Natsumi Hayashi

Natsumi Hayashi lives in Tokyo and takes levitating self portraits. She uses super high speed photography to capture a crystal clear image of herself floating. What's amazing about these photos is how peaceful she looks. When I first saw these images I thought she photoshopped herself into them. It must have taken a bunch of takes to get the perfect shot, but she makes it seem so effortless.

Check out more of her levitating self portraits here.

Mary Mattingly

Mattingly was born in 1978, Rockville, Connecticut, and studied at Parsons New School of Design, but recieved her BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art. She has had solo exhibits at the Rober Mann Gallery, White Box, and The New school in New York, and in Galerie Adler in Frankfurt, Germany. She is also the recipient of a Yale University School of Art fellowship.
She lived alone in the desert for a year, which I think shows real dedication to her project and I think that type of dedication, time and effort, is reflected in her work.  I think that what she was feeling and thinking as she was working on the pieces comes across in her work. 

http://www.marymattingly.com/html/MATTINGLYFirstLightLastLight.html

Branislav Kropilak

Branislav Kropilak was born in Slovakia, however he spent most of his childhood traveling and living in Belgium. He graduated the Private Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, and in 2009, he was awarded second prize at the Sony World Photography Awards in Cannes.

I like his work because he uses light to make everyday objects like light-posts and parking garages look cinematic. He achieves this by using very geometric compositions and he brings out the colors of these objects through carefully manipulated lighting. 

http://www.kropilak.com

David Burdeny

Born in Winepeg Canada, Burdeny began photographing the prarie landscape when he was 12 and developing the prints in a darkroom he had built himself in his bedroom closet. He later studied and received degrees in both Interior design and Architecture, which he currently practices in Vancouver, Birtish Columbia Canada.  As a photographer, he is primarily self-taught.
 I like his work because you can see his design background come through even though his subjects are primarily natural. 

http://www.davidburdeny.com

Ruth Orkin

Ruth Orkin was a photographer, photojournalist and a filmmaker. She was the daughter of a silent film actress and received her first camera when she was 10 years old. When she was 17, she biked from Los Angeles to NYC to see the 1939 World's Fair and photographed her journey along the way.

She eventually moved to NYC and worked for many major magazines, including LIFE Magazine. She photographed celebrities on assignment, including Marlon Brando and Lucille Ball.

She married Morris Engel, a fellow photographer and filmmaker, and they collaborated together and  made the independent film Little Fugitive in 1952 which was nominated for an Academy Award. Here's a clip from it.

 

When color film was being introduced, she also transitioned with the times and began photographing in color.

She unfortunately passed away in 1985, but she has a website dedicated to her life and work here.

Arthur Leipzig

Arthur Leipzig was born in 1918 and is an American photographer that became well known for his street photographs of New York City. He was also a photojournalist that traveled across the world and contributed work to newspapers like The Sunday New York Times, Fortune, and Parade.

He has had his work shown in many museums all around New York. He has permanent collections in  the MoMA, The Brooklyn Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, The Jewish Museum, and others.

His website

Rune Guneriussen

Rune Guneriussen was born in 1977 in Norway. He's an installationist and photographer who juxtaposes several similar objects in different locations.

According to Guneriussen's website, his work is "an approach to the balance between nature and human culture, and all the sublevels of our own existence."

I personally enjoy looking at these works. The way that the objects try to balance and interact with the space they're in is a cool relationship that he's exploring. And the fact that the electrical cords aren't visible is really great because it gives the illusion that those lamps and globes are lighting on their own.

Constant Anee.

Constant Anee is a French photographer that currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He also owns a restaurant.

What really interested me about his work is his subjects' relationship to the space - it creates an intriguing sort of jarring effect which I really like. 

He also has an interesting approach to portraiture which I admire. 

Jaimie Warren.

I think this picture alone needs no words to describe why Jaimie Warren's images first intrigued me - WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

her website  is genuinely interesting enough just browsing it - (everything's sort of big and you have to scan along like you'd read a newspaper - at least in the parts that I scanned) and I think she's a great example of a fun image. 

They also have a tendency to include this young girl...

Ann Woo.

I was first attracted to Ann Woo's works because they remind me of paintings - she creates a really interesting aesthetic (largely through colour and composition) that her photographs almost seem as if they would be a painting.

Originally from Hong Kong she currently resides in New York, her website shows her range of works. 

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lang was a photographer around the time the great depression. She is considered as one of the best photographers of all time. Website

Rob Woodcox

Rob Woodcox is a conceptual photographer from Michigan. He uses Photoshop to manipulate his images Website

Dara Scully

Dara Scully is a surreal photographer that takes playful motives and abstracts them with her concepts 

Website

Daniel Everett

Daniel Everett's photos have a very graphic nature to them, with their sharp lines and neon colors. He seems like a mixed media artist, or like he should be doing installations in addition to his photography. I really like the monochromatic nature of his photos.