Photography Masters

Biography: Pictorial photographer Harold Cazneaux

Biography: Pictorial photographer Harold Cazneaux

Harold Cazneaux (1878 – 1953) was an Australian pictorialist photographer; a pioneer whose style had an indelible impact on the development of Australian photographic history. Cazneaux moved to Sydney in 1904 and worked in Freeman & Co. Ltd’s studio, becoming manager and chief operator. On 1 September 1905 at Lewisham he married Mabel Winifred Hodge. In his leisure time he…
Biography: Nudes/Portrait photographer Andre de Dienes

Biography: Nudes/Portrait photographer Andre de Dienes

Andre de Dienes (1913 – 1985) was a Romanian American photographer, noted for his work with Marilyn Monroe and his nude photography. Born in Romania, André De Dienes arrived in Paris in 1933, making a living of selling photographs to publishing houses. He worked for The Associated Press until 1936 when the famous Parisian couturier, Edward Molyneux, encouraged De Dienes…
Biography: German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch

Biography: German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch

Albert Renger-Patzsch (1897 – 1966) was a German photographer associated with the New Objectivity. Renger-Patzsch experimented with photography as a teenager. After serving in World War I, he studied chemistry at Dresden Technical College. In 1920 he became director of the picture archive at the Folkwang publishing house in Hagen. In 1925 Renger-Patzsch began to pursue photography as a full-time…
Biography: Architecture photographer Drahomir Josef Ruzicka

Biography: Architecture photographer Drahomir Josef Ruzicka

Drahomír Joseph Ruzicka (1870 – 1960) was born in Bohemia. At age six he moved with his family to a farm near Wahoo, Nebraska, a state that drew many Czech immigrants. In 1882, the young Ruzicka went to New York to finish high school, then to Vienna for college, and graduated from New York University with a medical degree in…
Biography: photographer of Nudes – Bob Carlos Clarke

Biography: photographer of Nudes – Bob Carlos Clarke

Bob Carlos Clarke (born 24 June 1950 in Cork, Ireland – died 25 March 2006) was a prolific photographer, described as “Britain’s answer to Helmut Newton”. In his short life he had a strong impact upon and influenced the development of photography from the late 20th Century through to the present day.
Biography: photojournalist George Rodger

Biography: photojournalist George Rodger

George Rodger (19 March 1908 – 24 July 1995) was a British photojournalist noted for his work in Africa and for taking photographs of the death camps at Bergen-Belsen at the end of the Second World War. His pictures of the London blitz brought him to the attention of Life magazine, and he became a war correspondent. He won eighteen…
Biography: Pictorial Portrait photographer William Mortensen

Biography: Pictorial Portrait photographer William Mortensen

William Mortensen (1897-1965) was an American art photographer, primarily known for his Hollywood portraits in the 1920s-1940s in the pictorialist style. Mortensen began his photographic career taking portraits of Hollywood actors and film stills. In 1931 he moved to the artist community of Laguna Beach, California, where he opened a studio and the William Mortensen School of Photography. He preferred…
Biography: Pictorial photographer Jozef Emiel Borrenbergen

Biography: Pictorial photographer Jozef Emiel Borrenbergen

Jozef Emiel Borrenbergen (Antwerp, 1884-1965), was one of the leading early amateur photographers in Belgium. He saw all important periods in photography since the turn of the century and marvelously adapted to new styles and techniques. He was the editor of the magazine “Fotokunst” (1924-1939) and presided the Photographic Cercle “Iris” in Antwerp for many years. His work was found…
Biography: Documentary photographer Ernö Vadas

Biography: Documentary photographer Ernö Vadas

Ernö Vadas (Nagykanizsa, 17 December 1899 – Budapest, 30 May 1962) studied photography with Rudolf Balogh. He became one of the most successful photographers of the interbellum. His photos are characterized by the bold use of light and shadow. In 1934, readers of the magazine Die Galerie awarded Vadas first prize, and the Royal Photographic Society awarded him its Emerson…
Biography: Pioneer War photographer Roger Fenton

Biography: Pioneer War photographer Roger Fenton

Roger Fenton (1819–1869) is a towering figure in the history of photography, the most celebrated and influential photographer in England during the medium’s “golden age” of the 1850s. Before taking up the camera, he studied law in London and painting in Paris. He traveled to Russia in 1852 and photographed the landmarks of Kiev and Moscow; founded the Photographic Society…
Biography: Portrait photographer Helmar Lerski

Biography: Portrait photographer Helmar Lerski

Helmar Lerski (1871-1956) who was born in Strasbourg in 1871 as Israel Schmuklerski and whose hometown was Zurich, is among the international classic photographers in the history of the medium. The Schmuklerski family settled in Zurich in 1876. Helmar’s father, a small-time textile dealer, was “the first Polish Jew” to be granted the civil rights of the City of Zurich.…
Biography: 19th Century photographer of Nudes – Bruno Braquehais

Biography: 19th Century photographer of Nudes – Bruno Braquehais

Auguste Bruno Braquehais (1823-1875) was a French photographer active primarily in Paris in the mid-19th century. His photographic work documenting the 1871 Paris Commune is considered an important early example of photojournalism. While largely forgotten after his death, his work was rediscovered during preparations for the Commune’s centennial in 1971, and his photographs have since been the exhibited at numerous…
Biography: Documentary photographer Arnold Genthe

Biography: Documentary photographer Arnold Genthe

Arnold Genthe (January 8, 1869 – August 9, 1942) was a German photographer, best known for his photos of San Francisco’s Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities.
Biography: Architecture photographer Frederick H. Evans

Biography: Architecture photographer Frederick H. Evans

Frederick H. Evans (26 June 1853, London – 24 June 1943, London) was a British photographer best known for his platinum prints of architectural interiors of English and French cathedrals. Before devoting his time solely to the art of photography, Evans owned a small bookshop in London where many artists and writers, including George Bernard Shaw and Aubrey Beardsley, came…
Biography: Documentary / People photographer John Albok

Biography: Documentary / People photographer John Albok

John Albok (1894–1982) was a Hungarian photographer who immigrated to the United States and documented street scenes in New York City during the Great Depression and later. For sixty years, using a 5 x 7 view camera and then a twin lens reflex camera, Albok took as his subject people and passersby outside his shop, and New York City life…
Biography: Photojournalist Morris Engel

Biography: Photojournalist Morris Engel

Morris Engel (April 8, 1918 – 5 March, 2005) was an American photographer. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School and joined the Photo League in 1936 where he met Aaron Siskind and Paul Strand who became major influences in his life. He worked on the paper PM, and then enlisted in the Navy, where he was a combat photographer. He…
Biography: Nude photographer Julien Vallou de Villeneuve

Biography: Nude photographer Julien Vallou de Villeneuve

Julien Vallou de Villeneuve (1795 – 1866) was a French photographer. He started his career at the Salon of 1814, exhibiting images depicting daily life, fashion, regional costumes and nude photographs. In the 1820s and 30s he developed an international following for his folio-sized lithographic erotic series Les Jeunes Femmes, depicting racy episodes in the life of young women and…
Biography: Mountain photographer Vittorio Sella

Biography: Mountain photographer Vittorio Sella

Vittorio Sella (1859 – 1943) was an Italian photographer and mountaineer, who took photographs of mountains which are regarded as some of the finest ever made. Born in Biella in the foothills of the Alps, Sella made a number of significant climbs from a young age. He was the first person to make a winter ascent opf the Matterhorn and…
Biography: Pictorial photographer Robert Demachy

Biography: Pictorial photographer Robert Demachy

Robert Demachy (1859–1936) was a French Pictorial photographer of the late 19th and early 20th century. He is best known for his intensely manipulated prints that display a distinct painterly quality. He was influenced by the Impressionist painters and spent most of his time making photographs and developing his theories on photography, both technical and aesthetic. He wrote thousands of…