Jean-François Cléroux | Flâneur & Lens Creative
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52 Most Influential Street Photographers

About the List

The goal of this list is to have the 52 most relevant Street Photographers or Artists that have influenced Street Photography, today and yesterday, broken into two sections; Most Influential Street Photographers, making up a total of 15 photographers that everyone should study; and 37 more influencers for a total of 52. Currently the list is at 48 total with 4 more photographers to be added. (Help us decide which 4 should me moved to this list from this list of Other Notable Street Photographers.

There is a third and fourth component to this list that will continue to expand as we add some great photographers that we keep finding. These are the Other Notable Street Photographers list and the Street Photographers To Watch List. They can both be found [here].

This Street Photographers list is not about who was or is the ‘best’ Street Photographer, but rather, about those that have influenced Street Photography historically, currently, technically, artistically, or even just by the influence they had on other photographers. This ‘influence’ is about those that were influenced years ago, but also, those of the new generation of Street Photographers being influenced today.

It would be very hard to argue that photographers like Zach Arias, Eric Kim, and Vivian Maier have had no influence on Street Photography. Today, thousands of photographers are turning to Street Photography because of these three individuals and others. Zach and Vivian are inspiring many because of their work and Eric because of his reach via marketing and helpful site. This we cannot dispute.

This list is created using hours of on-line research on the individual photographers and by gathering results from many ranking lists, surveys, and how the photographers are ranking in, and the subject of Google Searches. This list also has a North American/European slant as all research is done on English websites. We are currently researching the top Street Photographers in Africa, Asia, Russia, and the Middle-East. But, no matter how hard we work at making the list perfect, we cannot take into account how any particular photographer may or may not have influenced you personally or even if you like or hate their images. There will always be differences in opinion.

This list will be fluid and we will update it every year based on new emerging photographers, trends and other factors including feedback.

15 Most Influential Street Photographers Every Street Photographer Should Know

Name
Life
Based In

1908 – 2004
Paris FRA

1912 – 1994
Paris FRA

1928 – Current
Los Angeles CA USA

1903 – 1975
New York NY USA

1934 – NLA
New York NY USA

1946 – Current
New York NY USA

1928 – Current
NY USA & Paris FRA

1938 – Current
FRA & Prague CZE 

1923 – 2013
Pittsburg PA USA

1913 – 2009
New York NY USA

1926 – 2009
Chicago IL USA

1938 – Current
New York NY USA

1952 – Current
Bristol GBR

1952 – Current
New York NY USA

1928 – 1984
New York NY USA

37 More Influential Street Photographers

Name
Life
Based In

1923 – 1971
New York NY USA

1972 – Current
Atlanta GA USA

1971 – Current
Tokyo JPN

1857 – 1927
Paris FRA

1929 – 2016
New York NY USA

1939 – Current
Memphis TN USA

1924 – Current
New York NY USA

1942 – Current
Los Angeles USA

1939 – Current
New York NY USA

1953 – Current
New York, Berlin, Paris

1899 – 1984
Paris FRA

1930 – 2019
Vancouver CAN

1874 – 1940
New York NY USA

1971 – Current
Manchester GBR

1894 – 1985
New York NY USA

1988 – Current
Berkeley CA USA

1971 – NLA
Sittzerland

1864 – 1944
London GBR

1813 – 1879
Paris FRA

1969 – Current
New York NY USA

1901 – 1983
New York NY USA

1938 – Current
Japan

1971 – Current
Adelaide AUS

1977 – Current
New York NY USA

1944 – Current
Paris FRA

1947 – Current
New York NY USA

1918 – 1978
New York NY USA

1879 – 1973
New York NY USA

1864 – 1946
New York NY USA

1890 – 1976
New York NY USA

1965 – Current
Tokyo JPN

1985 – Current
Hefei CHN

1962 – Current
New York NY USA

Please Help

Help us decide which other 4 Street Photographers to move up to this list. Check them out [here] and let us know who you would move up or, if you think we missed a photographer, let us know.

We try our best to find relevant links but many of the past masters do not have dedicated pages. Perhaps it’s something the Street Photography community could work on. A good example of this is Paul Augustus Martin. Doing a Google search brings up very few results and no direct links to a page. If you know of better sites or links to pages that describe the lives of the photographers, please let us know.

If you have a favorite Street Photographer you would like to add to this list, or someone you think we may have missed, please let us know.

Updated 2022.03.08 – Fixed a link. Edited some text.
Updated 2019.10.05

Comments (2):

  1. Sharon

    January 24, 2024 at 7:23 am

    Alan Schaller

    Reply
    • The Photographer

      November 3, 2024 at 2:02 pm

      Thanks for the recommendation. We will be updating the list in early 2025 and will review any new recomendations. Personally I did not know about Mr. Schaller and its always nice seeing new work. Thanks.

      Reply

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