Being a graphic designer has made me fall in love with all things creative, including photography. In a previous article I mentioned the importance of building a strong foundation in one career first, such as graphic design and then branching out into other skills sets. One important area I have started to branch out into is photography. I spend a lot of time looking at photography portfolios and below you will find some of my favorite photos.
I have taken 3 samples from each of the 10 photographers so you can get a better feel for their personal style. I would highly recommend picking up some photography lessons and Photoshop training, because being able to shoot your own design projects will really help bring them to life and can give your portfolio a razor sharp edge. Being able to say you designed something and took the great photograph of it will def give you bonus points in an interview. Plus photography is just damn fun and there is something really special about capturing that perfect shot.
Ten Truly Inspiring Photographers
Cosmin Bumbut
Leigh Perry
Jan von Holleben
Lina Scheynius
Antony Chambers
Aneta Kowalczyk
Michael Kenna
Rodney Smith
Todd Hido
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Wow, there are some beautiful photographs there.
I absolutely love the work of Rodney Smith! What stunning photography, thanks for showing us these :)
I rarely look at photography for some reason, yet when someone brings great photography to my attention I love it.
Jan von Holleben has some very original work. Thanks for the great photos… what do you think about Annie Leibovitz? She was recently in Sydney shooting Nicole Kidman. I did a bit of study on her while at Uni, a great photographer!
great blog topic! good post! Well done.
all the best.
Stunning. Wonderful collection.
nice HDRs!
Looking at nicely taken photographs does inspire one to pick up the camera :)
Truly great pics!!
Any suggestions about where to take reasonably-priced evening/weekend photography classes ? or am I asking for too much?
Wow, beautiful pictures. I’m very impressed with Rodney Smith’s pic’s particularly.
Nice.. good for my inspiration. Excellent..
You may like the work of Nan Goldin. Check her out.
I don’t believe any of those images are HDR’s.
Title drew me in, some stunning photos. Ironically I am moving back to photography after working teaching photoshop. Miss the timelessness of it all. Thanks for the inspiration.
I see what you mean, my girlfriend is a inspiring photographer and I had to show her these.
I am really interested in the work of Jan von Holleben. I liked the way he plays with the ground as a scene. It is refreshing though most of the ideas are sort of trivial and heavy handed. And those minimalist landscapes (Michael Kenna) are pretty interesting too. I had never seen those before.
Here are some other truely inspirational photos…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/giacominofoto/
Wow!
Awesome photos
WOW .. completely blown away. Made the end of my day! Absolutely beautiful! Thank you ….
Great post! I’m really inspired by the photos of Michael Kenna it has a solemn tone to them; the kind of photos that make you want to amplify the focus on the simplicity of life. Great blog.. keep up the good work.
[...] Rob Blog Tags: delicious, photography, photos, rob parker, robparker.org.uk, The Rob Blog Found this article via the del.icio.us front page – and i can see why its got there! Some superb photography shown, [...]
Wow, now you inspired me to get back into photography.
Ah, if I only had more time on my hands.
I especially love the first one… you can feel the action and drama in the photo.
Very nice :)
Thanks everyone I’m glad you enjoyed these photos as much as I did!
Jacob – Yes Annie Leibovitz has some great work!
Ram – For class it will really depend on where you live, I would contact the local schools or for instance my town has an art workshop place where you go go to take classes.
Since I got such a great response form this post I will be doing another one in the near future.
Amazing photos! They really inspire!
I like the Aneta Kowalczyk works (I’ve seen them before – just gorgeous!) and Rodney Smith as well is very-very good!
But all of them are very-very-very good!!!!
Thank you:)
Stunning!
wow. savage photos. the forest in snow gave me goose pimples…
Really really nice, I love the first one, can actually feel her fire.. enought to make me consider going for a touch-up course.
amazing!
Decent post. Some of these were really, really cool. Some were just average, and a couple werent that great. But photography is very interesting to me, so any good pictures taken with a different eye is inspirational.
That top photo didn’t inspire me to learn photography (I already has some handle, if an imperfect handle, on that). That top photo inspired me to respect the opposite, superior gender: women.
Truly inspirating!
Lina Scheynius’s Pictures are fantastic… a real sense of being there and these pictures are what your seeing, I will be looking her up on the web to see more of this work!
Awesome pics! Really inspiring
the images are amazing and truly inspiring
more noticeably Jan von Holleben & Michael Kenna
really inspiring …
am gonna go out now and try that superhero on the ground pic …
amazing …
wow.. I love them all!
very impresive.
Some really great pics – but some below average in my opinion. Cant say Todd Hido is hitting the spot for me.
very inspiring photos….
[...] Stunning Photography that inspired me to learn photography 30 creative photos that are very much worth looking at. [...]
going to have to agree with dK.
OMG. their beauty is resounding
It’s good to see you included my favorite photographer Rodney Smith. I like his style because he mostly uses natural lighting.
as a pro photographer – I love some of these – really great – excellent eye you got there for this collection!
great collection, great inspiration, there’s a lot of feelings in those images.
WOW! so fantastic photos ………
i real like them & the great thinking behind them is nice …………
Lovely set of inspiring pics. Some of them which I have seen and continue to surprise me with their simplicity and beauty. Thank you for sharing :)
Gopal
Those are indeed some of the most amazing photos I’ve seen.
Hey! This is trully a cool collection. In Von Holleben photograph, I can really see the creative flows… Bravo!
amasing!
all so inspirational:)
IncreÃbles, fantásticas, sin palabras!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quite a nice selection of images. I especially like Jan von Holleben’s series of flying kids, certainly puts a smile on my face. I love photography and the world of possibilities… it’s endless.
I’m especially surprised/happy to see none of the usual suspects, e.g. Newton, Lachapelle, Adams,… it’s really refreshing.
I like the ones of the super man and the tarzan by Lina Scheynius
I just started dabbing into photography myself. You have some impressive shots. Maybe I’ll post some of my own, and tell me what you think.
Some beautiful stuff there, i am impressed. I young, a teenager, anybody know a good place to start photography
This is the second time I stumbled upon your site. Although the examples of your favorite photographs, clearly show your own particular taste in Photography/Graphic design, a number of the images were excellent examples of ambient light-portraiture….I would like to to a group portrait in a similar fashion to what Lina Scheynius is doing with the kids.. And Anita, Todd and Rodney are on my Wanna-be-like-them list..
Thanks for pushing my buttons!!
totaly awsome pics im going to get my camera from ex and take some my self
I dont know what to say! there all absolutly amazing! but my favourate by far is the picture at the top with the married couple :)
Truly inspired and lovely photographs!
I enjoyed this collection. Except, however, the bmw couple photo is a perfect example of over-the-top *contrived* photography, IMO. On a social note, if the gender positions were reversed (the man were on top), what would everyones thoughts be then? Would you think it were a great, or lovely, or an amazing photograph? Violence is the real pornography in my book. That picture, imo of course, has no place in this otherwise great collection.
There are photographs and there are photographs… but what are the stories?
Great photos – thanks for the introduction to these amazing photographers. Jan Von H is my fave!
Love the photos! Noticed a free photography courses online at http://www.photographycourse.net you may be interested in.
[...] the author says, this stuff is also great for driving graphic designs — which is why he started in the first place. Having a solid skill base is important, I just wish my Polariod was still in working [...]
The photos gave me pause,and the world came to a stop. then my daughter walked in and it lurched forward again , Thanks alot Holly ! Glad I didn’t have a potential lover over after all.
Some great pieces of work. Its always refreshing to come across such work and a good photo is judged by the thought process it provokes. Most of these made me pause and think. They draw the viewer into the image and create an instant atmosphere.
Thanks for sharing.
Nice looking group of images!!
Slimeface
Leigh Perry’ stuff is somewhat boring although I can see what he’s shooting for. No pun intended. Same for Todd Hido but his third pic of the barren room is great.
Cosmin Bumbut’s (what a name!) steamy shower shot is cool and erotic without showing anything!
Michael Kenna’s pics are breath taking.
one of the best photographic work which i had never seen in my life….the whole pictures contains a great sense of creativity …….
That’s all it takes. A few amazing photos to get you inspired. Same happened for me. I’m currently enrolled at Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. Taking a two year photo course all because inspiration hit me in much the same way.
[...] Ten Truly Inspiring Photographers [...]
Beauty
simply grete
Some truly inspiring images there. I recently started back into photography too after seeing this guys work on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandmania
Breathtaking inspirational imagery.
Quite a nice lineup of photos you’ve collected there! Inspirational indeed!
great composition
[...] Ten Truly Inspiring Photographers [...]
Beautiful pictures, extremely inspiring. I was just stuck in between the two classes I was going to take this semester, Photography, or Wood shop. I decided I’d take Photography. Thanks. Favoring this page.
[...] some of you may know I’m a Big Fan of Photography and it’s been a long time since I’ve showcased photography on our blog; this time in [...]
VERY GOOD PHOTOS
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Great photos, they are very inspiring!
it is very nice its realy amazing that all very use full to me
Really beautiful pics………….some r stunning 1
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[...] Ten Truly Inspiring Photographers [...]