10 Cool Foreign Photographers You’ve Probably Never Heard Of | Articles | Photo, video, optics

Pho­to: pixabay.com

For the right to pub­lish the work of some pho­tog­ra­phers, such as Annie Lei­bovitz or James Nachtwey, the most famous pub­li­ca­tions — from Nation­al Geo­graph­ic to the New York Times — are fight­ing. But there are also much less pro­mot­ed mas­ters of pho­tog­ra­phy. Each of them has its own spe­cial char­ac­ter and its own style, and what unites them is that most of us have not yet heard of them. Today we take a look at 10 inter­na­tion­al pho­tog­ra­phers that every­one who loves pho­tog­ra­phy should fol­low.

Quentin Shea

Pho­tog­ra­ph­er whose career takes him trav­el­ing between Bei­jing and New York. In addi­tion to pho­tog­ra­phy, he also makes films. Con­cep­tu­al, almost artis­tic pho­tographs pre­dom­i­nate among his works.

Quentin Shea shoots both por­traits and styl­ish land­scapes in the spir­it of the Amer­i­can painter Edward Hop­per. This pho­tog­ra­ph­er works best with bright col­ors and com­po­si­tion in space.

From Quentin Shea you can learn: use col­or to cre­ate atmos­phere.
Insta­gram: quentin_shih

Footage post­ed by Quentin Shih on his Face­book page. Pho­to: facebook.com/quentin.shih

Footage post­ed by Quentin Shih on his Face­book page. Pho­to: facebook.com/quentin.shih

One of the shots of a series of pho­tographs by Quentin Shea. Pho­to: loeildelaphotographie.com

Marco Martinelli

This pho­tog­ra­ph­er lives and works in Milan: he shoots events, reports and projects. One of the last episodes of Mar­tinel­li is ded­i­cat­ed to life in a pan­dem­ic. He com­pares the lock­down to liv­ing in an aban­doned amuse­ment park. Mar­tinel­li’s pho­tographs do not embell­ish real­i­ty, but show its beau­ty with all its flaws.

You can learn from Mar­co Mar­tinel­li: talk through pic­tures on cur­rent top­ics.
Insta­gram: marco_martinelli

Pho­to from the 2019–2020 Alter­na­tive Sea­son series. Pho­to: marcomartinelli.it

Pho­to from the 2019–2020 Alter­na­tive Sea­son series. Pho­to: marcomartinelli.it

Pho­to from the 2019–2020 Alter­na­tive Sea­son series. Pho­to: marcomartinelli.it

Kenny Kronholm

Almost fab­u­lous pic­tures of this pho­tog­ra­ph­er have one thing in com­mon — the mood. Even his Insta­gram user­name speaks vol­umes. On the frames of Kro­n­holm, an atmos­phere of mys­ti­cism, fog and light mys­tery always reigns. Whether it’s wind­ing branch­es of trees in the for­est, ear­ly morn­ing in the city or a rail­road in the field — all pho­tos of this author are always mem­o­rable and a lit­tle sad.

You can learn from Ken­ny Kro­n­holm: shoot illus­tra­tions.
Insta­gram: moa­holic

Pic­tures post­ed by Ken­ny Kro­n­holm on his Insta­gram account. Pho­to: instagram.com/moodaholic

Pic­tures post­ed by Ken­ny Kro­n­holm on his Insta­gram account. Pho­to: instagram.com/moodaholic

Diane Varner

On dai­ly walks, hikes and trav­els, Varn­er takes pic­tures, look­ing for cor­ners that dis­tract from the every­day world and remind us that we, too, are part of nature’s nev­er-end­ing cycle.

Diane Varn­er has won numer­ous plant pho­tog­ra­phy com­pe­ti­tions and has a pho­tog­ra­phy blog. Varn­er shoots with Canon and iPhone cam­eras.

You can learn from Diane Varn­er: cap­ture incred­i­ble land­scapes and liv­ing crea­tures as if they are pos­ing for you.
Insta­gram: dianevarn­er

Wildlife pho­tographed by Diane Varn­er. Pho­to: dianevarner.com

Wildlife pho­tographed by Diane Varn­er. Pho­to: dianevarner.com

Gregory Halpern

This pho­tog­ra­ph­er has only a few series, but they all focus on Amer­i­can life, and, accord­ing to Halpern him­self, this top­ic is both dif­fi­cult to con­vey and under­stand. The author him­self does not sim­pli­fy the task for the view­er: the pic­tures are incred­i­bly dif­fer­ent and at first it is not always notice­able what unites them into a sin­gle whole. But this is where the mys­tery lies, because the lives of the char­ac­ters and the cor­ners of the con­ti­nent are dif­fer­ent.

From Gre­go­ry Halpern you can learn: tell a sto­ry with pic­tures with­out a plot, but with mean­ing.
Insta­gram: gre­go­ry­halpern

Gre­go­ry Halpern calls the genre of his film­ing “Amer­i­can­ism”. Pho­to: gregoryhalpern.com

Liz Johnson Arthur

There are pho­tog­ra­phers who, in every genre, are equal­ly accu­rate in cap­tur­ing the right motif. Liz John­son Arthur, a pho­tog­ra­ph­er based in Lon­don, cap­tures peo­ple’s lives in one moment. Liz trav­els and pho­tographs dif­fer­ent char­ac­ters in their world — among the sur­round­ing objects and peo­ple. She shoots both black and white and col­or. Most often, her medi­um is film, but even in dig­i­tal shots there is still a slight retro-frame feel.

You can learn from Liz John­son Arthur: shoot ordi­nary peo­ple as if they were celebri­ties.
Insta­gram: lizjohn­sonarthur

Footage from around the world post­ed on Arthur John­son’s Insta­gram account. Pho­to: instagram.com/lizjohnsonartur

Brian Schutmaat

A Texas-based and award-win­ning pho­tog­ra­ph­er, Schut­maat cap­tures a wide vari­ety of genre and style shots. Among them there are por­traits for pub­li­ca­tions, and series for their exhi­bi­tions.

On the Shut­maat web­site, pho­tos are inter­spersed with poems by dif­fer­ent poets, which togeth­er cre­ate a coher­ent nar­ra­tive. Some shots make you feel uncom­fort­able, step out of your com­fort zone, and look at prob­lems that you would oth­er­wise bypass. Oth­ers seem to show an alter­na­tive world, which for the major­i­ty is irre­triev­ably lost.

You can learn from Bri­an Schut­maat: ask ques­tions in pho­tos.
Insta­gram: bryan­schut­maat

Pic­tures from one of Shut­maat’s pho­to series. Pho­to: bryanschutmaat.com

Frag­ment of Shut­maat’s pho­to book. Pho­to: bryanschutmaat.com

Holly Andres

In addi­tion to com­mer­cial pho­tog­ra­phy, Hol­ly Andres makes beau­ti­ful series based on real or fic­tion­al sto­ries. One of these episodes is devot­ed to mem­o­ries from child­hood about how Hol­ly and her sis­ter dis­turbed the hor­net’s nest and how it end­ed. The oth­er is inspired by the Nan­cy Drew books. Most of the shots are tak­en in a retro style, but with rich col­ors and con­fi­dent use of light­ing.

A series of pho­tographs by Hol­ly Andres have catchy titles such as Wasp Sum­mer or Spar­row Alley.

From Hol­ly Andres you can learn: take staged shots as if you were film­ing a movie.
Insta­gram: hollyan­dres

Pic­tures pub­lished on Hol­ly Andres web­site. Pho­to: hollyandres.com

Pic­tures pub­lished on Hol­ly Andres web­site. Pho­to: hollyandres.com

Nicole Franzen

Not so often we see pho­tos of inte­ri­ors in the col­lec­tions of artis­tic shots. Some­one con­sid­ers such shoot­ing a bor­ing activ­i­ty, and some­one con­sid­ers it too arti­fi­cial. But there are those among us who are fas­ci­nat­ed by pic­tures of skill­ful­ly arranged fur­ni­ture in a well-lit room. More­over, this is not an easy job. Nicole Franzen knows how to show the whole inte­ri­or through one well-cho­sen frag­ment. Her frame is almost always ver­ti­cal and cap­tures par­ti­cles of lit­er­al­ly every­thing that best con­veys the char­ac­ter of the own­er.

From Nicole Franzen you can learn: work with the decor in the frame.
Insta­gram: nicole_franzen

Var­i­ous pho­tographs tak­en by Nicole Franzen for inte­ri­or and decor mag­a­zines. Pho­to: nicolefranzen.com

Var­i­ous pho­tographs tak­en by Nicole Franzen for inte­ri­or and decor mag­a­zines. Pho­to: nicolefranzen.com

Var­i­ous pho­tographs tak­en by Nicole Franzen for inte­ri­or and decor mag­a­zines. Pho­to: nicolefranzen.com

David Baker

If there are pic­tures that can be com­pared to paint­ing, then you will find them in the Bak­er col­lec­tion. The main theme of his pho­tographs is nature in its con­stant con­tra­dic­tion. The shots are so vivid that when you look at the pic­ture of the for­est, you can almost feel its damp air, sat­u­rat­ed with fog. A wave beat­ing against the rocks, as if pour­ing cold spray on you. All this is the mer­it of not only tech­nique, but also the emo­tion that is invest­ed in each frame. Bak­er’s pho­tographs are both dream­like and real­is­tic.

You can learn from David Bak­er: see nature as it is.

A snap­shot of one of a series of pho­tographs by David Bak­er. Pho­to: milouvision.com

A snap­shot of one of a series of pho­tographs by David Bak­er. Pho­to: milouvision.com

A snap­shot of one of a series of pho­tographs by David Bak­er. Pho­to: milouvision.com

If you liked this col­lec­tion, we have some­thing else for you: lookwhat won­der­ful works of tal­ent­ed Russ­ian pho­tog­ra­phers! Inspired by the pic­tures? Rather arm your­self with a cam­era! Inter­est­ing shots are wait­ing for you, the main thing is not to miss them. Share in the com­ments what oth­er pho­tog­ra­phers are wor­thy of atten­tion.