As previously announced I’m going to list 10 amazing street photographers so that you can get inspired and from whom you can learn. This list is not a ranking of the 10 best photographers. Therefore in this article you’ll find famous or less famous street photographers in mixed order.
I want to highlight the work of these artists since I particularly love it and get inspired by it. I think that in photography as in every other form of art, speaking of who is the best or what is the most beautiful piece of art is insignificant.
Let me know in the comments section below what do you think of these photographers and please suggest your favorite ones so that this list can be updated.
Famous Street Photographers
#1 Rui Palha
Links: Rui Palha Photography – Instagram – Facebook
Rui Palha is a street and humanist photographer based in Lisbon, Portugal. Palha is a master photographer considered one of the greatest modern street photographers. He started photography at age 14 and considers all people unique in his own artistic world. In fact the human element is the main part of Palha’s work, that renders what the artist sees during his walks through the streets of Lisbon.
#2 Yanidel
Links: Yanidel Photography – Instagram – Facebook
Yanidel is an internationally recognized street photographer based in Rosario, Argentina. His street photography work diverges from a purely documentary approach as he states in his website. Yanidel uses Leica cameras for his work. He started in Paris where he found inspiration when exposed to the work of famous street photographers.
#3 Bruce Gilden
Links: Bruce Gilden Photography – Instagram – Facebook
Bruce Gilden is an American street photographer based in New York. Thanks to his iconic style Gilden has received countless awards including a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Bruce Gilden is part of Magnum Photos from 1998.
#4 Zack Arias
Links: Zack Arias Photography – Instagram – Facebook
Zack Arias has a simple style and approach to photography, true and straight from camera. With an over twenty years long career, he has the talent and skills to make his subjects feel perfectly comfortable in front of his camera. A great traveller, Zack Arias thinks of himself more as a director than a photographer these days.
#5 Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004)
Links: Henri Cartier-Bresson Wikipedia – Foundation – Instagram
One of the legendary founding members of Magnum Photos, the french photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the pioneer of street photography. His work is synonym of photojournalism as an art form.
“To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life”
Heri Cartier-Bresson
#6 Vivian Maier (1926-2009)
Links: Vivian Maier Photography – Facebook – Twitter
Born in New Yorn in 1926, Vivian Meier traveled between Europe and the United States and went back to New York in 1951. Vivian left behind a body of work of over 100,000 negatives that she secretly accumulated throughout her life. Her work was discovered in 2007 at an auction house and it is now archived and conserved as part of a renaissance in the art of Street Photography.
#7 Susan Meiselas
Links: Susan Meiselas Photography
Susan Meiselas is an American Street Photographer member of Magnum Photos. She has spent many years photographing people caught in various turbulent moments of history and conflict zones. From her coverage of the Sandista revolution in Nicaragua and her work on documentation of human rights issues in Latin America to 9/11 and many more her work is considered among the most influential.
#8 Gianni Berengo Gardin
Links: Gianni Berengo Gardin Wikipedia
Probably the most important Italian photographer of the 20th century. Gianni Berengo Gardin‘s work is famous for his iconic images of Italy in the 50s and 60s.
His most iconic image “On a vaporetto” considered his most iconic piece of work was also Henri Cartier Bresson’s favorite shot by the Italian.
#9 Vineet Vohra
Links: APF Magazine – Instagram
Vineet Vohra founder of APF Magazine. Indian photographer from Delhi, he is able to establish a great connection with the characters he photographs. Started as a landscape and nature photographer Vineet Vohra then transitioned to street photography and in 2013 launched the APF Magazine with his brother.
#10 Joel Meyerowitz
Links: Joel Meyerowitz Photography – Instagram – Facebook
Joel Meyerowitz is a legendary american street photographer. Born in Bronx, Meyerowitz transformed traditional street photography from a black & white medium to the use of color. Cape Light (1978), probably his most influential book, is a masterpiece and classic of the art of color photography.
Who is your favorite Street photographer? Let me know in the comments below!
Stefano Caioni is a photographer from Sydney, Australia. Founder and editor of Pixinfocus, his passion for photography helps him explore new places and live new adventures. Thanks to photography he reconnected with the outdoors and was able to travel the world and take photos of some of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Comments
Thanks for taking the time to put the list together. There are plenty of street photographers who’s work I love but if I had to choose my top three, they’d be: Daido Moriyama, Trent Parke, and William Klein (all well-known). Keep up the great work on the website. David
Thank you for the valuable comment David, really appreciate it!