The Worlds most famous photographs..

[ivortripod]

How do you find them?

By famous I mean the most widely acclaimed...

PS: The answer isn't Google It....I've tried that

 

[Duckydoodle]

Google famous photographers and you get a list of them and different sites where you can access their pictures. Just did it and there were a lot

 

[russbates]

If your looking for newspaper stuff

www.worldpressphoto.org

is a good place to start all the winners from 1955-2008

 

[Marcel]

Define most widely acclaimed?

 

[nfulcher]

Hi

I stumbled across http://www.stevemccurry.com/ while surfing for inspirational images. He has worked for National Geographic and his images just blew me away.
(Not sure if this is what you're after)
Enjoy

 

[F-Stop]

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/

probably not what you're looking for. mostly old-schoolers on there.

 

[ivortripod]

Google famous photographers and you get a list of them and different sites where you can access their pictures. Just did it and there were a lot

Yes indeed, I was searching photographs and not photographers

 

[rh1944]

I took this list from Wikipedia. This is a list of the highest prices paid for photographs (in US dollars unless otherwise stated).

1. Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001), $3,346,456, February, 2007, Sotheby's London auction.[1]
2. Edward Steichen, The Pond-Moonlight (1904), $2,928,000, February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.[2]
3. Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) (1989)[3], $1,248,000, November 2005, Christie's New York auction.[4]
4. Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, 113.Athènes, T[emple] de J[upiter] olympien pris de l'est (1842)[5] $922,488, 2003, auction.
5. Gustave Le Gray, The Great Wave, Sete (1857)[6] $838,000, 1999.
6. Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol (1987)[7] $643,200, 2006.
7. Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1948)[8] $609,600, Sotheby's New York auction, 2006.[9]
8. Andreas Gursky, Untitled 5 (1997)[10] $559,724, 6 February 2002.
9. Gustave Le Gray, Tree (1855), $513,150, 1999.
10. Diane Arbus, Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967 (1967)[11] $478,400, 27 April 2004.

That should be a good starting point. I know expensive may not mean best but it is a guide. Some of the Gursky shots are staggering and others make you think you could have taken them.

 

[ivortripod]

Define most widely acclaimed?

Hmm, cheers Marcel, have tried Googling 'Most published photographs' but that doesn't really help either : it brings up a lot of rather weird stuff :bonk:

 

[Marcel]

No I mean, what do you mean by "Most widely acclaimed" are you looking for most expensive? Most well known? etc

 

[ivortripod]

No I mean, what do you mean by "Most widely acclaimed" are you looking for most expensive? Most well known? etc

Most expensive is very interesting, [thanks rh], however most well known throws up images, on Google, I've never seen.
Still, I have followed a sheltered life-style..
Cheers Marcel

 

[ivortripod]

[S4]I'm working down the list [/S4]

 

[TheKrikkitWars]

Surely the Pulitzer Prizes would be a starting point:

Feature Photography

Breaking News

Photography (Pre 1969)

Spot News (renamed in 2000)

Edit: the Pulitzers are extremely gloomy to say the least.

 

[joxby]

You're gonna have to narrow it down to genres I think, there are an awful lot of iconic shooters producing stand out work in particular fields.
For instance, its difficult to write a list of outstanding war/photojourn togs less than 20 names long.
Robert Mapplethorpe shot a lot of male nudes which are fablious, but he did other things aswell, Calla Lilly for example, famous photo.
Irving Penn shoots a lot of product/still life/fashion/portraits, he features in Vogue regularly, but so do a lot of others.
I think your research should be on the photographers, from there you will find images you have seen before but never new anything about.