these are photographers that not only greatly inspire my work, but also i enjoy personally. links to their official websites/accounts will be supplied.
Ren Heng
his photos are abstract, uncomfortable, manipulating the human body in ways we have to look at again and think "...that's a human?" everything that i love in photos. he makes the body unsexual, at the same time bringing out the vibrant colors a body brings. he also wrote poetry, my favorite one being his work Gift. although he has now passed, his emotions and ideas are still present in his work. my favorite series of his is the series 2014.
Nan Goldin
photos that are practically snapshots in the life of nan goldin are turned into cinematic stills. the way she takes photos - the exposure, the saturation, the composition - makes the subject so real to the viewer. she took many photos of everyday queer life in the 1970's such as the series The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, which caused a bout of depression to hit her as many of her subjects, her friends, had passed away. she is seen as not only a monumental photograpgher, but an important historian in queer culture.
Rinko Kawauchi
different from the previous two photographers, rinko kawauchi rarely takes photos of human subjects. rather, she takes photos of the world around her, all warped and twisted through effects and different lens to create this heavenly effect. many of her photos look as if she had taken them within a dream. her series Hanabi shows the contrast of sharp/exciting fireworks and festivites with the airy quality of her camera. i would love to see her unreleased photos, or her process of taking them.
Sally Mann
controversial is certainly a way to describe sally mann, especially after her Immediate Family series. she got backlash for the nudity potrayed in her photos, which while i agree was unnecessary, i agree more with the words a psychologist saying that they were simply snapshots of her family and only a degenerate or extreme conservative would find them sexual. my favorite works of hers however are her early works shown on her website, which portray her expertise in curves and creases of the skin and cloth.