Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Behind the Gare St. Lazare
France
1933

Henri Cartier-Bresson
France
The Var Department
1932

Cartier-Bresson is possibly the first photographer whos work I fell in love with. Joel Meyerowitz put it brilliantly in The Genius of Photography, episode three, by saying "Bressons pictures where about being in the right place at the right time, He could step into a space and see the theatrical possibilities." Bresson would see the composition and then stop and think, what could happen here? I think this is a brilliant way of working which prepares the photographer for those desisive moments which can happen in a fraction of a second.

La Haine

La Haine (Hate)
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
France
1995

Another film that I believe is heavily influenced by photography. This time shot completely in black and white, this film follows the journey of a trio of teenage destitutes thoughout a 24 hour episode. I thouroughly recommend watching!

American History X

American History X
Directed by Tony Kaye
USA
1998

I first watched American History X a few years ago but re-visited it a last Monday and absolutely loved the flashback scenes which are all shot in black and white. I couldn't find much background on the director but its possible that he is heavily influenced by black and white photography. It was hard for me to miss the connection this time round. What an awesome film!

Robert Capa

Robert Capa
The Falling Soldier
Cerro Muriano, Cordoba front
Spain
1936

Robert Capa
Omaha Beach, Normandy Coast
France
6 June 1944

Thomas Dworzak

I Have recently being watching a lot of Magnum's In Motion essays and found this one on the georgian conflict titled A Georgian Diary, by Thomas Dworzak, very interesting.

Stuart Franklin

Stuart Franklin
Tiananman Square
1989
Beijing, China

What interests me about this image is that Charlie Cole took and published a similar image that went on to win the World Press Photo award but Franklin's image seems to be re-produced far more often. Extreme case of right place right time perhaps?

1989 - World Press Photo, Charlie Cole

I read in the book Magnum Stories that Cole and Franklin were actually sharing the same hotel room and the two obviously saw an opportunity to shoot and as a result took similar images.

M. C. Escher

M. C. Escher
Ascending and Descending
1960

M. C. Escher
Drawing Hands
1948

I first looked at Escher's work during my GSCE art course at high school. I was doing a self portrait project and used the above image as my main ifluence. This time I used his work as inspiration to my found objects project which focused on our perceptions on reality.

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson
Untitled
Summer 2004

Gregory Crewdson
Untitled
Summer 2004

Gregory Crewdson
Untitled
Summer 2001

Laura Letinsky

Laura Letinsky
Untitled #43
Rome
2001

I looked at Laura Letinsky's work throughout my still life module and was very interested in her fine art roots in which I share. Her contempory still life's draw influence from the Dutch 17th Century Golden Age of Painting.

Laura Letinsky
Untitled #60
2002

Arthur Tress

Arthur Tress
Flying Dreams
1971
Queens, New York

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon
Figure with Meat
1954

I recall seeing a collection of his work at the Tate when visiting London with my college during my study of A level art and was instantly struck by the nightmarish manner of his work and the impact it had on me. After reading John Russell's Francis Bacon I was really intrigued about the links with World War II and Mussolini.

Francis Bacon
Study after Velazquez's portrait of pope Innocent X
1953

I have been a huge fan of Francis Bacon's work ever since the beginning of my GCSE art course during high school. His work continued to influence me throughout my performance piece of work.

Heath Ledger's Joker

Heath Ledger's Joker
Makeup by Lindy Hemming
2008
From The Dark Knight Film

Like many around the world, I was shocked by Heath Ledgers untimely death. This fueled my performance piece and linked with the work of francis bacon to convey the idea of being trapped behind an outer shell and masks.

Doug Keyes

Doug Keyes
2001
From Collective Memories Series

I looked at his work after looking at the work of Ken Kitano. Their work has very dreamy qualities which I think is achieved from the multiple exposure/sandwich negative process. Like Kitano I used Doug Keyes' work to fit in with my negative construction project

Ken Kitano

Ken Kitano
From Our Face Series

Ken Kitano
From Our Face Series

Ken Kitano
From Our Face Series

I saw this print during the Paris Photo exhibition and knew it would be highly influencial towards my neagative construction body of work.

Simon Norfolk

Simon Norfolk
September - November 2002
Afganistan
From Afganistan: Chronotopia Series

Simon Norfolk
September - November 2002
Afganistan
From Afganistan: Chronotopia Series

I was first introduced to his work at an exhibition called Aftermath at Norwich's Sainsbury Center. The collection of work was all about the followings of war and conflict, it included many paintings, installations and video work. His work was particularly striking to me because I had been working on a self initiated project about Decay and Desolation.

Robert Polidori

Robert Polidori
New Orleans, America
2005 - 2006
From After the Flood Series

Robert Polidori
New Orleans, America
2005 - 2006
From After the Flood Series

I came across Polidori's work whilst looking at photographer Simon Norfolk. I feel the two work in a very similar fashion to one another, both using colour film and shooting with large format cameras.

Lewis Baltz

Lewis Baltz
West Wall, Costa Mesa, America
1974
From New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California Series

Lewis Batlz
East Main Street, California, America
1974
From New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California Series