When you want to up your game...

[PhotoSamJ]

Which photographers inspire you and why? When asked who is your mentor, what is your answer? Do you actively seek out new inspiration/motivation based on today's top level photographers or prior famous/infamous photographers. If your work could have been or is the "Ansel Adams of photography" who would have been or is in the quotes""

Just thinking out loud. If you don't mind.

Sam

[celticmama36]

I want to be like Ansel...I love the way he captured nature.

Of current great photographers, I aspire to be like Roman Johnston. His work is magnificent! Why? Because his mastery of colors in digital photography is the best that I've seen in a long time. His photography pulls me in and makes me miss a place that I've never even been to. It makes you HAVE to be there. If you close your eyes after viewing his landscapes, you can smell the nature, hear the water in the falls, feel the breeze. It is wonderful. I want to be like him when I grow up. I think Ansel would understand. :)

[brad]

Classic photographers: Cartier-Bresson. His goal to capture "The Decisive Moment" sings to me and adds life to his photographs.

Current photographers: Joe McNally. The things this guy can do with small strobes is amazing.. but even more amazing is the creativity inside that head. He can visualize a final product in a way that leaves other people scratching their heads and thinking "WTF?"

[Tom]

All-time favorite: Alfred Eisenstaedt

[texxter]

Irving Penn, Albert Watson, Arnold Newman, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Mapplethorpe, Eugene Smith, are among my favorites.