Master Photographers I admire but who have not 100% influenced my work?

The two photographers that have influenced my work as I have said many times before are Daido Moriyama and Saul Leiter. I would say that the two combined have created my style and how I shoot now opposed to when I first started street photography. 

There are elements of Saul Leiter and Daido Moriyama in my photos, but my photos look like neither. That's a good place to be. It means you have been influenced but you have arrived at something unique in style terms.

 But what about other photographers that may not have influenced my work so dramatically but some elements of their work may appear from time to time in my own work. I may admire their work and their talent, but not to the extent of weaving their work into my own.

 Here are my top 8 photographers that I rate who are known for mainly street photography work, that may have have had some partial influence or have given me creative ideas and inspiration..... in no particular order. 

 Six photographers are no longer with us and the two are very much alive and still shooting today. 

 1.Henri Cartier Bresson 

A famous Henri Cartier Bresson shot

The man himself. This photographer has given myself inspiration in composition and layout of elements with a frame. He taught me the importance of the background in a photo and how it helps the foreground. Also the importance of timing. Bresson took the photo when the Heart, Mind and Soul all connected at the same time. He then hit that shutter button but not until then. He called it "The Decisive Moment" 

 Famous Book:  The Decisive Moment

 Famous Quote: "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression." 

 2. Robert Frank 

You could say the competitor to Bresson. His most famous book The Americans is what he is best known for. Whereas Bresson was a Technical shooter, Robert Frank was more of an emotional shooter, shooting from the heart as he called it. 

A trademark Robert Frank shot

Style: Frank preferred to capture unresolved, often chaotic or seemingly mundane moments that felt more honest to real life and he was not into perfect exposure and focus, he was most into rawness, blur, grain and deep shadow.

Famous Book:  The Americans

 Famous Quote: "When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice." 

 3. Garry Winogrand 

I really like this photographers work and he was an absolute character. The tilted frame was his speciality but he would always argue that it wasn't tilted. He loved photographing women and animals. He has had some partial influence on my work

One of Garry Winogrands famous shots

Style: He shot wide angle lenses normally 28mm but at close proximity to people, he was into candid moments and loved busy compositions  that had some form of layering. 

Famous Book:  Figments from the Real World

Famous Quote: 

Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed

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4. Lisette Model

A typical Lisette Model Reflection Photo

Lisette Model was famous for her street photography in New York but it's the series where she frequently utilized shop windows, car mirrors, and the glossy, wet surfaces of the city streets where she shines for me. She used these reflective environments to create complex layering with the scene, capturing the subjects on the street simultaneously with distorted or ghost-like reflections of their surroundings. That's where its at for me. 

She has influenced my work when it comes to reflections and I would say her work is in the similar creative angle as Saul Leiter, but both as very unique in what they do.

Famous Book: A way of Seeing

 

Famous Quote: "Since I'm inarticulate, I express myself with images." 

 5. Vivian Maier 

Vivian Maier Self Portrait in Street Photography Mode

The mystery that is Vivian Maier. that nanny that was also a secret compulsive street photographer 

According to Wikipedia:

She was an American Street Photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death. She took more than 150,000 photographs during her lifetime, primarily of the people and architecture of Chicago, New York City and Los Angles, although she also traveled and photographed around the world.

During her lifetime, Maier's photographs were unknown and unpublished; many of her negatives were never developed.

In October 2009, John Maloof linked his blog to a selection of Maier's photographs on the image-sharing website Flickr, and the results went viral, The rest as they say is history

I would say Vivian influenced my my celebrity event photography work the most where she taught me not to be afraid to get close or as I used to call it "getting up close and personal" but I did employ her technique in street photography as well.

I would say if you can learn anything from Vivian Maier, shoot thousands of photos and then you  may have a couple or three that may be of book standard.

 Famous Book:  Street Photographer

Famous Quote: "...that if she had not kept her images secret, people would have stolen or misused them." 

 6. Alex Webb 

Alex Webb a prestigious, renowned street photographer of our more modern times and a member of the Magnum Photo Agency, his work has a style of its own. Often imitated but not really equalled. His photos are taken in culturally complex locations often with a lot of political turbulence thrown into the mix and feature rich colours and often extreme lighting.

A typical Alex Web photo!

 

His work embraces chaos and trying to create some order from it, the use in intense colours and lighting  and complex and deep multi layered composition all mixed with intense light and shadows.

If I ever was to do or even pay for a Street Photography workshop......this would be my man without a shadow or a doubt, either that or Daido Moriyama. 

 Famous Book: The Suffering of Light: Thirty Years of Photographs

 Famous Quote: "My work is about an exploration of the world, trying to make some sense of the chaos of life." 

 7. Trent Parke 

Another modern day legend from Australia and the only Magnum member from that country. He is another master of light and shadow woven into his high contrast black and white work often using pioneering techniques to elevate his work to another level.

A Trent Parke photo and his trademark play with Blown Out Highlights

His photojournalism  images tell a narrative story about society, often questioning mortality, culture, and humanity's relationship with the environment. He does it though in a completely different way to most photographers ,which results in incredibly unique work which is very difficult to replicate to any acceptable standard.

 Famous Book: Minutes to Midnight

 Famous Quote: "I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical."

8. Brassai

I have left this photographer till last for good reason, as he was one of the first to influence my work and to this day still has a massive influence. He has produced a number of books featuring street photography but it is his "Paris by Night" book that is the one that had the most pronounced  influence on my work. 

Brassai: Paris by Night

The Brassai book "Paris by Night"  taught myself how to push photographic boundaries in lighting terms, which in his day was truly pioneering and to create a dramatic mood in a scene.

Even to this day that book "Paris by Night" is floating around in the back of my head in a subliminal sort of way. It was quite groundbreaking at the time and caused a bit of a stir. Even now in 2026 at the time of writing this article........ it is still a book you can learn an awful lot from.

Famous Book:  Paris by Night

Famous Quote: "Night does not show things, it suggests them. It disturbs and surprises us with its strangeness."

FINAL WORDS:

All artists are influenced by the artists before them. Likewise all photographers just like artists are influenced by the photographers before them. As I always say "Pick your photographers wisely" as your influences to create your style. I would say two and at most three photographers is a good rule of thumb. Just one photographer and your work will be a pale imitation of theirs. Too many influences and your work will lack any clarity or cohesiveness.

Most importantly, whichever photographer you choose OR who chooses you, their work has to resonate very powerfully on the level of say going to a funeral or  on your wedding day or the birth of your first child. Nothing less will do. You will know when you have found it....it will be like a bolt of lightning out of the blue .............. and there is no going back!

You are then on an incredibly long journey to find your very own personal style which will be your creative finger print for years to come.