Famous Portrait Photographers

Joseph Niepce

Mar 7, 1765

Joseph Niepce was a French photographer who is known for inventing photography and was a pioneer within that field. Niepce also is accredited for creating the old photo in the world, which was taken with primitive camera. Niepce also created multiple inventions and techniques used in photography.

Louis Daguerre

Nov 18, 1787

Louis Daguerre, the father of photography, a french artist who is known for the invention of the daguerreotype process of photography. Daguerre also dabbled in painting and is also known for developing the diorama theater.

Mathew Brady

May 18, 1822

Mathew Brady is better known for all of his famous portraits of Abraham Lincoln. Brady was also one of the first to ever to produce pictures of battlefield during the Civil War.

Edward Muybridge

Apr 9, 1830

Edward Muynridge was an English photographer who had major studies in photographic motion. Muybridge is now best known for his work on animal locomotion, which is almost exactly like a motion picture(movies)!

Lewis Hine

Jul 24, 1874

Lewis Hines was an American photographer and sociologist. Hines used his camera to bring many different social issues to light, such as child labor, and called for social reform. Much of his work involves child labor.

Edward Weston

Mar 24, 1886

Edward Weston was an American photographer. While Weston's shot different things of nature, the pictures themselves were abstract, he also brought a modern look to photography. Based off of Weston's work and ideas he was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Dorothea Lange

May 26, 1895

Dorothea Lange was and America photo journalist, and documentary photographer. Lange's most notable work is from the Depression era. Lange showed the consequences of the Depression and had major influence on the development of documentary photography.

Ansel Adams

Feb 20, 1902

Ansel Adams was an American landscape photographer, Adams has taken many different black and white photos of different national parks, such as Yosemite. Adam and fellow photographer Fred Archer also developed a system that determined proper exposure and how to adjust the contrast of a final print, this method is the Zone Method.

Margaret Bourke-White

Jun 14, 1904

Margaret Bourke-White was an American documentary photographer. White is best known for being the first foreigner to photograph the Soviet-five year plan and was the first female war journalist.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Jun 22, 1908

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a french humanist photographer, he was considered the master of candid photography, and user of 35 mm film. Bresson pioneered street photography and viewed photography as capturing the decisive moment.

Yousef Karsh

Dec 23, 1908

Yousef Karsh was an American-Canadian portrait photographer and had shot many notable and famous people during his time. However Karsh's most notable photo was of Winston Churchill in 1941. through this picture Karsh also shot many other politicians and scientists.

Arnold Newman

Mar 3, 1918

Arnold Newman was an American photographer , but is well known for his environmental portraits of many different notable people. Newman is credited with being the first photographer to use environmental-portraiture. Also Newman capture the last shot of Jimmy Burrows on the Saturday Night Live stage.

Diane Arbus

Mar 14, 1923

Diane Arbus was and American photographer, but is known for taking pictures of unusual subjects. Arbus would shoot her subjects in their normal environment, but add twists to them, by adding a toy grenade. Arbus wanted to bring the people who were forgotten with her pictures, and show them that they should be remembered.

Richard Avedon

May 15, 1923

Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. Avedon is best known for helping shape the image of beauty and style. Avedon also shot for many different magazines such as Vogue and Life Magazine.

Jerry Uelsmann

Jun 11, 1934

Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer, however is known for his photo-montage work. Uslemann would take multiple different picture and combine them together to make a entirely new image. Uslemann received Guggenheim Fellowship, and is well known in the photography community for his groundbreaking work.

Annie Leibovitz

Oct 2, 1949

Annie Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer and is best known for taking the last picture of John Lennon ever, which was shot on the day of his assignation. Lebiovitz is also best know for shooting covers for different magazines, such as Rolling Stones Magazine.