, even though he was a complete cad. Eva Rubinstein, too, because we had a lovely 3 hour lunch back in 2005 after I sent her an email invite. It was worth the 650 mile drive into Manhattan. When I was in college, about 1974, I picked up her monograph in a bookstore. It sold for $6.95. I stood there for 5 minutes weighing my choices... beer or book? I chose book. I've looked through that book at least 2-3 times a year since then. It works out to about 5 cents per viewing. Whatta deal.

[kirk Tuck]

Avedon, Penn, Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, and, OF COURSE, Henry White.

[Henning Wulff]

As so many others have said:

Ask me today...
Ask me tomorrow...

Anyway, today it's Eugene Atget, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, August Sander, Eugene Smith and Fred Herzog. The problem is, that to name another to the 'top 5', I'd have to take one of those names off. It's just not fair.

[Dennis]

Five is too few - there are more than five different genres. And a list of photographers everyone should know should cover a range of genres (or be directed at a specific audience). Right off the bat, I think anyone interested in photography ought to know about someone like Joe McNally to get a sense for what it takes to make it in commercial photography today. I don't know if I could even come up with my own 5 favorites, never mind try to cover a wider range of interests.

And then, do you pick photographers for their photography or for what they have to say about photography ?

[Martin D]

Eugene Atget, Lewis Hine, Josef Sudek, Andre Kertesz, Walker Evans.

[Andrew-Bede Allsop]

What an interesting thread is developing here! Some great photographers have been mentioned and a lot to explore. Very hard to name 5 but here goes:
Don McCullin
Michael Kenna
Sebastiäo Salgado
Abbas
Ara Güler

[Kenneth Brayton]

There is an interesting distribution here. Seems to be mostly film photographers from early to mid 20th century. Very few from the digital era. Who is leading the way into the new era of photography? Sony or photographers?

[Gary J Alessi]

Minor White.....Frederick Sommer....Edward Weston....Paul Caponigro....Diane Arbus.....for jazz...Don Cherry...Wayne Shorter...Airto ....( or ed blackwell)....Monk on piano....and Flora Purim doing some vocals...oh yeah...your jazz group had 2 drummers?....my favorite prog rock group now tours with 3 drummers...King Crimson...

[Hank Jones plays piano, Tony Williams drums, Ron Carter bass. No two drummers.... --Mike]

[Robert Stahl]

Without hesitation:
Edward Weston
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Ernst Haas
Freeman Patterson
Sam Abell

[Steve Higgins]

The problem with putting together a band of your favourite jazzers is that they tend to be the big names, who were the front men* of their own bands. And a band made up only of front men...

* and the occasional woman. Ah, Barbara Thompson...

[ChrisC]

Not sure I could come up with five names of people that I've sat down an thought about their photos, obviously I know lots of names and could even put photos to them.

Perhaps two that do stand out to me are:
Frank Hurley - obviously his Antartica stuff stands out but he also has a major body of work from both World Wars as well as exploration of Australia and New guinea . He van made a couple of movies.
Julia Margaret Cameron - a combination of her choice of subjects and her style in the historical context.

[Rip Smith]

As evident from the diversity of the responses, trying to pick five for an all-time “Dream Team” is an exercise in futility.

We are not that far from the 200th anniversary of the invention of photography - depending on what specific event you want to pick as your point of reference. At least it’s close enough so that many of your readers will be alive when that is celebrated. There would easily be five from each generation of photographers over this period.

[Of course, but that wasn't the question. --Mike]

[David Lee]

Maybe this should have been done Football World Cup Finals style. Rounds of 16ths and everything. Avedon is going to be so pissed that I left him out of my list....

[Matt O’Brien]

Edward Hopper was the first name which came to mind. Weird.

[Peter Wright]

I think your idea for a book on '100 Photographers we should be familiar with', sounds great. When are you going to get to it! Another terrific book that I would love to see is, '100 Lenses we should be familiar with.' Might even sell at a greater rate. In any case I promise to buy both.

[Mr Grumpy]

re David Comdico's choice, it's Tish Murtha.

[Richard N]

Lee Friedlander
Jan Groover
Jeff Wall
Paul Graham
Lucas Blalock

[Paul Powers]

I'm with Robert Stahl: Freeman Patterson is the photographer that most photographers should know about. http://www.freemanpatterson.com

Check out your Public Library for his books

[Dave Jenkins]

My choices are Andre Kertesz, who was truly the seminal photographer of the 20th century; Elliott Erwitt, whom I consider to be the greatest photographer of that century because of his incredible ability to be the best in just about every genre he tackled; Fritz Henle, who was my first and still one of my greatest inspirations; Richard W. Brown, the master of rural and New England photography; and B.A. "Tony" King, the greatest American photographer that no one ever heard of.

[Jim Mooney]

My five:

Edward Weston
James Ravilious
Edouard Boubat
Alec Soth
Brooks Jensen

[Michael N Meyer]

Limiting my list to only photographers working today who "everyone interested in photography should be familiar with" and who has been on my mind lately:

1. Elle Perez • http://cargocollective.com/elleperez
2. Janna Ireland • www.jannaireland.com
3. Ken Schles • www.kenschles.com & @kenschles on Instagram
4. Seung Woo Back • www.seungwooback.com
5. Sangyon Joo • www.sangyonjoo.com & www.datzpress.kr

To this could be added scores more.

[Trevor Johnson]

Fascinating nominations including some photographers I had forgotten about and many I have never heard of.

However, the question posed was: "If you were going to pick five photographers you think everyone interested in photography should be familiar with, who would they be?"

I would like to post my five, but it is so difficult to do so.

Either Fox Talbot or Daguerre would be one, depending which side of the English Channel you live upon.

[Thomas Walsh]

Almost anyone who has shot for National Geographic.

[David Zalaznik]

Wait! What? No Richard Prince?? (Tongue in cheek.)

[longviewer]

Guess I'm to much of an art historian, as Matthew Brady and William Henry Jackson seem to be off this list. You needn't like their work to be familiar with them, as I read this.