A Gallery of Photographic Inspiration

Sometimes a reproduction of a photograph in a book stops me in my tracks, because of its subject matter, its framing, its aesthetic and emotional content. This collection, meant for my own study and contemplation, corrals some of the most eloquent work of photographers I revere. It's a mere beginning, and will probably evolve with additions, and with links to other pages of the (still nascent) Finding Aid for my photography library. I'm trying to develop a better sense of how I see and read photographic material, and how those activities feed/have fed my own photography.

For reasons of copyright, this is a 'private' page, not linked in any semi-public way (e.g., not via my blog). The reproductions are scans from books, and thus give only an approximation to the character and tonal niceties of the originals. Very occasionally I've seen actual prints of some of these favorites in museums and galleries, and the effect is of an entirely different order.

Svetlana Alpers puts it well:

An essential quality of a great photograph is that it makes the world strange.
(in Walker Evans: Starting from Scratch, pg 10)

Clarence John Laughlin Victorian Venus (1952)

Clarence John Laughlin Ambiguity of Positive and Negative (1961)

Clarence John Laughlin Architectural Phantasm #1 (1952)

Clarence John Laughlin The Ego-Centrics (1940)

Clarence John Laughlin A Vision of Dead Desire (1954)

Clarence John Laughlin The Head in the Wall (1945)

Clarence John Laughlin Seeker of the Circle (1956)

Louis Faurer Freudian Handclasp, New York (ca. 1946-1949)

Louis Faurer Times Square, New York (1947)

Nathan Lyons

Nathan Lyons

Nathan Lyons

Minor White Movement Studies #56 (1948)

Minor White Empty Head (1962)

Minor White Moencopi Strata (1962)

Minor White Moon and Wall (1964)

Minor White MIT Vassar Street (1974)

Minor White Unititled (1973)

Minor White Root and Frost (1958)

Minor White Capitol Reef (1961)

Minor White Surf, Vertical (1947)

Paul Caponigro Soaped Window Boston MA (1958)

Paul Caponigro Ravens Gulch Lubec ME (1961)

Paul Caponigro Iced Wall, Gloucester MA (ca. 1962)

Paul Caponigro Tide Pool Nahant MA (1965)

Paul Caponigro Running White Deer County Wicklow, Ireland (1967)

Paul Caponigro Iced Wall, Gloucester MA (1962)

Paul Caponigro Water Pool and Clouds Reflect, Adirondack Mountains (1958)

Paul Caponigro Cabbage Leaf Winthrop MA (1964)

Paul Caponigro Fungus Ipswich MA (1960)

Paul Caponigro Bloomfield NY (1957)

Paul Caponigro Tecate, Mexico (1979)

Paul Caponigro Maui, HI (1977)

Paul Caponigro Van Gogh's Passion Cushing ME (1990)

Paul Caponigro Inner Night Sky(1999)

Wynn Bullock Erosion (1959)

Wynn Bullock Worn Floor (1952)

Wynn Bullock Under Monterey Wharf (1962)

Wynn Bullock Point Lobos Rock (1973)

Wynn Bullock Tree Trunk (1971)

Wynn Bullock Untitled #13 (1972)

Wynn Bullock Pebble Beach (1970)

Frederick Sommer Jack Rabbit (1939)

Frederick Sommer Max Ernst (1946)

Frederick Sommer The Thief Greater Than His Loot (1955)

Frederick Sommer Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John (1966)

Frederick Sommer Paracelsus (1959)

Frederick Sommer Circumnavigation of the Blood (1950)

Frederick Sommer Kyoto Lumber Yard (1969)

Frederick Sommer Lee Nevin (1965)

Jerry Uelsmann Path of Self Discovery (2001)

Jerry Uelsmann Journey Into Self (1967)

Jerry Uelsmann Apocalypse II (1967)

Jerry Uelsmann Homage to Man Ray (1997)

Jerry Uelsmann Navigation Without Numbers (1971)

Jerry Uelsmann Sommer's Mandala (1999)

Paul Strand From the Viaduct, New York (1916)

Paul Strand The White Fence (1916)

Paul Strand Blind Woman, New York (1916)

Paul Strand Mr. Bennett East Jamaica, VT (1943)

Paul Strand Old Man (1946)

Paul Strand Susan Thompson, Cape Split ME (1945)

Paul Strand Mr. Bolster, Age 83 (1943)

Paul Strand John Marin (1945)

Paul Strand The Family Luzarra, Italy (1953)

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard from Family Album of Lucybelle Crater

Ralph Eugene Meatyard from Family Album of Lucybelle Crater

Ralph Eugene Meatyard Lucybelle Crater and her Son Lucybelle Crater

Imogen Cunningham Mme Ozenfant (1935)

Imogen Cunningham Morris Graves (1950)

Imogen Cunningham Morris Graves (1973)

Imogen Cunningham Leaf Pattern (1930)

Imogen Cunningham Dusty Miller (1930s)

Imogen Cunningham My Label (1973)

Imogen Cunningham My Father at 90 (1936)

Imogen Cunningham The Unmade Bed (1957)

Walker Evans Sidewalk and Shopfront, New Orleans (1935)

Walker Evans Torn Movie Poster (1930)

Walker Evans Lunch Wagon Detail, New York (1931)

Walker Evans Roadside Stand Near Birmingham (1936)

Walker Evans Tin Relic (1930)

Walker Evans Posed Portraits, New York (1931)

Walker Evans Family Plot, Mayfield KY (1947)

Walker Evans Birmingham AL (1936)

Frederick Evans In the Attic (1896)

Mario Giacomelli (1957-1959)

Graciela Iturbide Mujer Ángel (1979)

Graciela Iturbide Serafina (1984)

Graciela Iturbide Virgen de Guadalupe, Chalma (2007)

Graciela Iturbide Pajaros en el poste, carretera (1990)

Graciela Iturbide Galgo (1996)

Ralph Steiner

Ralph Steiner

Ralph Steiner

Ralph Steiner

Ralph Steiner

Ralph Steiner

Vojtěch Jasný Desire (1958)

Werner Bischof Silk Drying, Kyoto (1951)

Henri Cartier-Bresson Callejon of the Valencia Arena (1933)

Henri Cartier-Bresson Spain (1932)

Henri Cartier-Bresson Paris (1931)

Henri Cartier-Bresson London (1938)

Henri Cartier-Bresson London Coronation of King George VI (1938)

Henri Cartier-Bresson Ascot (1955)

Henri Cartier-Bresson Quai de Javel (1932)

Henri Cartier-Bresson Hyères (1932)

Robert Frank England (1952/3)

Robert Frank Wales (1952/3)

Robert Frank Wales (1952/3)

Robert Frank Peru (1948)

Robert Frank Covered Car Long Beach CA (1955/6)

Robert Frank Men's Room, Railway Station Memphis TN (1955/6)

Robert Frank Political rally Chicago (1955/6)

Robert Frank Indianapolis (1955/6)

Robert Frank Ranch Market Hollywood CA (1955/6)

Robert Frank 14th St. White Tower, New York (1948)

Robert Frank 14th St. White Tower, New York (1948)

Aaron Siskind Chicago

Aaron Siskind New York

Aaron Siskind The Tree

Aaron Siskind Durango

Aaron Siskind Getty Tomb

Aaron Siskind Owatonna MN

Aaron Siskind Gloucester MA (1944)

Aaron Siskind Gloucester MA (1944)

Aaron Siskind Chicago (1952)

Aaron Siskind Martha's Vineyard (1954)

Aaron Siskind Providence (1986)

Aaron Siskind Vera Cruz (1981)

Aaron Siskind Sicily (1984)

Aaron Siskind New York (1986)

Aaron Siskind New York (1988)

Len Gittleman Chicago

Charles Sheeler River Rouge, Criss-Crossed Conveyors (1927)

André Kertész Satiric Dancer (1926)

Bernd and Hilla Becher Gas Holders

Idris Khan Every Bernd and Hilla Becher Gable Side House (2004)

Idris Khan Every Bernd and Hilla Becher Spherical Type Gas Holder (2004)

Idris Khan Every ... Nicholas Nixon Brown Sisters (2004)

Berenice Abbott Self portrait

Matthew Brady or staff Conspirator Payne (1865)

Homer Page American Legion Convention (1946)

Dorothea Lange Funeral Cortege, End of an Era in a Small Town, California (1938)

John Runk Pine Boards and Frank Stenlund, South Stillwater MN (1912)

Jacques Henri Lartigue Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of Paris, Dieppe (1911)

Lewis Hine Breaker Boys (1912)

Edward Steichen Rodin Le Penseur (1902)

Edward Steichen J. Pierpont Morgan (1903)

Edward Weston Pelican Point Lobos (1941)

Edward Weston 'Willie' New Orleans (1941)

Edward Weston Cabbage Leaf (1931)

Edward Weston José Clemente Orozco

Edward Weston Sunny Corner in an Attic (1921)

Edward Weston Stump, Crescent City (1937)

Edward Weston Point Lobos (1930)