Artist Critique

Ansel Adams was one of the most influential nature photographers. Even 70 years later people are still trying to fill his shoes and create the photographs that he created. Ansel Adams did majorily only landscape and all his images were black and white with a like of high contrast. All the images fill the frame correct and have a good sense of blacks and silvers.  

Galen Rowell was a photojournalist who connected with his audience through his writings and his photographs. Hey influenced a lot of people through his wilderness adventures, which eventually is where a lot of his influence for his own work came from. He is one of the first photographers to use the 35 mm camera in landscape photography. All of Galens work is in color and has a beautiful contrast of very saturated colors almost making it look like the image was painted and not shot.

Eliot Porter In contrast with Ansel Adams’ big landscape style, Porter’s photos were more quiet and focused on the intimate landscape scenes that are easily overlooked. It is easy to overlook his body of work in favor of postcard views but one needs to only look at the photographers that he influenced to see that his work has left a lasting impact.  Eliots shots are closer to the subject and are more detailed unlike Ansels who’s were wide scale.

William Henry Jackson One of the early pioneers of landscape photography, Jackson’s photos were instrumental in the creation of the National Parks system beginning with Yellowstone National Park in 1872.  All of Williams photographs are black and white or sepia and like Ansel are of a wider scale showing more in the picture instead of detail.

Arthur Morris Is one of the most imitated photographers in the nature photography format; it would be hard to see any bird photography that doesn’t show Morris’ influence. He is arguably the most prolific bird photographer of all-time and runs a successful birding workshop business. All of his images are bright in color and majorities of the time are close up and show detail of the bird or birds in a beautiful landscape which controls most of the image.