Finding inspiration ( a few people to check out)

 I think we all want to that magical well and reach in there and pull up a big old bucket of inspiration it doesn't matter what art we love. But its hard work that brings the muse out to play.  However I think there is great value in having icons that you look to that you find personal inspiration from. 

Michael Freeman I find to be technically amazing. His books on exposure, composition, story and even the mind all go to helping you understand what it takes to make a great photo. I find his work challenging me to improve so that I can turn to his lessons over and over again to find new ways to technically hone my skills. 

Bryan Peterson. What can I say, it’s this man that got me to actually have an understanding of f-stop, iso and shutter speed.  Where before I had just thought it’s too complicated he broke it down and made it all accessible. It’s his books that I hand to people and tell them. “Here this is where you start.”

My purpose in photography and my deep love of photography as it were was founded when I started to read the David Duchemin series of books and now eBooks and videos. He is the one who laid it all out on how you take a craft and make it into an art. I would seriously suggest anyone who loves photography should at least read one of his books.

 On the web I have found a number of number of people who have shown me how they can inspire through their craft how beautiful great photography can be. 500px is an amazing site and  is a photographers paradise. However where I show my stuff and where I spend the most time is G+.  I find the photographic style of Allister Freeman to be mesmerizing  in his documentary wedding work which I hope to emulate. Joanna Kustra  portraits  I find to be sublime and  arresting. Annie Leibovitz who although world famous, I really discovered after I purchased one of her large art works And I saw  how she really captured the soul of her people and uplifted the subjects  as well as made them more human than human.

Ami Vitale. I saw her at CES  of all places and now following her on Google +, she works with Duchemin and a Nikon Star as well as a National Geographic photographer. She has captured the magic of the moment with people with dignity and grace. Ruslan Hrushchak is an amateur photographer but really he is always a bit more and his work show great deliberation and effort.  Juan Gonzalez out of Texas does these amazing captures that leave me thinking I need to try a little harder. Thomas Leuthard street work always puts me in the mood to push a little deeper into the frame fearlessly, Sanaz Solhdoust has sublime photographs, Yuriy Kurnosov’s works are hauntingly beautiful. Hopefully you might try and follow some of these people because I think they have a lot to say and help us be a bit inspired to go up a level.