I thought I would share with you some of my favourite photographers who have a variety of styles and aims. From a prestigious wildlife photographer mixing with celebrities to smaller YouTube creators/ analog photographers, most of these individuals are impactful in more ways than one through their work and are all amazingly talented artists who create awe-inspiring images.
Joe Greer
The YouTube creator and film photographer Joe Greer has a wide variety of creative outlets when it comes to his photography. He not only takes beautiful portraits, mainly of his wife Maddie, but also gorgeous landscapes and captivating city snaps. However, it is for his street photography that I admire him most.
The free-lance photographer living and working in Brooklyn, New York, perfectly captures the chaos of the city in slowed-down moments. He has expressed his love of photographing hands and feet: the details that are often missed in such a fast-paced lifestyle. Joe describes himself as a 'life photographer' which is evident when looking through his work. His ability to capture raw moments that occur for a split-second, but appear like crafted works of art, is incredible.
Joe mainly shoots on his Leica M6 film camera and often captures his journey of photographing the streets of New York on his Go-Pro. This means that watching his YouTube videos gives an insight into how quickly he documents moments in time and completely immerses himself in the buzz of life.
Much of his photography is popping with bright colours and many appear to adorn an angelic haze that makes his photographs appear developed straight from a used 1970's film-roll. Some of my favourite photographs of his have a washed-out feel, like he's capturing a dream. Greer also skilfully knows when a photograph would have a greater impact being stripped of colour and for this reason his black-and-white photography is also captivating. Joe's ability to capture architecture and landscapes is also exquisite: most of these photographs look like paintings straight out of a fairytale.
Mustafa Çankaya
In his home city of Istanbul, Çankaya began a project in March 2018 to attempt to shoot 100 people from 100 countries. He began his Instagram page @100faces100 countries and has since taken 117 portraits of people from 77 countries and continues his work to reach 100. All of these portraits are taken at his workplace, Istanbul's Ataturk airport, and Mustafa documents strangers that are passing through, whether for study, leisure or business purposes.
His project is so interesting to me because there is no other opportunity to really study the face of a stranger in such a raw and stripped-back way. Without the hours of production that go into professional shoots, Çankaya captures people as they are: without the makeup, fancy lighting or photoshopping.
Mustafa takes an intimate close up that he later puts in black-and-white, to emphasise the details of the stranger's face, along with a wider shot, that is less formal, that he leaves in colour. This captures the individual's body language, the wider context of how he found them and appears as they normally would, if you were to walk past them at an airport yourself. I think both shots are equally as important and captivating.
As Mustafa documents these people that have come together in this one place and pass each other without knowing, he showcases their unique beauty and includes a few lines telling his audience what their name is, where they have come from, where they are going and for what reason. His work is fascinating and I can scroll for hours through the many photographs and descriptions.
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David Yarrow
An amazingly talented wildlife photographer, David Yarrow travels around the world capturing the beauty of wild animals. The amount of detail in Yarrow's work is astonishing, it feels like you're coming face-to-face with these animals. What I love so much about his work is that it seems to celebrate the majesty of these animals rather than degrade them to our creative subjects. Yarrow's use of low-camera angles or capturing elephants and lions as though they are dominating the frame, and their environment, shows how much he respects them.
David Yarrow worked for the London Times in his early twenties and has now become one of the world's leading fine-art photographers. His many exhibitions and auctions have sold his prints for thousands: one print signed by Leonardo Di Caprio and Martin Scorsese sold for $200,000. Moving in celebrity circles, Yarrow recently took Brooklyn Beckham with him on one of his shoots as a young apprentice.
The most wonderful thing about David Yarrow's photography is the impact that it is making. He is the ambassador for WildArk, who work to conserve the rainforests and encourage biodiversity, as well as The Kevin Richardson Foundation who focus on wildlife conservation, specialising in lions. Yarrow's awe-inspiring photography not only exhibits the majesty of these creatures but also contributes to protecting them.
Yarrow has also recently been raising money for the NHS in his Art for Heroes campaign which has since surpassed the £1m target.
Jessica Kobeissi
Arab-American photographer living in Detroit, Jessica Kobeissi holds a special place in my heart. She was the first photographer that I started to follow and admire on YouTube and I still adore her work today. Specialising in portrait photography, Kobeissi documents eclectic fashions and locations whilst often playing around with the use of light.
Jessica has the most beautiful website that reminds me of the photographs in Vogue, where she posts all of her work. Her style is colourful and at times eccentric and diverse. Her YouTube channel is enjoyable and immersive to watch- some of my favourite videos being those where her and two fellow photographers take photos of the same model, outfit and location to showcase their different styles, use of angles and props.
Styling the models herself, choosing the location, lighting, and later editing them herself, Jessica is like her own production team as she creates these beautiful images. Kobeissi also has made more spontaneous videos of her asking to photograph strangers in the streets of Japan: different to her usual planned shoots.
Willem Verbeeck
Part of the NYC photography team, and friends with Joe Greer, Willem Verbeeck also has a YouTube channel, however, his not only showcases his work but also advises beginners on what film is best to buy as well as camera reviews and even a guide on how to develop your own film at home. When I think of Willem's photography I think of his use of light. Most significantly his night photography and photo series 'Walking Svalbard' in which he photographs the architecture of Longyearbyen, the world's northern most town, in the winter months when the inhabitants have 24-hours of constant darkness.
His pictures capture light in so many ways from the soft haze of a street light to the stark contrast of heavily lit windows against the dark night. I particularly love his shot of the seed vault in Longyearbyen which casts blue and purple lights onto the snowy landscape. The picture is so beautiful, I first thought he was capturing the glow of the Northern Lights until I read his description.
I would consider most of Willem's photography to be minimalist. Whereas Joe Greer seems to be attracted to a busy frame, Willem appears to focus on a single thing. Many of his subjects are objects that are left behind or scenarios that seem abandoned, almost as if he is photographing a world without inhabitants. If Joe Greer's photography was a person, it would be an extrovert and Willem Verbeeck's would be its introverted friend.
Miheala Noroc
Harkening to Çankaya's '100 faces, 100 countries' project, Miheala Noroc has the same concept but on a wider scale. The photographer from Bucharest, Romania quit her job when she was 27 and decided to make a living from travel and photography. She decided to document women, that were all strangers, in the different countries she visited. Collating them in a fantastic photography book, titled 'The Atlas of Beauty', Noroc's photos are full of colour and culture, exhibiting women of all ages, religions and ethnicities.
Like Çankaya, Noroc also gets to know the strangers that she documents, however in a lot more detail. If you don't fancy purchasing her book, her website theatlasofbeauty.com exhibits many of her photographs and details about the women that feature in them. Reading through these powerful personal stories- 500 of them in her book!- you really feel connected to these women and what they have experienced. I find it interesting to examine the photos before and after you read their descriptions and notice how different the individual appears once you know something about their life.
Every one of Noroc's photos is beautiful in a different way. She describes wanting to capture 'the unnoticed beauty which blooms in every woman' and states that she wishes to document 'their inner and outer beauty' by including their stories as well as their physical appearance. I love how Miheala's work not only empowers women, by featuring hundreds of mothers, workers and activists, but also celebrates the diversity of the human race and its cultural richness.
All of these photographers are incredibly talented in their own ways and I adore how they all individually choose to document life. From vibrant and colourful portraits to black-and-white impactful details, these images are memorable, educating and gorgeously executed. All of these individuals have pages and pages of incredible work that I haven't shown on here, so have a look at some of their websites or instagram pages, or even purchase The Atlas of Beauty, Walking Svalbard or Joe Greer's 'NYC, I love you', and enjoy!
Cover photo by Joe Greer: https://www.lensculture.com/joe-greer
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