Top 5 Favorite Photographers plus Stieglitz and Matisse
These are my top five favorite photographers in no particular order:
Bettina Rheims (her book Chambre Close is one of my favorite photo series ever)
Juergen Teller (known for starting the trendy front flash look, but is far from superficial IMO)
Erwin Olaf (technically and stylistically amazing yet progressive)
George Pitts (has an ineffable quality like any master)
Helmut Newton (along with almost everyone else)
Though not in my top list, Alfred Stieglitz deserves at least a mention. Growing up, my parents had a book of his work that I used to be mesmerized by. I can't even say how much time I spent studying those photos. The only other book I probably looked at more was a giant paperback about Henri Matisse that had to have been a textbook from my mom's college days, because it included almost everything about him. Those two books sparked my fascination with nudity in art.