Commercial Photographers that kept going after their initial fame

[Frank Petronio]

Back in the late 80s when I was coming up, there would be trendy "stars" in the photo world that would get a lot of attention and work for a few years and then fade away as new trends came along to replace them - or they just made so much money they retired to Santa Fe or ran off with some young assistant and had a super expensive divorce, etc.

The guy who sold all that light painting stuff and the guy who shot wide-angle dogs with gels come to mind....

Anyway I stumbled across Geoff Kern again and can see he is still working at a high level. Probably not large format for everything but still inspirational:

http://www.geofkern.com

Rodney Smith was big around the same time, I don't see as much growth but he still does such clean work:

http://www.rodneysmith.com

Hugh Kretschmer was big and then he got quiet but it looks like he is back, a bit overly commercial and corny but gotta make money I guess:

http://www.hughkretschmer.net

Simon Larbalestier did the Pixies album covers and some really strange cool work. He seems to have switched 180 degrees and shoots humanitarian documentary photos in SE Asia. Interesting career:

http://www.simon-larbalestier.co.uk

Who are your old-school favorites that are still working hard?

I know they may not be shooting large format nowadays but these guys all did back in prehistoric times.

[Larry H-L]

Looks like Hashi, the splash and still life shooter, is still going... Hashistudio.com

[Kirk Gittings]

The dog guy who "who shot wide-angle dogs with gels" is a friend of mine. He's still working-hammered financially by being old news, the economy and a divorce-living a lot more simply band getting by.

[Frank Petronio]

Yeah I am sympathetic, I knew of him from skiing actually. The A Photo Editor, Haggart, really hammered him, I thought that was pretty nasty of him to do to a guy who didn't need another problem.

I saw a bunch of guys arc like this though, and was just looking back at PDNs from 1992 wondering whatever happened?

[Daniel Stone]

not sure if he was "famous", but I got my initial grasp/basic knowledge of lighting from Dean Collins(RIP)

http://deancollins.com/

he did the "finelight" video series, which I still pop in the dvd player every once in a while to re-gain my sanity after working on all-digital sets ;)

there's a few youtube videos of him, those are a good watch too

-Dan

[Frank Petronio]

Yeah I wonder if he actually had any clients?

[Mark Barendt]

Thanks Frank.

Smith's stuff is great.

[Bill Burk]

Is it OT to bring up nature photographers? I thought about some of the advice I got from William Neill in the early 90's and just to make sure I was spelling his name correctly, found he's still online...

http://www.williamneill.com/

[Michael Graves]

not sure if he was "famous", but I got my initial grasp/basic knowledge of lighting from Dean Collins(RIP)

http://deancollins.com/

he did the "finelight" video series, which I still pop in the dvd player every once in a while to re-gain my sanity after working on all-digital sets ;)

there's a few youtube videos of him, those are a good watch too

-Dan

Just to show how old I am.....I knew Dean Collins when he was the sales director for Larsen (or is it Larson) enterprises, just before he made it big. I found him to be a very charismatic and pleasant individual and was always willing to share his knowledge.

[dperez]

Frank, thanks for the list. I particularly liked Simon Larbalestier's work.

Although I don't know how much commercial work he has done in his career, I am really digging the work of John Humble.

http://www.johnhumble.com/

-DP

[rjphil]

Rodney Smith has always been a favorite of mine. Beautiful, clean work - sort of a Rene Magritte style to it. Saw him at PhotoPlus a few years back and was really impressed with the man.

[marfa boomboom tx]

quite a challenge Frank,

I just stopped going through my Rolodex of 1984 -- about 20 'hot' photographers in, and not a one can be found by Master Google.


Oh well,

in Marfa, were the weather is changing, dust is coming up and two writers are approaching...

[jnantz]

commerical -
i was always a big fan of Clifford Stoltze in the boston area.
he is also a graphics person and used to make these intensely layered photographs
kind of like jerry ulesmann but graphic for ad-work.
i interviewed with him back in the 90s .. and it was kind of fun seeing behind the scenes
how things were made ... he's still at it these days too ... http://www.stoltze.com/

artsy stuff -
big fan of the starn twins ...
went to tufts in the 80s and they were at the smfa around the same time
loved their big collage images

and they are still making beautiful images these days too
http://www.starnstudio.com/