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Stop a man on the street and ask; "Name three famous baseball players." You're likely to get Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and maybe Hank Aaron. Football might get you Joe Namath, Tom Brady, and maybe Joe Montana. What I'm getting at is these are household names even for non-fans. Now. Name me three famous photographers? Ansel Adams, ummmm, that one dude and that chick that did all the famous people. (Annie Leibovitz)
Ansel Adams might be the only photographer I can think of who's a household name like Ruth or Namath.
The first 3 that come to mind to me (that are kind of household names, atleast in the photo community) would be:
Ansel Adams (which is usually the one that most think of, including myself)
Anne Geddes (anyone who has done newborn photography would know this name)
Joe McNally (for his books and National Geographic work)
A few others I think are good and/or have name recognition
Henri Cartier - Bresson
Edward Weston
Annie Leibovitz
Vivian Myer
Robert Frank
The first 3 that come to mind to me (that are kind of household names, atleast in the photo community) would be:
Ansel Adams (which is usually the one that most think of, including myself)
Anne Geddes (anyone who has done newborn photography would know this name)
Joe McNally (for his books and National Geographic work)
A few others I think are good and/or have name recognition
Henri Cartier - Bresson
Edward Weston
Annie Leibovitz
Vivian Myer
Robert Frank
Sure. In the photo community.
Even non-baseball fans know who Babe Ruth was. Do non photo fans know Annie Leibovitz or Henri Cartier - Bresson? Leibovitz *maybe* since she seems to have upped her profile somewhat lately.
I'd venture to say most people have seen the 'Naplam girl' photo for example. Who took it? (Nick Ut) Outside the photo community, who'd know that?
Unfortunately the photo is more memorable than the person who took it.
How about the Tiananmen Square photo?
The most-used photograph of the event was taken by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press, from a sixth-floor balcony of the Beijing Hotel, about one-half mile (800 m) away from the scene. The image was taken using a Nikon FE2 camera through a Nikkor400mm 5.6 ED-IF lens and TC-301 teleconverter.[36] Circumstances were against the photographer who recalled that the picture was almost not taken.[37] Widener was injured, suffering from the flu and running out of film. A friend (by the name of Kirk) hastily obtained a roll of Fuji 100 ASA color negative film, allowing him to make the shot.[1] Though he was concerned that his shots were no good, his image was syndicated to many newspapers around the world[1] and was said to have appeared on the front page of all European papers.[1] He was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize but did not win. Nevertheless, his photograph has widely been known as one of the most iconic photographs of all time.[1][2][3]
Even non-baseball fans know who Babe Ruth was. Do non photo fans know Annie Leibovitz or Henri Cartier - Bresson? Leibovitz *maybe* since she seems to have upped her profile somewhat lately.
I'd venture to say most people have seen the 'Naplam girl' photo for example. Who took it? (Nick Ut) Outside the photo community, who'd know that?
Well of course you are correct. No photographer in history ever has nor ever will be as recognizable as someone truly famous. Too be honest even the best photographers would likely never get to fame even as great as a "C-List" actor. The reason for this is obvious as they are known for what they create verses who they are...and they are always on the other side of the camera. That said I was referring to /discussing the idea that many of their works of Art may be recognizable even if the viewer doesn't really know who took the photo they may recognize the image. I personally find it kind of sad that these amazing Artists don't get their recognition, but then I think of so many others that spend a lifetime on their craft that no one (outside of their own niche) know of them either. Not to get off on a tangent but for example in the Ballet Community Ballerina "Anna Pavlova" was widely considered the best ever...but no one has ever heard of her unless you follow Ballet.
Lets use Ansel and Geddes as examples here. Ansel being the most well known landscape photographer and Geddes being the absolute undisputed gold standard for new born photography. Most everyone in the civilized world has seen work from both of these photographers and likely know (kinda) who they are even if they don't know their names. So maybe it is their "styles" that are famous and not them as individuals?
I brought up Vivian Maier (spell correct changed her last name when I entered it earlier but it is "Maier") as both Netflix and Amazon had separate documentaries on her released about the same time a few years back. A household name? Of course not, but I think these documentaries did an excellent job of talking about her very unique/eccentric life that transcended her photography.
Back to your point, yes correct these Artists (even the ones I mentioned) will never really be a name that is recognizable by the general public.
The reason for this is obvious as they are known for what they create verses who they are...
Very good point but as I type this I think directors. Francis Ford Copolla, George Lucas, James Cameron. That being said film is a different medium and 'Directed by,,,' is always front and center.
I agreed it's sad some of these people don't have more recognition outside of their community. We place a higher value on hitting a baseball than we do creating something. Nothing wrong with hitting a baseball at all. Now. Take a newborn shot. I don't know about any of you but I've seen many a photo and thought; 'I can do that.' Until I tried to do that which was immediately followed by 'How'd they DO that?!'
I agreed it's sad some of these people don't have more recognition outside of their community. We place a higher value on hitting a baseball than we do creating something. Nothing wrong with hitting a baseball at all. Now. Take a newborn shot. I don't know about any of you but I've seen many a photo and thought; 'I can do that.' Until I tried to do that which was immediately followed by 'How'd they DO that?!'
Agreed 100%. Most in this section probably don't know I'm a retired professional athlete. To that point I was raised a very humble upbringing so I never really understood and fortunately did not buy into the whole "God" like culture we have for athletes because they can do something well. This is one of the reason I love working with Dancers so much. They work non stop their entire lives to (hopefully) make it to the Pro Level and when they do what is their payoff?? No one still knows who they are and their pay (if lucky) on a top company may reach $100K per year!!
Regarding your comment on the newborn shoots, I am with you 100%! It is one of those things that looks easy until you try it and I have a few times with mixed results. My biggest fear is my cleint is going to reseach photos from Anne Geddes and say "This is what I want!". Ummmm Okay, so she has been specializing in newborn photography for 40 years now and charges around $5,000 per shoot...but you want me to compete this that!
Below is one of Geddes images and beneath that my attempts. I don't think my work is really bad, but not in the same realm of someone at Geddes level!
I think they turned out terrific! Especially #4 and #5.
I'm gonna post a couple of my attempts at this. They're awful and I know they're awful. This is one of the 'how hard can it be?' examples. Because my primary subject matter is birds and dogs, their assumption was a photographer is a photographer. We know this isn't the case of course but I agreed regardless. This is Nora, my ex-wife's granddaughter. She was crabby A. F. this day. I never had kids so in addition to being completely out of my element with the photos I was all shook up about the baby screaming. Was it me? Am I scaring her in some way? Good GRIEF. Anyway, this was the first and most likely last time I'll jump into this arena. This is indicative of how the entire afternoon went. Meh.
I think they turned out terrific! Especially #4 and #5.
I'm gonna post a couple of my attempts at this. They're awful and I know they're awful. This is one of the 'how hard can it be?' examples. Because my primary subject matter is birds and dogs, their assumption was a photographer is a photographer. We know this isn't the case of course but I agreed regardless. This is Nora, my ex-wife's granddaughter. She was crabby A. F. this day. I never had kids so in addition to being completely out of my element with the photos I was all shook up about the baby screaming. Was it me? Am I scaring her in some way? Good GRIEF. Anyway, this was the first and most likely last time I'll jump into this arena.
When I first started doing newborn photography (note: I have not done a lot of it...maybe like 15 total) I really researched what it took to get those "Anne Geddes" type photos. The backdrops, the containers, the music/sound they use to calm the kiddo etc... First she is unquestionably talented...but the secret (I found out) is you have like a 20 min window total to get these types of shots and obviously skill is involved no question some luck as well. I never shot this genre enough to get photos I thought were really great,
Margaret Bourke-White. I even read a biography of her when I was growing up. She did some cool things to get her aviation and skyscraper photos.
Alfred Eisenstaedt. Legend
George Hurrell: were actresses just more gorgeous back then?
Julius Schulman: famous architecture photographer. Perhaps the least famous of this group, but he still had an impressive body of work.
Matthew Brady is the most famous historical portrait photographer, and he’s the reason we know what the Civil War looked like.
Ansel Adams is a household name.
My guess is that Annie Liebovitz is the most famous modern portrait photographer. Like her style or not, I think everyone has seen her famous John Lennon/Yoko Ono photo.
Most people don't know her name but do know at least one of her photos:
Migrant Mother
She's Dorothea Lange, was an amazing person. Her biography "A Life Beyond Limits" is well worth reading. She was friends with Ansel Adams, was married to famous painter Maynard Dixon.
Almost Famous.
I don't know about any of you but I've seen many a photo and thought; 'I can do that.' Until I tried to do that which was immediately followed by 'How'd they DO that?!' 
