James Nachtwey Fine Art of War
(image credits:Clinics Rising,AgustinMedina,James Nachtwey,AgustinMedina,James Nachtwey,James Nachtwey,AgustinMedina,inmymothersroom,James Nachtwey)
James Nachtwey may possibly be the best war photographer to date. His work is definitely fine art as each picture successfully tells a poignant story worth much more than a thousand words. Nachtwey specializes in documenting war-torn countries. He once stated, “I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.” He has jeopardized his life so many times to let the world “see” what is happening that his guardian angel has surely suffered many bruises and busted bones.
Carlos Tarrats Still Life
(image credits:Carlos Tarrats)
Carlos Tarrats is a still life fine art photographer. His images are not digital manipulations but are constructed on a set and then printed digitally onto Kodak photographic paper. Much of his focus is on the versatility of plant life and serves as his main subject. When he holds his camera, he is considering life, death, hope and conflict. The protagonist is his photos, plants, may end up visually distorted, however he is shooting to give his viewer’s imagination a big dose of hope. “Hope is the possibility for something else, not necessarily something better and yet not necessarily something worse. Whether one is better than the other depends on one’s perception. It’s the uncertainty of the situation that gives the image tension and creates conflict.”
Mary Ellen Mark
(image credits:Mary Ellen Mark Gallery)
Mary Ellen Mark is an influential fine art photographer with a high degree of humanism. Through her travels and her pictures, she documents diverse cultures throughout our world. Her photo-essays include such work as bringing an Indian Circus and the lives of men, women, and children who work and live there into households and galleries for all to see. She captured one of her mentors and respected colleagues, Ansel Adams, in the upper left photo.
Grace Weston Constructed Fine Art Photographer
(image credits:Grace Weston)
From the serious to the loopy, Grace Weston focuses on constructed fine art photographs. Her creativity might make you smile or make you scratch your head and think, hmm. Through her fictions, she stabs at the truth. Weston states, ‘Child-like fantasy scenes are punctuated with anxieties common to adulthood: choices must be made, demons haunt us, beauty conceals danger, the end of the world is near, and perhaps God does not have our best interests in mind. Picasso said, “Art is a lie that tells the truth”. I make up visual stories that address the dilemmas, illusions and fears that at once seem so personal, yet are also universal.’ In the upper left she presents Couples Therapy, while Winter Thaw is in the upper right. Heaven Help Us is at the bottom left and Winter Wish Winter Dream is at the bottom right.
