People often wonder who or what inspires me to create the photography that I create.  The answer is that there are multiple sources of inspiration.  Sometimes it’s my spouse who inspires me.  Sometimes it’s the location which inspires me.  Other times, I find other sources of inspiration.  As a photographer, I find inspiration in all kinds of places.  I even find inspiration in some of my fellow photographers.  Today I’m peeling back the curtain and letting you know some of the landscape and wildlife photographers who inspire me.

Chris Burkard

I’m going to start with the most recent addition to my inspiration list.  Chris Burkard’s approach to adventure photography and even surfing photography is something I’ve come to appreciate recently.  He takes a great deal of care in choosing what part of the adventure is visible in frame and what is left to the imagination.

I love seeing some of the places he has traveled to and his landscape work in the Arctic with the Aurora Borealis is something to behold.  I start imagining going to some of those places and having my own adventure when I look at his photography work.  His work inspires my future drives for where I want to go.

Colby Brown

Next is a photographer who first captured my attention on Creative Live.  I caught a class he taught about marketing landscape photography.  Being a landscape photographer myself who is interested in selling my work, I tuned into the class.

After the class, I decided to check out his landscape and nature photography for myself.  I had seen several samples on screen during the class but I wanted to look closer.  What impressed me the most was how much I liked his particular style of landscape photography.

When I need a direction of how to process a freshly taken photo, I know that I can get inspiration from Colby.

Art Wolfe

As giant in the landscape and wildlife photography industry for years, I would be remiss to ignore Art Wolfe when it comes to a list of photographers who inspire me.

Recently, I’ve been taking an interest in his wildlife photography.  As it’s often difficult to specialize in both landscape photography and wildlife photography, Art Wolfe is a bit different in the industry that way.  Landscapes don’t move and are very predictable.  Wild animals are far from predictable.

I admire his bravery for getting photos of bears fishing for salmon.  I don’t want to get that close to an animal which could kill me without breaking a sweat (not that my spouse would let me).  That’s part of what makes his imagery so powerful to me.  I keep trying for wildlife photos like his from time to time.

Ansel Adams

You just knew that the man who made landscape photography a thing would be on my list of inspiring photographers.  The photos he was able to take with the early film cameras are just amazing.

The man knew how to read light and make it work to his advantage in the camera.  That’s a skill I’m working on mastering myself.

Having taken up subject matter which the master himself once shot as part of his national parks project, I naturally look to him for ideas of places to go and a comparison of how well I approached a similar subject.

Peter Lik

To finish off this list, I’ve chosen the landscape photographer who inspires me the most.  I was an early photography student when my spouse found “From the Edge with Peter Lik” on the Weather Channel.  As I had started showing serious interest in landscape photography, I started watching the show.

At first, the lengths he went to for a photograph were intimidating.  As I’ve grown as a photographer, I realize those efforts are necessary.  The most inspiring portion of the show for me was when he took a 3 day hike with minimal gear and broke a lens.  He had no backup but still had to try for the shot.  The shot didn’t work out, but the lesson was to try anyways with what you have.

Peter was the first photographer who made me believe that I could do all this myself.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope that this little peek into my inner workings as a photographer gets you interested in checking out just where these influential men made their mark in my photography.  Perhaps you’ll find these photographers inspirational as well.  Enjoy.

These photos are the intellectual property of their respective copyright owners and not the property of Cramer Imaging.  They are used with permission.