30 Photos That Inspired Me to Learn Photography
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
Lina - February 18th, 2008
Wow, there are some beautiful photographs there.
Amanda Vlahakis - February 18th, 2008
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.
Jacob Cass - February 18th, 2008
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!
bugsy - February 18th, 2008
great blog topic! good post! Well done.
all the best.
Aaron - February 18th, 2008
Stunning. Wonderful collection.
Eugene - February 19th, 2008
nice HDRs!
vkeong - February 19th, 2008
Looking at nicely taken photographs does inspire one to pick up the camera
Ram - February 19th, 2008
Truly great pics!!
Any suggestions about where to take reasonably-priced evening/weekend photography classes ? or am I asking for too much?
Dave Nofmeister - February 19th, 2008
Wow, beautiful pictures. I’m very impressed with Rodney Smith’s pic’s particularly.
Mark - February 19th, 2008
Nice.. good for my inspiration. Excellent..
Kelly - February 19th, 2008
You may like the work of Nan Goldin. Check her out.
Rob - February 19th, 2008
I don’t believe any of those images are HDR’s.
Sally - February 19th, 2008
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.
Chaz - February 19th, 2008
I see what you mean, my girlfriend is a inspiring photographer and I had to show her these.
Shane Godfrey - February 20th, 2008
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.
David - February 20th, 2008
Here are some other truely inspirational photos…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/giacominofoto/
Aleksander - February 20th, 2008
Wow!
Praveen Vijayanq - February 20th, 2008
Awesome photos
Samantha - Website Marketing Newbie - February 20th, 2008
WOW .. completely blown away. Made the end of my day! Absolutely beautiful! Thank you ….
Unique G. - February 20th, 2008
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.
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Lukas L. - February 20th, 2008
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
Gino - February 20th, 2008
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.
Happy - February 21st, 2008
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:)
Robert - February 21st, 2008
Stunning!
rob - February 21st, 2008
wow. savage photos. the forest in snow gave me goose pimples…
Jason Marsh - Website designer - February 21st, 2008
Really really nice, I love the first one, can actually feel her fire.. enought to make me consider going for a touch-up course.
Pablo F.P - February 21st, 2008
amazing!
Inverted Reality Designworks - February 22nd, 2008
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.
David Mills - February 22nd, 2008
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.
Michael - February 23rd, 2008
Truly inspirating!
Adam Smith - February 23rd, 2008
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!
Abhisek - February 24th, 2008
Awesome pics! Really inspiring
Nazeeh - February 25th, 2008
the images are amazing and truly inspiring
more noticeably Jan von Holleben & Michael Kenna
subcorpus - February 25th, 2008
really inspiring …
am gonna go out now and try that superhero on the ground pic …
amazing …
wallpaper boy - February 27th, 2008
wow.. I love them all!
farmboy tim - February 28th, 2008
very impresive.
dK - February 28th, 2008
Some really great pics - but some below average in my opinion. Cant say Todd Hido is hitting the spot for me.
sylph - February 28th, 2008
very inspiring photos….
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JD - February 29th, 2008
going to have to agree with dK.
Andrew - March 1st, 2008
OMG. their beauty is resounding
joe - March 1st, 2008
It’s good to see you included my favorite photographer Rodney Smith. I like his style because he mostly uses natural lighting.
Divaliscious - March 1st, 2008
as a pro photographer - I love some of these - really great - excellent eye you got there for this collection!
Denis - March 5th, 2008
great collection, great inspiration, there’s a lot of feelings in those images.
shailendra(arc) - March 6th, 2008
WOW! so fantastic photos ………
i real like them & the great thinking behind them is nice …………
Eye For India - March 6th, 2008
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
sir jorge - March 6th, 2008
Those are indeed some of the most amazing photos I’ve seen.
KarmaKloth - March 8th, 2008
Hey! This is trully a cool collection. In Von Holleben photograph, I can really see the creative flows… Bravo!
Jade - March 8th, 2008
amasing!
all so inspirational:)
Novich - March 10th, 2008
IncreÃbles, fantásticas, sin palabras!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Philippe Roy - March 13th, 2008
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.
James - March 13th, 2008
I like the ones of the super man and the tarzan by Lina Scheynius
Cabrera - March 14th, 2008
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.
The Dark Angel - March 15th, 2008
Some beautiful stuff there, i am impressed. I young, a teenager, anybody know a good place to start photography
Michael Hastie - March 15th, 2008
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!!
nativepride4ever - March 16th, 2008
totaly awsome pics im going to get my camera from ex and take some my self
Andrew - March 17th, 2008
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
wren - March 17th, 2008
Truly inspired and lovely photographs!
Oldtimer Ex-pro-photographer - March 25th, 2008
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.
Jimmy Domingo - March 25th, 2008
There are photographs and there are photographs… but what are the stories?
Kristian - March 25th, 2008
Great photos - thanks for the introduction to these amazing photographers. Jan Von H is my fave!
photo lessons - March 26th, 2008
Love the photos! Noticed a free photography courses online at http://www.photographycourse.net you may be interested in.
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Gregorythe Greatest - April 12th, 2008
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.
Corporate Events Photography - April 16th, 2008
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.
Slimeface - April 26th, 2008
Nice looking group of images!!
Slimeface
Del Arlon - April 30th, 2008
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.
prateek - May 19th, 2008
one of the best photographic work which i had never seen in my life….the whole pictures contains a great sense of creativity …….
Photography Classes - May 28th, 2008
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.
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mariappan - July 24th, 2008
Beauty
gaurav - July 31st, 2008
simply grete
Sergio - August 4th, 2008
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
Priya - August 4th, 2008
Breathtaking inspirational imagery.
Corey - August 16th, 2008
Quite a nice lineup of photos you’ve collected there! Inspirational indeed!
Melv - September 17th, 2008
great composition
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Dylan - October 26th, 2008
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.
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ASHISH NEGI - November 18th, 2008
VERY GOOD PHOTOS
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