Landscape photography involves more than just pointing your camera and taking an amazing shot; it requires your ability to evoke a sense of place and emotion in one image. This concept might sound abstract, so let us illustrate with a list of the most influential landscape photographers.
In This Article:
Top 20 Renowned Landscape Photographers.
1. Nadia Attura
After earning her Photojournalism Postgraduate Diploma, the British photographer has built an impressive career. Her unique blend of digital and photographic styles, combined with their visual appeal, has garnered attention from prestigious publications like The Guardian, NY Times, and Wall Street Journal.
Attura’s style is distinguished by vivid colors and imaginative nature scenes, which offer a whimsical yet oddly romantic perspective on nature. Patterned shapes and botanical motifs intertwine in complex layouts that evoke distant paradises, bolstered by other surreal elements that further highlight the beauty and idealism central to her work.
2. Nick Miners
As a freelancer, Miners has a strong passion for Iceland and visits it as frequently as possible. Throughout his travels, he has built a huge collection of Icelandic landscape photos, some taken from 6,000 feet in height. Architecture also fascinates him, particularly the varied emotions produced by brutalist designs.
After every photo tour or commercial shoot, Miners usually finds one specific photo that outperforms the rest. However, he believes trying to get the “perfect” picture might take away his drive to get better (since there will be no more room for improvement) and that there’s always something attractive in imperfection.
3. Erin Babnik
Babnik is an internationally renowned photographic artist, speaker, writer, and educator. Her expressive landscape photography stems from an ambitious combination of progressive methods and a strong foundation in arts.
During the last 6 years as an academic student, Erin gradually shifted from assignment photography to wilderness-centric projects, a passion that eventually became her full-time occupation. Now, Erin travels the globe to organize educational workshops and give dedicated lectures about her work and the allure of general landscape photography.
4. Ryan Dyar
Like most professional landscape photographers, Dyar’s journey began with his love for outdoor scenes. He has been a snowboarder since childhood and spent much time exploring, camping, and riding in the mountains. Over time, this strong passion for alpine areas extended beyond simple snowboarding seasons.
At first, Dyar only carried a small point-and-shoot camera to capture quick snapshots. However, that changed when he got his very first DSLR. Though he had not set out to become a photographer, Dyar eventually got hooked once he learned how to operate the camera and saw his landscape images improve day by day.
In an interview years later with Aperture Academy, Dyar revealed that starting with digital truly sped up his improvement, as the immediate feedback from the digital camera had smoothed out much of the learning process.
5. Marc Adamus
Adamus has traveled the world and captured natural beauty for many years. His photographs, all originals, reflect his keen attention to nature’s varying moods and a lifelong dedication to the wild.
The Oregon-born professional photographer often captures rare moments of fleeting atmospheres and extraordinary light, which gives his entire portfolio a sense of epic, majestic boldness. He’s not afraid to spend weeks or months fully immersing himself in every landscape he photographs, regardless of the weather conditions or time of the year.
6. Guy Tal
Tal usually works in the Colorado Plateau high deserts, his hometown landscape. Over more than twenty years, these regions have become deeply meaningful to the landscape photographer, who considers his relationship with them to be “as complicated as any relationship I’ve shared with another person.”
Hence, instead of showing just the surface charm of the lands, Tal’s photographs convey a profound familiarity with the subjects while revealing their significant roles in his life. To him, they are “multi-dimensional characters, temples, and sanctuaries in my story, just as I am a part of theirs.”
7. Ted Gore
Ted Gore, a famous landscape photographer from southern California, has gained international popularity for his sophisticated style, which combines ambitious compositions with exquisite processing. His years-long portfolio showcases his excellent range and talent for turning unconventional scenes or challenging circumstances into art.
In 2015, Ted was named US Landscape Photographer of the Year, an honor judged by renowned landscape photographers like Charlie Waite, Art Wolfe, and Marc Adamus, among others.
8. Philip Slotte
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Slotte began taking landscape pictures at sixteen with just a small phone camera. Unlike his other colleagues, Slotte prefers manually editing his images rather than using presets.
Furthermore, the famous photographer puts a lot of planning into his photography.
He creates detailed itineraries and daily schedules to capture the best sunrises and sunsets. Slotte also sets aside one or two unplanned days during his trips to discover lesser-known spots, using various apps to track the sun’s position at different times of the day. A solid plan is very important for him to focus fully on his photography projects.
9. Scott Smorra
Smorra’s love for the wilderness has inspired him since childhood, though he often felt hindered by the gap between his real-life experience and what the camera captured. In 2009, determined to improve, he began studying landscape photography methods and upgraded to a SLR camera.
Through years of training, Scott mastered composition, post-processing tips, and camera techniques to add depth and dimension to his images. He also knows how to interpret the light and weather to pick the perfect times for each photoshoot.
10. Christian Hoiberg
A full-time photographer from Norway, Hoiberg’s fascination with photography started quite early; at 15, he had already bought his first-ever DSLR camera. Since then, he’s worked tirelessly to build his own business, guide workshops, and write eBooks.
Though he hasn’t spent much time defining his style, Hoiberg did develop certain techniques he consistently uses in his images over the years. He’s particularly drawn to dramatic scenes yet aims to keep his landscape photographs relatively natural, reflecting what he saw rather than manipulating them into something entirely different.
11. Erez Marom
Next on our list is Erez Marom, a dedicated nature photographer, adventurer, guide, and writer from Israel. He captures beautiful landscapes and wildlife in his favorite spots, both in Israel and around the world.
Personal photography projects aside, Erez likes to share his expertise through instructional pieces and articles on top websites and magazines. He also travels frequently to lead unique photography lectures and workshops, offering his insights and decades of experience to the audience worldwide.
12. Cath Simard
The Canadian digital photographer and artist is recognized for her role as the leading figure in NFT photography. Her composites often blend reality with imagination – which is easily identified by their surreal, blue, cold, mountain night aesthetics.
As an introvert, Simard believes she can only produce the best projects when working alone inside the mountains. Throughout her career, she has walked up to 250 km, trekked for 18 days, and reached 5,900 m (about 19,356 feet) to capture one single image. Given such an intensive process, Simard only releases 5 to 7 photos annually.
13. Kai Hornung
A Germany-based photographer, Hornung intends to capture the diversity and beauty of nature through his lens. His work ranges from abstract, intimate scenes to sweeping, dramatic vistas, which gained him international recognition and even prestigious awards.
Furthermore, Hornung’s projects have also been included in renowned online outlets and magazines, such as Condé Nast, National Geographic, and Elements. In 2022, he was featured in the photobook “Voice of the Eyes,” along with 30 other international photographers.
14. Sean Bagshaw
Sean Bagshaw is a photographer and photography teacher from Ashland, Oregon.
Over time, Bagshaw shifted from regular documentary images to exploring the more artistic side of photography. He spends roughly 3 months every year sleeping on the floor or in his own truck, wandering under the dark, eating terrible food, and bypassing showers altogether.
Thankfully, most of his dedication has paid off, with his images being exhibited twice as first-prize winners in Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice International Awards since 2008.
15. Michael Shainblum
Born in the US, Shainblum has become one of today’s most prolific landscape photographers. He continuously pushes his creative boundaries to polish expertise in almost everything, from night sky photography to his current focus on timelapse work.
Shainblum’s dynamic and adaptable approach, both in the field and post-production, has brought him commissions from major international clients like BMW, Google, Disney, Samsung, Nike, and Verizon.
16. Chris Burkard
Chris Burkard travels the world to capture inspiring stories about human’s connection with nature and the importance of preserving wild places. He’s known for his striking images of powerful, untamed landscapes.
Burkard shares his insights into the wild with many global followers through his social media channels, encouraging them to discover nature themselves. His remarkable perspective on the subject has given him big opportunities with major enterprises, speaking engagements on TED stages, product design collaborations, educational projects, and the publication of several sold-out books.
17. Edward Burtynsky
For over four decades, Burtynsky has taken remarkable photos of worldwide industrial landscapes to showcase the significant impact of our activities on the environment. His best work is displayed in over 80 major museums globally.
A key theme in his photography is how industry transforms nature. He aims to let his projects intersect with an overview of human progress through different eras, from the Stone Age to the age of oil, minerals, silicon, transportation, and beyond.
Also, to bring those concepts to life, Burtynsky looks for detailed and expansive subjects that are open to interpretation, including places like refineries, quarries, mine tailings, recycling yards, etc.
18. Patricia Davidson
With a solid web development and visual arts background, Davidson focuses on creating reflective pictures that highlight her vision and strong interest in photography. She has spent over two decades honing her photography skills in the deep forests and along the beaches of the Pacific Northwest.
As of this writing, her photographs have been showcased in publications like Country Woman, Adobe, Loaded Landscapes, Outdoor Photography, The Washington Post, Inspire TV, 123RF Create, Oregon’s 1859, Landscape Photography, and more.
19. Zack Doehler
Zach Doehler currently lives in Vancouver, Canada. Inspired by the breathtaking landscapes he captures, Doehler aims to encourage others to explore and appreciate nature through his photographs.
He started developing a passion for photography very early (2015) and has worked professionally in landscape photography since 2019. His unique style combines the natural beauty of the outdoors with his vibrant, colorful post-processing vision.
20. Nicki Frates
Despite starting her professional career fairly late, Frates has quickly gained recognition for her impressive work and built a remarkable portfolio in a rather short time.
Her rapid rise in the landscape photography community was bolstered by the stunning image of Yosemite’s “Fire Falls,” featured in publications such as the New York Times and various online and educational platforms.
“Fire Falls” also received an Honorable Mention at the 2016 Siena International Photo Awards, among 45,000 famous photographers’ landscape photos submitted from around the globe.
Conclusion
We have just explored 20 famous photographers’ landscape photography projects and glimpsed into the techniques and intentions behind their work. Hopefully, this will help you with your own artistic vision. If you need more assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us!
