Exploring photography as an art form
- Edward Weston - Pepper, 1930. Interested in forms. Not what they meant, but how they looked. The female body showing different forms, shapes, and shadows.
- Ansel Adams - Moon and Half Dome, 1960. Interested in photographing a specific moment. Used enormous negatives in capturing western landscapes. He brought technical expertise to black and white photography.
- Henry Cartier-Bresson - Behind the Saint-Lazare station, Paris, France, 1932. Captured street scenes, pictures in "the decisive moment". He was the first to use out of focus. Alberto Giacometti, Paris, France, 1932.
- Ouiji - Shot tabloid style street scenes. Had a reputation for being first at the scene to photograph the event. He had special permission to have a police scanner. Immoral, shock value subject matter.
- Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother, 1936. Also documents the instant, but more moral than Ouiji. She was more socially engaged...brought the public's attention to the desperate situation of displaced farmers and migrant workers.
- Walker Evans - Alabama Tenant Farmer Wife, Allie Mae Burroughs, 1936. Worked for the Farm Security Administration. Photographs were documents of social commentary during the depression era but were produced immaculately and are works of art.
- Sherry Levine - After Walker Evans, 1981. There was an erosion of original photography in the 70s and 80s which produced appropriation art. She took photographs of Walker Evans female sharecropper from a book and claimed it as her own.
- Richard Prince - Untitled (Cowboy), 1989. Took photographs of magazine advertisements and re-generated them with enormous scale and color. They were so large that they could compete with paintings. Unlike Levine, he was very successful with his appropriated art and commanded respect as a pop artist.
- Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Still, 1978. She photographs herself as 1950s style actresses in the city. She explores the idea of personal identity. Tries on different female personas. Untitled #477 (Cowgirl), 2008.
- Yasumasa Morimura - Daughter of Art History, 1980s. Japanese artist who inserts himself into well-known western art. Cross dressing and cross culture.
- Thomas Devanz - Builds elaborate paper constructions and photographs them.
- David Levanthal and Gary Trudeau - Used historical war photographs as guides to set up toys in realistic war scenes and photographed them.
- Jeff Wall - Milk, 1984. Brought a lot of attention to photography. Printed on big pieces of plexiglass and light them from behind creating a very theatrical affect. Took photos of staged situations unlike Cartier-Bresson who captured the instant.
- Nan Goldin - The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Less edited pursuit of the darker side of personal lives. By using a slide show format individual photos need not all be good because they are seen as a whole.
- Robert Mapplethorpe - Ken Moody and Robert Sherman, 1984. Voyeuristic approach, S&M scene. Documents ideas that push societal buttons. Produced beautifully crafted black and white images.
- Wolfgang Tillmans - Scrapbook type photos and tacked to wall in an undiscriminating way. Didn't throw away even bad pictures. Took pictures of friends and travels that document his life. Used large and small scale.
- Richard Billingham - Untitled/Ray's a Laugh, 1995. Took pictures of his family and home life. His father was an alcoholic, lower class people. Insider perspective, funny but sad.
- Beckers - Gas Tank, 1983. No people, no atmosphere, nothing. This technique made people see what they wanted them to see without distraction.
- Thomas Struth - Art Institute of Chicago II, Chicago, 1990. Took photos of famous artworks not as the art but as if you went there physically, like a vacation photo. Large scale.
- Martin Parr - Kitsch, took pictures with hot colors.
- Dave Anderson - Call Dr. Shrimp, 2006. Looks for the oddball things in life.
- Andre Serrano - Piss Christ, 1987. Christ in a jar of piss. Takes pictures that are hard to look at. Questions what we are allowed to look at...loaded. Large scale.
- Martin Carr - Antique style photos, dramatic, flare for the macabre.
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