# 9 - Eikoh Hosoe

Eikoh Hosoe is a post war Japanese Photographers and a filmmaker who recognised for the effect of psychological that explores of a mature themes such as death and erotic. He was born as Toshihio Hosoe but changed it after the war to create a new brand of himself. With the new change of his name, it would also means for a new start for Japan after the Second World War. 

His color scheme is black&white. It is used to create emotion in his photos. Ironically, I can sense humour in his photos even though it has a dark setting.  I think his light setting in his photographs are very well executed because in most of his photographs, the light plays the focal point in his photographs. Because it has no colors, the light has play a role in capturing the emotions of the peoples. 

Source: Clair.me/Portfolio of Eikoh Hosoe 

#8 - Edward Wetson

Edward Weston is an American who is dubbed as one of the innovative and the influential photographers in the 20th Century. His work has explored in a different subjects including landscape, still life, portraits and quirky themes. 

Edward uses visual elements such as such lines and distinctive forms in his vegetables series photography. That is one of the style that he uses in his famous and iconic photographs which he manages to see the beauty of the vegetables. 

I see him playing with the color elements of monochrome to create a mysterious and peculiar feeling. Like for an example, his well-known 'Pepper no.30 ' photograph, one would not know it was a picture of that certain vegetable unless it is looked upon closer. It's intriguing how he is able to make something a household name like our ingredient into something extraordinary. 

Source : Edward Weston's website 

#7 - Ralph Gibson

Ralph Gibson is an American photographer who often incorporates the narrative tone with the slight hint mixture of naughtiness and puzzling undertone. He quotes his inspirations for his photography from the works of Eugene Atget ' Vision of Paris', Evan Walker 'American Photographs' Henri Cartier- Bresson 'Defensive Moments'.

He also explores with the usages of lights with his subjects, creating a contrast between highlight and shadows in his black and white photographs. I could sense the theme of obscure and isolation in his photos. Even though the photos I chose has just two main colors : - black & white, I think he has expresses different emotions in the photos. I wonder what was his vision behind his narrative photos and how much are we allowed to figure out his meaning or how to interpret his photos as they are quite vague and at first, it makes me wonder how does people view this photos as an art? Was it his experimentation of trying to be out of the box? Playing with the cheeky elements that would convey as a taboo at first? 

Source: Ralph Gibson's website 

#6 - Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson is an American photographer who specialised in Fine Art and landscape photography, His photographs are dubbed as 'dramatic' and 'cinematic'. He elaborately stages his scenes that portrayed a surreal narrative scenes of everyday's life with this big crew. I think his production must have invested in a huge sum of money for his photo shoots. 

His inspirations were from the painter, Edward Hopper and photographer, Diane Arbus along with movie such as Vertigo, The Night of The Hunter, Close Encounter of the Third Kind and Blue Velvet. 

In this photographs, we can see he uses the dark setting of dimly lighted room with the subject as the focal point, looking dazed. The subjects portrays emotions of anxiety, fear. I think. He uses colors, I think to show the comparison of contrast. He also quotes on how 'he finds beauty and mystery in his everyday life' 

I find his photography to be mysterious as if he is visually capturing an untold story with his camera. Knowing how much dedication he has for his art, I respect him for that dedication. 

#5 - Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin is an American photographer whose works usually features LGBT-themed, images or public figure. Her photographs are raw images of sexuality and desires. Her early influences are Andy Warhol early films, Federico Fellini, Jack Smith French and Italian Vogue, Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton 

I see her main works would features topics that people would hinder away from as it was being too controversial and label as taboo. But she believed it would be as she quoted, 'it's all about love and our search for intimacy' 

Her famous works titled ' The Ballad of the sexual Dependency' are works that depicts of the love, violence, drugs between lovers and friends

Nan's works features honesty, as she wants to capture the photos in the best way she could without all the glitz and glam and composed subjects. I like how she steps out from her boundaries, her 4 walls to venture. I think this is what made her work to be quite special as it teaches us that everyone are just the same We may look different or act different, we are special in our own way. 

Source: Nan Goldin art net 

#4 - Mika Ninagawa

Mika Ninagawa is an Japanese photographer and director who is well known for the usage of bold colours and vibrant visuals. She also directs movies using her own style. She uses a a lot of flower elements and goldfishes in her works. 

She also explores a wide range of Japanese cultures with a slight touch of eroticism. Her visuals are quite eye-catching and mimics a 'feminine' style. Mika Ninagawa has uses the visual element of colors and shown that the world isn't all that black&white.

Obviously, I could see how much colors plays a part of her life and how much she is highly influenced with just playing with it, dabbling in her works. She has also created a beauty in a life. Her fantasy photographs is a comparison between real and fiction. They are also highly well-composed. 

As a graphic artist who loves colors, I admire her works the most and am truly inspired. Colors takes a lot of courage to dabble on and I want to showcase more of the colors to brighten up in people's everyday mudane life. 

Source : Mika Ninagawa's official website 

#3 - Heri Cartier Bresson

Henri Cartier Bresson is a french photographer whose works helps to define the creative potential of modern photography. His works has influenced many photographers to be experimental and explore. He was inspired by an Hungarian photographer, Martin Munkasci.

I chose him because he experiments well with the usage of visual elements of shapes in his photographs. Henri Cartier Bresson uses basic shapes & geometry. With this tools, it would create a consistency in the photograph. The composition and the subjects looks very natural in the photographs even though it can be labeled as candid. As in the past,colors are not usually used and even with Black&white color scheme, we can sense the different emotions going through in the photographs. 

I felt simplicity in his photographs. It might be overcrowded with many subjects in it. I think I can sense a solitude in his photographs as well. Reading through how he didn't just hold any thoughts to his photographs, I wonder why? 

Source: Henri Cartier Bresson