oh my goodness this shirt makes my neck look crazy long like get a load of long neck larry dude good morning or good whatever time you’re watching this video wherever you are in the world it is currently nine o’clock in my area and i still drink coffee at this time because i on average sleep at 3 am so i still have a long way to go in my day and as you already saw in today’s video title i’m going to be highlighting a few film photographers that have been inspiring me as of late and of course in past videos i’ve highlighted a couple others who have been inspiring me some of which are youtube famous so i won’t be talking about them in this and in today’s list there are a few heavy hitters that you’ve probably already heard of and maybe there are some that you haven’t so that’ll be exciting and a couple disclaimers before we head into this video one of which being some of the analysis.
i’m going to be talking about are going to come off oversimplified because they are oversimplified i could go on and on and on about each photographer that i’m going to be listing off but i feel like that’s more of a podcast style video and in this eight to twelve minute window that i’m probably gonna make this video it’s just not gonna happen i wanna keep it clear and concise so that you can go into their work and formulate your own opinions and own inspirations from them that would be pretty awesome two these are my personal opinions of these photographers obviously i’m not going to be bashing them because they inspire me but the analysis that i’m going to be having could very much be different from yours so again just a personal opinion that i’m sharing and three i personally don’t actually follow that many photographers out there in the world are on social media.
it’s not because of some egotistic competitive thing like i can’t follow people who are in my lane or ahead of me it’s not like that it just is what it is i’m inspired by a lot of things outside of photography and videography like through movies or through basketball or music hip-hop or conversation with just regular people a lot of those things inspire my work and the way that i think and i found myself in a lot of conversations with other people when they like start name-dropping other photographers like either in new york or here in sf i’m like i don’t know who they are [Music] and with all that to say i’m very excited to be talking about these five people that have been inspiring me as of late and let’s start with number one rosie matheson [Applause] [Music] rosie matheson is a portrait photographer based on the uk and i’ve personally found her work through her latest photo book boys which showcases a plethora of incredible portraits of young males ranging from adolescents to young adults from the stuff that i’ve seen.
that she’s posted online on her social media platforms i have to say that her work is some of the strongest portraiture that i’ve ever seen i feel like she has a strong talent of saying a lot with very little detail and just in comparison of like my work with hers not saying that i’m in her league i like to take a lot of contextual portraits maybe a 35 millimeter showing the environment around my subject maybe full body maybe a medium up but with the work that i’ve seen on her ends i’ve seen a lot of head shots especially in her photo book boys which i really wish i bought if you have the hookups to that book let me know comment down below or dm me on instagram i would love to grab myself a copy of that book and i’m not saying that she doesn’t take contextual portraits but from what i’ve seen like on her platforms again with just a simple headshot she really knows.
how to tell a story with just the neck up from what i’ve seen in her work she shows great execution and showing youthfulness through soft textures and color palettes that are really fun and vibrant while also still maintaining the integrity of the subject she’s not telling to do anything crazy um these strangers that she’s photographing these interesting subjects that she maybe sees at a skate park or maybe somewhere else she doesn’t tell them to pose in like any weird way but she’s not being extra with the porsche she’s keeping it very simple and i really really like that i have no idea how long it took for her to make that photo book boys but there are tons of people featured in that and i can’t even imagine going up to someone in a library or at a skate park and saying hey can i take your portrait and then having interactions with them that involve them posing and maybe laughing these people are so comfortable or they look very comfortable with her and usually.
when i walk up to people and i ask them for portraits they usually say no and i would say no to me too and what inspires me about her work is the simplicity of everything her talent for saying so much with so little detail the ability to capture youthfulness over and over and over again is rare and rosie matheson does a great job at it she photographs i think most of her work on the mamiya rg67 which is a very great camera by the way and if you want a more in-depth vignette on rosie matheson negative feedback actually made a video about her a couple of years ago and i’ll link it right here in this annotation over here but let’s move on to photographer number two andre wagner [Music] andrew wagner is another heavy hitter based out in brooklyn his gritty black and white work evoke a really timeless sucker punch of a photograph that displays the everyday life of the black community in his neighborhood in brooklyn from what i’ve seen so far his work ranges from street portraiture to city landscapes that displays the gentrification and evolution of the times in his own backyard what personally inspires me about his work is that he’s with the people that he photographs every single day.
he walks out into his neighborhood maybe around the corner maybe he takes a train to somewhere but whatever it is he’s part of the pulse there’s a lot that can be said when you’re capturing the pulse of your community whether you live in riverside california seattle washington chillicothe ohio or brooklyn new york whatever it is there is a lot that you can tell that maybe some others are not seeing among the many things that he’s photographed his composition and his timing for capturing raw moments of strangers in the community i think quite possibly might be a reflection of his own experiences growing up as a black american and for me as a chinese american to see that is very captivating and i would just want to learn more about it and speaking about his gear this dude is liked out he’s got an mp an m6 an m2 an m3 he might have an m4 this dude is straight up decked out in leica gear pretty sick man i would never be able to reach that level the third photographer that i’m gonna be talking about is a guy by the name of eric lewis [Music] eric’s work is atmospheric landscape heaven he does such an incredible job capturing peaceful scenes of mother nature while always including a great caption to match the mood or inspire the soul in general.
i actually had the lucky honor and privilege to meet him in person a few years back because his cousin and i went to the same high school shuttle flex this was around the time that i was taking photography a little bit more seriously around the early 2010s and he was actually the first person to lend me his sigma 35 f 1.4 lens and that was the first time i ever experienced f 1.4 shallow depth of field and i got to see that use it and also witness his process in capturing these landscapes and he’s a super nice guy incredibly humble incredibly talented pretty stylish dude and what inspires me most about his work is the atmosphere that he is able to produce through his photography he has this like way of creating a trifecta of caption mood and color that creates the space for you to really jump into where he was emotionally mentally and physically and i don’t really know how to explain it any further than that before i just go into a 45 minute tirade of how it’s just so good it was a long stretch that he was visiting japan very often he would be posting so many photos of his trips and most of his feed was covered in japan photos that i was kind of joking around saying like do you live in japan now or do you live in bay area because his bay area to japan ratio was like starting to like really tip and it was hilarious but this dude now rocks him a mia 7 one of the greatest cameras ever made.
i believe at one time he owned a machina 67 and a leica m2 but this dude is incredibly talented you should definitely check out his work i don’t know how long this video is at this point i’ve been talking for a long while now but i just want to give honorable mentions to two photographers that i recently met who are local to the bay area and their names are jp and han fon both of them are great portrait photographers that capture their work on medium format film and sometimes even large format i really enjoy their work of photographing photographers in the bay area in the neighborhoods that they live in and coincidentally they are subscribers of this channel and each of them have individually reached out to me to photograph me which i think is such a huge honor because i’m like dude i’m so awkward in front of the camera my experience being photographed by the both of them was very fun and it’s just awesome to meet other members of the photo community here in san francisco let alone the bay area and all of you should definitely check out the work i will be linking their socials in the description along with the other three photographers that i mentioned and that’s all i have for you guys in this video make sure you subscribe like the video comment down below maybe your top three photographers are top three inspirations outside of photography and videography maybe i’ll go dig in those comment sections and check them out too i will see you guys in the next video take care have a good one peace.
