March Discussion: Who Do You Love?

[Julie Kenward]

This one's going to be so easy! Tell us who your favorite non-BPN photographer is and leave us a link so we can all check them out as well. If you've got more than one favorite, try to leave us the one that does the best macro/flora work so we can all be inspired by their work!

Mine is a woman who lives on the west coast by the name of Diane Varner. Her website, Daily Walks, has been an inspiration to me for over three years now. She always finds the most interesting light and then exploits the heck out of it with her incredible Photoshop skills. You can find her extraordinary work here at Daily Walks with Diane Varner (http://dianevarner.com/).

Remember, ONE link per person...let's see some new names and then go get inspired for spring! :D;):D

[Fabs Forns]

Mine is Tony Sweet.
You can check him out at:


http://tonysweet.com/page_gallery.html


And Michael Brown:

http://macroartinnature.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

Those two are my role models :)

I just realized I broke the one link per person rule. I apologize, Jules, I'll let you choose the one you like best and delete the other. I can't do it :(

[Mike Moats]

Check out Chris Schlaf, a friend who lives in my area and is an excellent bug shooter. http://www.pbase.com/christopher_schlaf/macro

[Barbara Kile]

I have 2 favs that have been instrumental in my walk with flower photography. The first one is Tony Sweet, but Fabs already mentioned him. So, my other fav would be Nancy Rotenberg. She is a dear and has taught me so much about photographing from the heart. I would HIGHLY recommend her book 'Photography and the Creative Life.'
http://www.naturaltapestries.com/index.html

[Julie Kenward]

Fabs, you can keep both your links - I just wanted us to really pick a favorite so we didn't get overwhelmed with links - but I can see why you love them both!

Did you know Tony Sweet has a new flower blog? ;)

[Charles Wesley]

Jules,

Mine is John Shaw. Have all of his books. He has remarkable vision and is a gifted writer. His first book entitled " The Nature Photogapher's Complete Guide To Professional Field Techniques" in 1984 set the standard in our field. Got him to sign the book in 1998 at the NANPA meeting.

He can do it all: Birds, macro, landscapes, wildlife....

www.johnshawphoto.com
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, Fl

[Jerry van Dijk]

The two photographers that I'm most indebted to and who inspired me to pick up my old hobby again (and join BPN!) are BPN members Krijn Trimbos (http://www.trimbos-photography.com/) and Jasper Doest (http://www.doest-photography.com/). The first encouraged me to pick up my camera again and enter the digital age, the second was a student at my department, who inspired me by following his dream (and his talent) and became a succesful professional nature photographer.
But since the question is about non-BPN photographers, I'll have to mention another Dutch nature photographer, Ruben Smit (http://www.rubensmit.nl). I really like the mood he is able to create with his images and the way he makes use of things that you usually avoid in your images, like motion blur, and extensive OOF BG and FG objects, to create the canvas for his subjects. Somehow, he manages to create attractive, rough, impressionist images, with a very personal style. Unfortunately, he doesn't show much macro images in the gallery on his website, but check out his weblogs, where you'll find some more.
I always keep his style in mind when I try to add just that little more interest to an image I'm shooting or when I'm looking for a different perspective on a common subject (generally without much success, I must add).

[Don Lacy]

I was inspired to shoot Dragonflies after seeing images from Eric Isley on Photo Migrations before that I had never realized how beautiful they were not only were his images wonderful he always took the time to critique my early often lacking Dragonfly images. You can see some of Eric's DF images here http://www.freewebs.com/photonfreak/dragonflyimages.htm

[Fabs Forns]

Fabs, you can keep both your links - I just wanted us to really pick a favorite so we didn't get overwhelmed with links - but I can see why you love them both!

Did you know Tony Sweet has a new flower blog? ;)

Really? I have to check it out. I took an on-line fine art flowers class with him and was very happy.
Thanks!!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

My favourite off site photog was the person who got me to spend so much money:), get interested in photography, but have a ton of fun. He is Ron Pitts. www.ronpitts.com (http://www.ronpitts.com) . I never seem to tire of his images.

[Julie Kenward]

These are all great links! Keep 'em coming!

Fabs, here's the link to Tony's new blog:

http://tonysweetphotography.blogspot.com/

:D

[Aidan Briggs]

Vincent Munier. http://www.vincentmunier.com/ He is simply amazing.

[Vida van der Walt]

What a great idea Jules! Still deciding on my favorite photographer. Mike, I love your friend's insect macros. Still have to look at the other members favorites.:)

[Ed Vatza]

Not to be a "me too" but my favorite has got to be Tony Sweet. He is a great photographer, a great teacher and a great person. And it is so easy to get the two of us confused as the video below will show! :eek::D

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/2e8088614184b7394f6964417be5ac28/video/11567437

Another favorite is John Barclay, the guy who made the above video at the Brenda Tharp Seminar in Baltimore a couple of weeks back.

http://www.barclayphoto.com/

[Myer Bornstein]

Joe McDonald influenced me with his books and his workshops back in the old film days
http://hoothollow.com/index.html

[Jerry van Dijk]

Those are some great links! Am I the only one who sometimes has a hard time seeing all these photographers as an inspiration instead of a discouragement? Upon viewing several of these websites I found myself thinking: "why do I even bother?" :(:(:(:(. Luckily photographing is just great fun and highly addictive :D....

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, I figure everyone's gotta start somewhere, right? With all the information that is now available online and the technological advances going on in photography today, we have nowhere to go but up. ;)

[Barbara Kile]

Since you are wanting macro/flora, I wanted to share this one I came across today: Cindy Mead.
http://www.woodsongphoto.com/
She has awesome flowers, but also some avian, Asian too. I sat and viewed her site this morning and was almost late to an appointment!

[Anita Bower]

jerry, i know how you feel. some days i feel the same, but i'm getting better at enjoying each person's work for what it is, including my own.

there are too many wonderful flower and macro photographers to pick one. iwould like to list many. hoever, following the rules i will list robert mapplethorp's flower images. http://www.darjanpanic.com/photography/masters-of-photography/robert-mapplethorpe-and-his-flower-art-photography/

thank you all for sharing. i've discovered some new photographers. :)

[Charles Wesley]

Anita,

Thanks for the link. I've always had high praise for Mapplethorpe. Although he's best known for his male portraits, his floral work is in some ways flawless. He had great vision and technique. Feel he's one of the top photographers of all time.

Unfortunately, he was not without controversy...
______________
Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, FL

[Anita Bower]

[quote=Charles Wesley;468430]Anita,

Thanks for the link. I've always had high praise for Mapplethorpe. Although he's best known for his male portraits, his floral work is in some ways flawless. He had great vision and technique. Feel he's one of the top photographers of all time.

Unfortunately, he was not without controversy...
i quite agree

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I went through the links and they are all fabulous. Something to aspire to. Great thread Julie.