What amateurs do you know who are worth looking into?

[Bill Burk]

Lenny Eiger called to mind an idea that I keep mulling about without fully forming...

He mentioned an amateur photographer, a friend of his dad's, Morty Strauss, and another amateur, Alma Leveson, who I'll have to look up.

Occasionally I will come across the work of an amateur and I'm impressed by what I assume is typical ability of the photo hobbyist...

I get a great deal of pleasure seeing something from someone I've never heard of, and the mystery deepens if they don't come up on Google.

I'm not hoping to uncover a great photographer, I'm talking about good photographers!

Do you know any?

[mdarnton]

I find lots of good stuff on Flickr. I search for groups that have subject areas where I would expect to find the type of stuff that interests me, and page through group postings looking for someone interesting. When I find a photo or two I like, I go look at all that person's stuff. There are some amazingly good people there.

Flickr's system is well set up for that type of browsing 500px is TERRIBLE--what kind of service that supposedly respects photography turns everything into a square thumbnail?!??! That's an insult--a browser made for people who look for things like photos with puppies or breasts in them, not for strong photographs--it's like cropping a two inch square word block out of the middle of a book to show how someone writes.

I don't expect anyone on Flickr to deliver 100%, but I appreciate people who have a good eye and can consistently come up with something that's pretty good. Anyway, for me I found that many of the people whose work I like are from Russia and Italy--I have no idea why that would be.
There are a few personal contacts in here, but mostly these are photographers I have found who I don't know, but like their work:
https://www.flickr.com/people/michaeldarnton/contacts/
https://www.flickr.com/people/mdarnton/contacts/

[Merg Ross]

Lenny Eiger called to mind an idea that I keep mulling about without fully forming...

He mentioned an amateur photographer, a friend of his dad's, Morty Strauss, and another amateur, Alma Leveson, who I'll have to look up.

For Alma Lavenson, look for the book by Susan Ehrens.

[Dirk Rösler]

Amateurs... as opposed to...? I don't understand the classification or a need for one. I am always looking for interesting photos and I don't think the photographer's status (or equipment for that matter) really makes a difference.

[Bill Burk]

Dirk Rösler,

As I say, it's not a well-formed idea. I don't mean to classify based on occupational status. I just hope to hear stories of lesser-known photographers. I would appreciate a story of someone who dabbled in photography for a while, made few prints, maybe even showed some. Then they went on to work in the insurance industry and raise a family, never having been recognized for their photography. Small-scale photographers, who made some interesting photographs even if they didn't start a movement.

[johnmsanderson]

stiglitz

[paulr]

A lot of famous contemporary photographers are amateurs, or might be depending on your definition. If they make their living teaching are they still amateur?

[Bill Burk]

If they are famous, I guess it would be easy to find stories and photographs.
-So I might be interested but that's not the idea behind what's going through my mind now.

Teachers might be a good lead to follow. I think it would be cool to find a teacher you like, then follow leads to their students.

[Light Guru]

Amateurs... as opposed to...? I don't understand the classification or a need for one. I am always looking for interesting photos and I don't think the photographer's status (or equipment for that matter) really makes a difference.

Exactly. I don't care how long they have been shooting, what equipment they use or if people pay them to do it. What's important is the final image.

[Bill Burk]

Well, if I'm going to stick with amateur... You know how professional photographers turn their creative impulse to personal projects outside their regular work? I'd be happy to check out landscapes of a portrait photographer... That kind of thing.

[jp]

I find lots of good stuff on Flickr. I search for groups that have subject areas where I would expect to find the type of stuff that interests me, and page through group postings looking for someone interesting. When I find a photo or two I like, I go look at all that person's stuff. There are some amazingly good people there.

Flickr's system is well set up for that type of browsing 500px is TERRIBLE--what kind of service that supposedly respects photography turns everything into a square thumbnail?!??! That's an insult--a browser made for people who look for things like photos with puppies or breasts in them, not for strong photographs--it's like cropping a two inch square word block out of the middle of a book to show how someone writes.

I don't expect anyone on Flickr to deliver 100%, but I appreciate people who have a good eye and can consistently come up with something that's pretty good. Anyway, for me I found that many of the people whose work I like are from Russia and Italy--I have no idea why that would be.
There are a few personal contacts in here, but mostly these are photographers I have found who I don't know, but like their work:
https://www.flickr.com/people/michaeldarnton/contacts/
https://www.flickr.com/people/mdarnton/contacts/

Flickr is doing well for me at the moment too, for following photographers I'm interested in. I sometimes check the favorited photos of people I have contacts or who otherwise seem to show good taste in their photography. This can be interesting and expand my horizons a little bit too.

[Bill Burk]

Thanks jp and mdarnton...

I can see that's exactly where I need to look.

[Peter Lewin]

Not an amateur as far as I can tell, but a new name for me: Angela Strassheim (angelastrassheim.com). I was in the library the other day, and saw a copy of Harper's Magazine on the rack, which caught my eye because of the cover photo. I looked the photographer up at home, and found her website (mentioned above) and liked her work. The proportions looked much more 4x5 to me than DSLR, and hunting through a few articles, I finally found one which confirmed that the 4x5 was her camera of choice. Her work is almost all color, largely about women's issues (a lousy description on my part, look at the work). It reminded me a little of Rineke Dijkstra's work, but with images conveying much more thought than Dijkstra's which seem to me largely frontal LF snapshots. Anyway, a photographer I had never heard of, who may be new to at least some of you, and who works mostly in LF color.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Flickr is doing well for me at the moment too, for following photographers I'm interested in. I sometimes check the favorited photos of people I have contacts or who otherwise seem to show good taste in their photography. This can be interesting and expand my horizons a little bit too.

I'm with Jason. LFF and apug are also great places to follow people. VC and LensWork magazines as well.