In the modern world, photography is a popular and very widespread branch of art, which continues to actively develop and delight with new discoveries and creations. It seems that why so much enthusiasm around ordinary photography, can it be compared with a picture in which the artist invests a lot of time, soul and effort?

But not everything is so simple, talented photographs can hardly be called “simple”, in order for the frame to come out really bewitching, the master must be a true connoisseur of the moment, be able to catch beauty where it remains invisible to an ordinary person, and then present it so that it becomes available to the wide the masses. Is this not art?

Today we will talk about the most talented and famous fashion photographers who managed to turn the familiar world of photography, bring something new, and also get recognition from the whole world.

These people cooperate with the most famous glossy publications in the world, the most famous advertising campaigns of the leading companies of our time are created by their hands, the most famous and wealthy people of the planet strive to get to shoot with them. Isn't that enough to cause everyone's admiration?

1. Annie Leibnovitz

Our top 10 is opened by one of the highest paid and most sought after craftsmen, Annie Leibovitz. Each of her works is a recognized work of art, which is admired by even the most ignorant viewers.

While Annie is a master of portraiture, she excels in many other genres. Music stars, famous actors, models, as well as members of her family visited her lens, while everyone who was there became a part of something perfect and extraordinary.

Among them are Queen Elizabeth II, Michael Jackson, George Clooney, Uma Thurman, Natalia Vodianova, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and many others.

1. Patrick Demarchelier

One of the most famous and sought-after French photographers, who started shooting back in the distant 80s and quickly managed to achieve success. Very soon, his pictures began to appear in Glamour, Elle, and a little later - Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

To get into his lens is the dream of any model, and cult fashion houses from all over the world fought for the right to get a meter to shoot the next advertising campaign. At one time he was the personal photographer of Princess Diana, he photographed a very young Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and more than once worked with Madonna, Scarlett Johansson and other stars of modern Hollywood.

1. Mario Testino

One of the most famous British photographers, is the winner of many prestigious awards. An interesting fact is that Mario became a photographer, in principle, by accident, his family was far from the world of art, and the path that he had to go through to achieve success turned out to be very thorny. But it was worth it!

Today, Testino's work can be found in almost every glossy publication, he has worked with most of the most famous and popular models, became the favorite photographer of Kate Moss, and is also known for his magnificent photographs of the royal family.

1. Peter Lindberg

Another world celebrity, winner of many awards and just a talented person. Peter, to a greater extent, became famous as a master of black and white photography, an opponent of the worldwide passion for Photoshop, and therefore prefers to look for perfection in imperfection.

1. Stephen Meisel

Considered one of the most popular fashion photographers, he is known for his unique photo shoots for Vogue magazine, as well as a series of very provocative shots for Madonna's book. His works cause a very wide resonance in the public world, however, most of his works continue to be published in fashion publications.

1. Ellen von Unwerth

A popular German photographer known for her passion for erotic and staged subjects. Particular success came to Ellen after shooting Claudia Schiffer for Guess. After that, offers poured in, and her work constantly appears in publications such as Vanity Fair, The Face, Vogue and many others.

1. Paolo Roversi

In the fashion world, he is known as one of the most mysterious and inaccessible personalities. Few people know this photographer by sight, but many know his signature style, and his work is strikingly different from the typical magazine “stamping”.

His extraordinary long-exposure work is one of the finest and most magnificent images produced in the last century.

1. Tim Walker

British photographer who gained his popularity thanks to the fabulous style in which most of his work is created: the directions of surrealism and rococo. As the author himself says, he is often inspired by literary heroes and fairy-tale characters, which is probably why each of his photographs is a whole story.

It is also noteworthy that Walker does not like photoshop, and therefore, to create his unique works, he tries to use real props and the game of lighting.

1. Mert and Marcus

One of the most famous and best photo duets, whose work is always recognizable and in demand no less than the work of their older colleagues. Known for their bright, outrageous and often provocative photographs, all the most beautiful divas of our planet lit up in their lenses: Kate Moss, Jennifer Lopez, Gisele Bundchen, Natalia Vodianova and many others.

1. Inez and Vinood

Another talented photo duet, whose members are employees and have been creating masterpieces for over 30 years. Like most of the above colleagues, they collaborate with the most fashionable glossy publications, shoot advertising campaigns for Isabel Marant and YSL, and are also one of Lady Gaga's favorite photographers.

We have already talked about people's predilection for deriving all sorts of ratings and top lists, on the "best", "great", "famous", etc. We talked about and. Today we will talk about the most, in our opinion, the most influential photographers of all time. Let's talk about ten photographers who have had the greatest influence on the development of photography as an art.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Richard Avedon

In the first position of influential photographers is an American photographer - Richard Avedon (Richard Avedon). Avedon is an American fashion and portrait photographer who defined the American style, image, beauty and culture of the second half of the 20th century with his work. Avedon was the epitome of a modern photographer - charming and elegant. He easily mixed photographic genres and created successful, commercial, iconic, memorable images. He was the first to take a wide-format portrait, against a stark white background, using two images in one frame, allowing the portrait story to be told in one shot.

Official site

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - William Eugene Smith

American photojournalist William Eugene Smith continues the list of influential photographers. Smith was obsessed with his work, he refused to make any professional compromise. He went down in history with truthful, cruel and compromising black and white photographs of the Second World War. Member of the photo agency "". During the Second World War, he worked as a military photojournalist and correspondent. The author of amazing reportage black-and-white photographs.

Official site

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Helmut Newton

In third position, we already know the German "seller of sex" Helmut Newton (Helmut Newton). Newton had an undeniable influence on the development of erotic photography, creating a powerful image of a woman. With his work, he defined the main canons of fashion photography. He was the first to use ring flash for fashion photography.

Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Irving Penn

This is followed by an American fashion photographer, portraitist Irving Penn (Irving Penn). It is believed that every photographic portrait or symbolic still life owes something to Pen. He was the first photographer to make the most of the simplicity of black and white in photography. Considered a leading genius photographer for Vogue magazine.

Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Guy Louis Bourdin

In fifth position is the French photographer Guy Bourdin (GuyLouis Bourdin). No fashion photographer has been more copied by others than Bourdain. He was the first photographer to create storytelling complexity in his work. Many epithets are needed to characterize the work of a photographer. They are sensual, provocative, shocking, exotic, surreal, sometimes sinister. And Bourdain brought all this to fashion photography.

Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Henri Cartier-Bresson

The ten influential photographers continue the founder of the greatest photographic agency "", the French documentary photographer, the father of documentary photography and photojournalism, in general, the greatest. One of the first who began to use 35 mm film when shooting. Creator " The Decisive Moment», the so-called "decisive moment". He believed that a real photograph cannot be subjected to any change. He worked on the creation of the "Street photography" genre, in which he defended the principles of sudden, non-staged photography. He left behind a great photographic legacy, which today is educational material for anyone who wants to become a professional documentary filmmaker and photojournalist.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Diane Arbus

The only female photographer on our list is an American photographer. During her short, fast-paced life, Arbus was able to say so much that her photographs are still the subject of controversy and discussion. She was the first to pay close attention to people outside the norm, per se.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Elliott Erwitt

This is followed by French advertising photographer, documentary photographer Elliott Erwitt. Elliott is one of Henri Cartier-Breson's "decisive moment" masters. Member of the photographic agency Magnum Photos. He has an unsurpassed sense of humor with which he approaches the creation of every photograph of everyday life. Master of documentary street photography. Big dog lover.

Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Walker Evans

On the ninth position of our influential ten is an American photographer, known for a series of works dedicated to the Great Depression - Walker Evans (Walker Evans). He is considered a chronicler of American life, who created order and beauty in the frame through composition.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Martin Parr

Rounding out the top 10 most influential photographers is British photographer and photojournalist Martin Parr. A member of the photographic agency Magnum Photos, Martine Parr had a major influence on the development of documentary photography in the late 20th century. Unlike classic black and white genre photography, Parr uses intense colors, thereby elevating the ordinary everyday shot to the level of art. Considered the leading chronicler of daily life in England.

Thousands of photographers work around the world, capturing events, places, people and animals every day, producing hundreds of thousands of photographs. But only a few become globally known, replicated, used in modern culture and are called photo icons. And each of these photos has its own story ...

The photo of Ernesto Che Guevara in a black beret is recognized as a symbol of the 20th century, the most famous and most reproduced photograph in the world. It was taken on March 5, 1960 in Havana during a memorial service for the victims of the explosion of the ship La Coubre, its author, Alberto Korda, then the official photographer of Fidel Castro, said that at that moment he was shocked by the expression on the face of 31-year-old Che, on which "absolute intransigence", anger and pain were written simultaneously. At the same time, Che appeared in the photographer's viewfinder only for a couple of seconds after Fidel's heated speech (in which the famous words "Patria O Muerte" were used for the first time), and then again retreated into the shadows. The photo was rejected by the editor of the magazine "Revolution", and this upset Korda, who was convinced of the power of this work. He cropped the picture, printed it out in several copies, hung one on the wall at home, and gave the rest to friends. Since this all started. By the way, Korda never asked for royalties for the use and reproduction of this photo, but was against the commercial use of Che's image. Especially in advertising those products that the Comandante would never have supported. Alberto sued, for example, agencies Lowe Lintas and Rex Features when they started selling Smirnoff vodka using this picture. He won $50,000, which he immediately donated to Cuban medicine.

Einstein turned 72 on the day this photograph was taken. On March 14, 1951, almost all publications photographed him, and he was very tired and annoyed. UPI photographer Arthur Sasse was one of the last, and he worked hard to get Einstein to smile. But the greatest mind of the twentieth century showed the photographer his tongue instead. In 2009, the original photograph of the mischievous Einstein was auctioned off for $74,324.

The most famous photograph of one of Britain's most famous and revered politicians was taken under rather amusing circumstances. As you know, Churchill never parted with his cigar, including in photographs. And when photographer Yusuf Karsh came to him to shoot, he was not going to change himself. Yusuf first delicately placed an ashtray in front of the Prime Minister, but he ignored it, and the photographer had to say “I'm sorry, sir” and pull the cigar from Churchill himself. “When I returned to the camera, he looked as if he wanted to devour me,” Karsh, the author of one of the most expressive portraits of all time, later recalled.

National Geographic magazine in 1984 set out to trace the genetic path of green eyes, which began in the time of Genghis Khan. While researching and collecting material for the Green Eyes project, photographer Steve McCurry photographed an Afghan girl who, as it turned out 17 years later, was named Sharbat Gula (Sharbat Gula). A picture of a frightened, wide-eyed refugee beauty was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 1985 and has since become a world-famous symbol of the Afghan conflict and the suffering of refugees around the world. Now the photo is even called the “Afghan Mona Lisa”. By the time the National Geographic team found Sharbat, she was already about thirty, she returned to her native Afghanistan and had never seen this photo before meeting with NG and did not know about her worldwide fame.

The picture of Robert Capa, taken on September 5, 1936, has long been a symbol of the bloody and ruthless Spanish Civil War. It depicts an armed militiaman in civilian clothes falling backwards after being fatally shot by an enemy. The photo is very emotional, dramatic, capturing a terrible moment - that's why it instantly gained popularity, but at the same time, doubts from a part of society. And now almost no one doubts that the cult shot was a production. Firstly, it was not made at the site of the fighting, but a few kilometers from it. And secondly, Federico Borrell García, who tragically died in a photograph in an open field and was then identified, was actually shot while trying to hide behind a tree.

And this picture is not staged, and for more than 40 years people have been watching the endless execution of the Viet Cong Nguyen Van Lem by General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. Photographer Eddie Adams has documented thirteen wars, but his most famous photograph is this one taken on February 1, 1968. For which he later had to apologize. The picture instantly spread through newspapers and news agencies, everyone in the States spoke about it, many with reproach and indignation - what is on it is too scary. Eddie claimed that it was not a planned shot, that it was some kind of reflex, and he did not even know what he shot until he developed the film. And having shown, I realized that it is impossible to hush up this. But later he wrote in Time: “The general killed the Viet Cong, I killed the general with my camera. Photos are still the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but the photographs lie, even without such intentions. They are only half true. The photo didn't say, "What would you do if you were that general at the time and place on that hot day when you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew up one, two, or three Americans?" While General Nguyen was still alive, Adams apologized to him and his family for the irreparable damage that this photograph had done to the general's honor.

Another world-famous photo of the Vietnam War is nowhere near as ambiguous as the previous one. This is a symbol of the horror and suffering of innocent people who fall "under the distribution" along with the military. The image, taken by South Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut, shows people running from the napalm that the South Vietnamese military pours on the village. The logical center of the composition is a naked girl who screams in horror and pain. This is nine-year-old Kim Fook, she has terrible third-degree burns on her back and back of her legs, and she is trying to escape. After taking a picture, Nick picked up the girl and took her and other injured children to the hospital. The doctors were sure that she would not survive, but after 14 months in the hospital and 17 operations, Kim Fook became practically healthy. The photographer constantly visited her both in the hospital and after her discharge, until he left Saigon three years later. Kim is still alive today, she devoted her life to medicine and helping children victims of wars. Sometimes she gives interviews and participates in talk shows: “Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine. Water boils at 100 degrees, and napalm has a temperature of 800 to 1200. Forgiveness freed me from hatred. I still have a lot of scars on my body and I am in a lot of pain almost all the time, but my heart is clear. Napalm is strong, but faith, forgiveness and love are much stronger. We wouldn't have wars at all if everyone could figure out how to live with true love, hope, and forgiveness. If that little girl in the photo could do it, ask yourself if you can too?”

Photography is a symbol of the confrontation between the power of weapons and the strength of the human spirit. A single person walked out in front of a column of tanks near Beijing's Tiananmen Square during the June 1989 riots. He had two ordinary plastic bags in his hands, with which he threatened the tanks when they stopped. The first tank made an attempt to bypass the man, but he again stood in his way. After several unsuccessful attempts to bypass it, the tanks turned off the engines, and the commander of the first one spoke to the stubborn peacekeeper. Then he again tried to go around him, and the man again stood in front of the tank. Four photographers captured the moment, but the world-famous photograph was that of Jeff Widener, long banned in China. The man was never identified, but he was included by Time magazine in the list of the 100 most important people of the twentieth century.

This shocking photograph not only shows the suffering of children in Sudan during the 1993 famine, but also tells the story of the emotional suffering of the photographer who took the picture. Kevin Carter won a Pulitzer Prize for this photo and blew his car's exhaust into the cabin two months later. A little exhausted girl, crawling towards the humanitarian aid camp, stopped to rest, at which time a hungry vulture dived into the clearing and circled in anticipation of the death of a child. Kevin waited 20 minutes before the shot got good enough for him. And only then drove the vulture away, and the girl crawled on. A wave of criticism hit Carter and the most prestigious journalistic award. But he could not live with various financial problems, with what he saw in Sudan, and with what he himself participated in. In July 1994, he committed suicide.

The most famous kiss in the world was filmed by Albert Eisenstadt in Times Square during the celebration of Victory Day over Japan on August 14, 1945. During the crowded noisy festivities, Eisenstadt did not have time to ask the names of the heroes of the picture, and therefore they remained unknown for a long time. It was only in 1980 that it was possible to establish that the nurse in the photograph was Edith Shane. But the name of the sailor is still a mystery - 11 people said that it was them, but they could not prove it. Here is what Eisenstadt said about the moment of shooting: “I saw a sailor running down the street and grabbing any girl who was in his field of vision. Whether she was old or young, fat or thin, he didn't care. I ran ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder, but I didn't like any of the pictures. Then all of a sudden I saw him grab someone in white. I turned around and filmed the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she was wearing dark clothes, I would never have photographed them. As if the sailor was in a white uniform. I took 4 photos in a few seconds, but only one satisfied me.”

All photographs below are winners of the World Press Photo Contest of various years.

"The most famous photograph that no one has ever seen," is how Associated Press photographer Richard Drew describes his snapshot of one of the World Trade Center victims who jumped out of a window to her death on 9/11. "On that day, which was captured on cameras and on film more than any other day in history," Tom Junod later wrote in Esquire, "the only taboo by common consent was pictures of people jumping out of windows." Five years later, Richard Drew's Falling Man remains a terrible artifact of that day that should have changed everything but didn't.

A photograph that showed the face of the Great Depression. Thanks to legendary photographer Dorothea Lange, Florence Owen Thompson has been the epitome of the Great Depression for many years. Lange took the photograph while visiting a vegetable picker camp in California in February 1936, wanting to show the world the resilience and resilience of a proud nation in hard times. Today, such photos (as well as videos) can be taken using the xiaomi yi action camera, but in those days, more primitive cameras were used. The story of Dorothea's life turned out to be as attractive as her portrait. At 32, she was already the mother of seven children and a widow (her husband died of tuberculosis). Finding themselves virtually destitute in the resettlement labor camp, her family subsisted on the meat of the birds the children managed to shoot and vegetables from the farm, as did the rest of the 2,500 camp workers. The publication of the photo produced the effect of an exploding bomb. The story of Thompson, which appeared on the covers of the most authoritative publications, caused an immediate response from the public. The Resettlement Administration immediately sent food and emergency supplies to the camp. Unfortunately, the Thompson family had already left the habitable place by this time and received nothing from the generosity of the government. It should be noted that at that time no one knew the name of the woman depicted in the photograph. Only forty years after the publication of this photograph, in 1976, Thompson "revealed" herself by giving an interview to one of the national newspapers.

Stanley Forman/Boston Herald, USA. July 22, 1975, Boston. A girl and a woman fall trying to escape the fire.

Photographer Nick Yut took a photo of a Vietnamese girl running away from the exploding napalm. It was this picture that made the whole world think about the war in Vietnam. A photo of 9-year-old girl Kim Fook on June 8, 1972 went down in history forever. Kim first saw this picture 14 months later at a hospital in Saigon, where she was being treated for strange burns. Kim still remembers running from her siblings on the day of the bombing and can't forget the sound of the bombs falling. A soldier tried to help and doused her with water, unaware that this would make the burns worse. Photographer Nick South helped the girl and took her to the hospital. At first, the photographer doubted whether to publish a photo of a naked girl, but then he decided that the world should see this picture. The photo was later named the best photo of the 20th century. Nick Yut tried to keep Kim from becoming too popular, but in 1982, when the girl was studying at the medical university, the Vietnamese government found her, and since then Kim's image has been used in propaganda chains. “I was under constant control. I wanted to die, this Photo haunted me,” says Kim. Later there was immigration to Cuba, where she was able to continue her education. There she met her future husband. Together they moved to Canada. Many years later, she finally realized that she couldn't run away from this photo and decided to use it and her fame to fight for peace.

Triangle Shirtwaist Company building fire, 1911 The American Triangle Shirtwaist Company became famous in the United States for its love of cheap labor by young immigrant women in its factories. Since the risk remained that such personnel would steal, during working hours the doors of the shops were closed until the end of the shift. It was this "tradition" that caused the tragedy that occurred on March 25, 1911, when a fire broke out on the ninth floor of a factory building in New York. At first, witnesses to the fire thought that the workers were saving the most expensive fabrics from the fire, but, as it turned out, the people locked in the burning workshop jumped out of the windows themselves. After that, a nationwide campaign aimed at improving worker safety began in the United States.

Biafra, 1969 When the Igbo tribe declared itself independent from Nigeria in 1967, Nigeria imposed a blockade on their former eastern region of Nigeria, the newly proclaimed Republic of Biafra. The war between Nigeria and Biafra lasted 3 years. During this war, more than a million people died mainly from starvation. War photographer Don McCullin, who took this photo, commented on his visit to the camp, where there were 900 starving children: “I don’t want to photograph battlefield soldiers anymore.”

Mustafa Bozdeinir/Hurriyet Gazetesi, Turkey. October 30, 1983. Koinoren, eastern Turkey. Kezban Ozer found her five children dead after a devastating earthquake.

James Nachtwey/Magnum Photos/USA for Liberation, USA/France. November 1992 Bardera, Somalia. A mother lifts the body of her child, who has died of starvation, to take it to the grave.

Hector Rondon Lovera/Diario La Republica, Venezuela. June 4, 1962, naval base Puerto Cabello. A sniper mortally wounded a soldier who is now holding on to the priest Luis Padillo (Luis Padillo).

Yasushi Nagao/Mainichi Shimbun, Japan. October 12, 1960, Tokyo. A right-wing student kills Socialist Party chairman Inejiro Asanuma.

Helmut Pirath, Germany. 1956, eastern Germany. The daughter meets a German prisoner of World War II, released by the USSR to freedom.

Mike Wells, UK. April 1980 Karamoja region, Uganda. Terribly hungry boy and missionary.

DEATH OF GOEBBELS. During the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the main ideologist of fascism, Joseph Goebbels, took poison, having previously poisoned his family - his wife and six children. The corpses, according to his dying order, were burned. Before you is a photograph depicting the corpse of a criminal. The shot was taken in the building of the Imperial Chancellery on May 2, 1945 by Major Vasily Krupennikov. On the back of the picture, Vasily wrote: “We covered the causal place of Goebbels with a handkerchief, it was very unpleasant to look at it ...”

All the pain in just one look ... (Henry Cartier Bresson) The photo was taken in 1948-1949, when the author traveled to China. The picture shows a hungry boy standing idle for a long time in an endless queue for rice.

Moments when the killer of John F. Kennedy (Robert H. Jackson) was shot The author filmed Oswald, the man who at one time took the life of the President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy. Everywhere there were indignant people who demanded the death penalty for the criminal. The photographer pressed the shutter and took another picture. The moment the flash was charging for the next shot, the killer was shot. The shot became fatal for Oswald.

The event depicted in the photograph cannot be called a worldwide tragedy (35 out of 97 people died), but everyone considers this picture to be the beginning of the oblivion of airships - the frame captured the crash of the Hindenburg airship of one well-known manufacturer. A dozen photographers from various publications had contracts for shooting. From that moment on, the airship was no longer considered the safest mode of transport in the world - its era soon passed.

Jean-Marc Bouju/AP. France. March 31, 2003. An Najaf, Iraq. A man tries to alleviate the difficult conditions for his son in a POW prison.

The photograph of an officer shooting a handcuffed prisoner in the head not only won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969, but also completely changed American attitudes towards what was happening in Vietnam. Despite the obviousness of the image, in fact, the photograph is not as unambiguous as it seemed to ordinary Americans, filled with sympathy for the executed. The fact is that the man in handcuffs is the captain of the Viet Cong "revenge warriors", and on this day many unarmed civilians were shot dead by him and his henchmen. General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, pictured left, has been haunted by his past all his life: he was refused treatment at an Australian military hospital, after moving to the US, he faced a massive campaign calling for his immediate deportation, the restaurant he opened in Virginia, every day was attacked by vandals. "We know who you are!" - this inscription haunted the general of the army all his life.

By the early summer of 1994, Kevin Carter (1960-1994) was at the height of his fame. He had just received the Pulitzer Prize, job offers from famous magazines poured in one after another. “Everyone congratulates me,” he wrote to his parents, “I can't wait to meet you and show you my trophy. This is the highest recognition of my work that I could not even dream of”, Kevin Carter received the Pulitzer Prize for the photograph “Famine in Sudan”, taken in the early spring of 1993. On this day, Carter flew to Sudan specifically to shoot scenes of hunger in a small village. Tired of shooting people who died of starvation, he left the village in a field overgrown with small bushes and suddenly heard a quiet cry. Looking around, he saw a little girl lying on the ground, apparently dying of hunger. He wanted to take a picture of her, but suddenly a vulture vulture landed a few steps away. Very carefully, trying not to startle the bird, Kevin chose the best position and took a picture. After that, he waited another twenty minutes, hoping that the bird would spread its wings and give him the opportunity to get a better shot. But the damned bird did not move, and in the end, he spat and drove it away. In the meantime, the girl apparently gained strength and went - more precisely crawled - further. And Kevin sat down near the tree and cried. He suddenly wanted to hug his daughter.

Malcolm Brown, a 3-year-old photographer (Associated Press) from New York, received a phone call and was asked to be at a certain intersection in Saigon the next morning, as something very important is about to happen. He arrived there with a reporter from the New York Times, and soon a car pulled up, several Buddhist monks got out of it. Among them is Thich Ouang Due, who sat in a lotus position with a box of matches in his hands, while the rest began to pour gasoline on him. Thich Quang Due struck a match and turned into a living torch. Unlike the weeping crowd watching him burn, he didn't utter a sound or move. Thich Quang Duo wrote a letter to the then head of the Vietnamese government asking him to stop the repression of Buddhists, stop the detention of monks and give them the right to practice and spread their religion, but received no answer.

A 12-year-old Afghan girl is the famous photograph taken by Steve McCurry in a refugee camp on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Soviet helicopters destroyed the village of a young refugee, her whole family died, and. before getting to the camp, the girl made a two-week journey in the mountains. After being published in June 1985, this photograph becomes a National Geographic icon. Since then, this image has been used everywhere - from tattoos to rugs, which turned the photo into one of the most replicated photos in the world.

The photograph was taken on September 29, 1932, on the 69th floor during the final months of Rockefeller Center's construction.

The photo, which depicted the hoisting of the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag, spread around the world. Yevgeny Khaldei, 1945.

The death of a Nazi functionary and his family. Vienna, 1945. Yevgeny Khaldei: "I went to the park near the parliament building to take pictures of the passing columns of soldiers. And I saw this picture. A woman was sitting on a bench, killed with two shots - in the head and neck, next to her a dead teenager of about fifteen and a little girl. A little further away lay the corpse of the father of the family. He had a gold NSDAP badge on his lapel, a revolver was lying nearby. (...) A watchman ran up from the parliament building: "It was he, he did, not Russian soldiers. Came at 6 am. I saw him and his family from the basement window. Not a soul on the street. He pushed the benches together, ordered the woman to sit down, and ordered the children to do the same. I didn't understand what he was going to do. And then he shot the mother and son. The girl resisted, then he laid her on a bench and shot her too. He stepped aside, looked at the result and shot himself."

Kyoichi Sawada/United Press International, Japan. February 24, 1966 Tan Binh, southern Vietnam. The US military is dragging the body of a Viet Cong (South Vietnamese rebel) soldier on a leash.

"Little adults"... Three American girls gossip in one of the alleys of Sevilla in Spain. For a long time, the postcard with this image was the most popular in the United States.

Inimitable Marilyn Monroe Photo does not need comments! It captures one of the best actresses of all time - Marilyn Monroe in the minutes of her break. Someone distracted the girl and by sheer chance she took her eyes off the lens. However, this gave the picture an unusual mystery and true charm.

Republican soldier Federico Borel Garcia is depicted in the face of death. The picture caused a huge uproar in society. The situation is absolutely unique. During the whole time of the attack, the photographer took only one picture, while he took it at random, without looking into the viewfinder, he did not look at all in the direction of the “model”. And this is one of the best, one of the most famous photographs of him. It was thanks to this picture that already in 1938 the newspapers called the 25-year-old Robert Cap "The Greatest War Photographer in the World."

White and color photograph by Elliott Erwitt 1950.

Douglas Martin/AP. USA. September 4, 1956 - Dorothy Counts, one of the first black students, goes to college.

Anonymous/New York Times. September 11, 1973, Santiago, Chile. Democratically elected President Salvador Alende seconds before his death during a military coup at the presidential palace.

Kyoichi Sawada/United Press International, Japan-September 1965, Binh Dinh, South Vietnam. A mother and children cross a river to escape American aerial bombardment.

The photo depicts a terrible tragedy - on November 13, 1985, the eruption of the Colombian volcano Nevado del Ruiz. Muddy slush from the streams of dirt and earth swallowed up all life under it. Over 23,000 people died in those days. A girl, Omaira Sanchaz, got into the frame a few hours before her death. She could not get out of the mud porridge, because her legs were clamped by a huge concrete slab. The rescuers did everything in their power. The girl behaved courageously, encouraging everyone around her. In a terrible trap, hoping for salvation, she spent three long days. On the fourth, she began to hallucinate and died from the viruses she picked up.

Take a closer look at this photo. This is one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken. The baby's tiny hand reached out from the womb to squeeze the surgeon's finger. By the way, the child is 21 weeks from conception, the age when he can still be legally aborted. The tiny pen in the photo belongs to a baby who was due to be born on December 28 last year. The photo was taken during an operation in America. The child is literally grasping for life. Therefore, this is one of the most remarkable photographs in medicine and a record of one of the most extraordinary operations in the world. It shows a 21-week-old fetus in the womb, just before the spinal surgery needed to save the baby from severe brain damage. The operation was performed through a tiny incision in the mother's wall and this is the youngest patient. At this time, the mother may choose to have an abortion. Little Samuel's mom said they "cried for days" when they saw this photo. She said: "This picture reminds us that my pregnancy is not a disease or handicap, it's a little person. "Samuel was born completely healthy, the operation was 100% successful. The doctor's name was Joseph Bruner. When he finished the operation, he said only one thing: "Beauty!" As an addition: in some Western countries it is allowed to have an abortion up to 28 weeks / in France up to 22 weeks, in the Russian Federation up to 12 weeks.

First X-ray, 1896 On January 13, 1896, Roentgen announced his achievement to Emperor Wilhelm II. And already on January 23 in Würzburg (Germany), where the famous laboratory of V.K. Roentgen was located, at a meeting of the Scientific Society of Medical Physicists, the scientist publicly takes an x-ray of the hand of one of the present members of the society - anatomist Professor Kolliker.

At the end of April 2004, the CBS program 60 Minutes II aired a story about the torture and abuse of inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison by a group of American soldiers. The story showed photographs that were published in The New Yorker a few days later. This became the loudest scandal around the presence of Americans in Iraq.

A photograph that let the war into every home. One of the first war photojournalists, Matthew Brady was known as the creator of the daggerotypes of Abraham Lincoln and Robert Lee. Brady had everything: a career, money, his own business. And he decided to risk all this (as well as his own life), following the army of northerners with a camera in his hands. Having narrowly escaped capture in the very first battle in which he took part, Brady somewhat lost his patriotic fervor and began to send assistants to the front line. Over several years of war, Brady and his team took more than 7,000 photographs. That's a pretty impressive number, especially considering that taking a single picture required equipment and chemicals placed inside a covered wagon pulled by several horses. Not very similar to the usual digital "soap dishes"? The photographs that seemed so appropriate on the battlefield had a very heavy aura. However, it was thanks to them that ordinary Americans for the first time were able to see the bitter and harsh military reality, not veiled by jingoistic slogans.

By Charles Moore/Black Star, 1963 The city of Birmingham, Alaska, has long been known as a hotbed of conflict between its fairly large African-American population and the white majority. The photo shows one of the episodes of the suppression of a peaceful demonstration for the rights of blacks, which was organized by Martin Luther King. The police use arrests, cavalry units and firearms, and poison people with dogs.

Poland - a girl Teresa, who grew up in a concentration camp, draws a "house" on the blackboard. 1948. © David Seymour

Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995), a photographer working for Life magazine, strolled around the square photographing the kissers. He later recalled that he noticed a sailor who “rushed around the square and kissed indiscriminately all the women in a row: young and old, fat and thin. I watched, but the desire to photograph did not appear. Suddenly he grabbed something white. I barely had time to raise the camera and take a picture of him kissing the nurse.” For millions of Americans, this photograph, which Eisenstadt called "Unconditional Surrender", has become a symbol of the end of World War II.

What makes a photographer famous? Decades spent in the profession, acquired or invaluable experience? No, the only thing that makes a photographer famous is his pictures. The list of famous photographers of the world consists of people with a bright personality, attention to detail, and the highest professionalism. After all, it is not enough just to be in the right place at the right time, you also need to be able to correctly display what is happening. Being a good photographer is not easy, let alone professional. We want to introduce you to the greatest classics of photography and examples of their work.

Ansel Adams

"What the photographer is able to see, and what he sees - to say, is of incomparably greater importance than the quality of technical equipment ..."(Ansel Adams)

Ansel Adams (Ansel Easton Adams Born February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer best known for his black and white photographs of the American West. Ansel Adams, on the one hand, was gifted with a subtle artistic flair, on the other hand, he had an impeccable command of photographic techniques. His photographs are full of almost epic power. They combine the features of symbolism and magical realism, inspiring the impression of the "first days of Creation". During his lifetime, he created over 40,000 photographs and participated in more than 500 exhibitions around the world.

Yusuf Karsh

“If, looking at my portraits, you learn something more significant about the people depicted in them, if they help you sort out your feelings about someone whose work has left a mark on your brain - if you look at a photograph and say: “Yes, it’s him” and at the same time you learn something new about a person - then this is a really good portrait” ( Yusuf Karsh)

Yusuf Karsh(Yousuf Karsh, December 23, 1908 - July 13, 2002) - Canadian photographer of Armenian origin, one of the masters of portrait photography. During his life he made portraits of 12 US Presidents, 4 Popes, all British Prime Ministers, Soviet leaders - Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, as well as Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Bernard Shaw and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Robert Capa

“A photograph is a document, looking at which one who has eyes and a heart begins to feel that not everything is safe in the world” ( Robert Capa)

Robert Capa (real name Endre Erno Friedman, October 22, 1913, Budapest - May 25, 1954, Tonkin, Indochina) is a photojournalist of Jewish origin, born in Hungary. Robert Capa was not going to become a photographer at all, life circumstances pushed him to this. And only courage, adventurism and bright pictorial talent made him one of the most famous war reporters of the twentieth century.

Henri Cartier Bresson

«... photography can capture infinity at one point in time... " (Henri-Cartier-Bresson)

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 2, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was one of the most important photographers of the 20th century. Father of photojournalism. One of the founders of the photo agency Magnum Photos. Born in France. Was fond of painting. He paid much attention to the role of time and the "decisive moment" in photography.

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange (Dorothea Margarette Nutzhorn, May 26, 1895 - October 11, 1965) - American photographer and photojournalist / Her photographs, bright, striking in the heart with their frankness, nakedness of pain and hopelessness, are silent evidence of what hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans had to endure, deprived of shelter, basic means of subsistence and all hope.

This photograph has been literally the epitome of the Great Depression for many years. Dorothea Lange took the picture while visiting a vegetable picker camp in California in February 1936, wishing to show the world the resilience and resilience of a proud nation in difficult times.

brassai

“There is always a chance - and each of us hopes for it. Only a bad photographer takes one chance in a hundred, while a good photographer uses everything.

“Every creative person has two dates of birth. The second date - when he will understand what his true calling is - is much more important than the first "

“The purpose of art is to elevate people to a level that they could not reach in any other way”

“There are many photographs full of life, but incomprehensible and quickly forgotten. They lack strength - and this is the most important "(Brassai)

Brassai (Gyula Halas, September 9, 1899 - July 8, 1984) was a Hungarian and French photographer, painter and sculptor. In Brassaille's photographs, we see the mysterious Paris in the light of street lamps, squares and houses, foggy embankments, bridges and almost fabulous forged lattices. One of his favorite techniques was reflected in a series of photographs taken under the headlights of rare cars at the time.

Brian Duffy

“Every photograph taken after 1972 I have seen before. Nothing new. After a while, I realized that photography is dead ... " Brian Duffy

Brian Duffy (June 15, 1933 – May 31, 2010) was an English photographer. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Sammy Davis Jr., Michael Caine, Sidney Poitier, David Bowie, Joanna Lumley and William Burroughs have all stood in front of his camera.

Jerry Welsman

“I believe that the ability of a person to convey things beyond the visible is enormous. This phenomenon can be observed in all genres of fine arts, as we are constantly looking for new ways to explain the world, which sometimes reveals itself to us in moments of understanding that go beyond the boundaries of our usual experience.(Jerry Welsman)

Jerry Welsman (1934) is an American theorist of the art of photography, teacher, one of the most interesting photographers of the second half of the twentieth century, a master of mysterious collages and visual interpretations. The surreal collages of the talented photographer conquered the world when Photoshop was not even in the project. However, even now the author of unusual works remains true to his own technique and believes that miracles are happening in a darkened photo lab.

Annie Liebovitz

“When I say I want to take a picture of someone, it means I want to get to know them. Everyone I know, I photograph" ( Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz)

Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz (Anna-Lou «Annie» Leibovitz; genus. October 2, 1949, Waterbury, Connecticut) - famous American photographer. Specializes in celebrity portraits. Today it is the most popular among women photographers. Her work graces magazine covers. Vogue, Vanity Fair, New Yorker and Rolling Stone, she was posed naked by John Lennon and Betty Midler, Whoopi Goldberg and Demi Moore, Sting and Devine. Annie Leibovitz managed to break the stereotypes of beauty in fashion, to introduce elderly faces, wrinkles, everyday cellulite and imperfection of forms into the photo arena.

Jerry Gionis

"Set aside at least five minutes a day to try to accomplish the impossible - and you will soon feel the difference" ( Jerry Gionis).

Jerry Gionis - the top wedding photographer from Australia is a real master of his genre! No wonder he is considered one of the most successful masters of this direction in the world.

Colbert Gregory

Gregory Colbert (1960, Canada) - a pause in our fast paced world. Stop on the run. Absolute silence and concentration. Beauty in silence and immobility. The feeling of delight from the feeling of belonging to a huge living being - the planet Earth - these are the emotions that his works evoke. Within 13 years, he made 33 (thirty-three) expeditions to the most remote and exotic corners of our vast and at the same time such a tiny planet: India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Dominica, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tonga, Namibia, Antarctica. He set himself one task - to reflect in his works the amazing relationship between man and nature, the animal world.

In fact, the list of the greatest photographers is quite long, and these are just a few of them.