Photography is an art form that has many different styles and traits. From wildlife photographs to images of famous buildings, there are many different types of photography genres, and you will often find that photographers tend to specialize in one area, rather than having a wide-ranging body of work.
5 Most Famous Types of Photography Genres
With that in mind, we asked photography sharing site Clickasnap for their take on five of the most popular types of photography genres. Here’s what they’ve told us.
Landscape
Landscape photography is about capturing a photograph that embodies the spirit of the outdoors. When the viewer looks at a landscape photograph, they should be able to feel like they are in the middle of it.
Ansel Adams is probably the world’s most famous landscape photography. Known as the Supreme Master of Landscape Photography, Ansel’s work was a thing of sheer beauty. He captured the American West, particularly Yosemite National Park, and some of the images that he was able to take are breath-taking.
Fashion
Next, we have fashion photography, which focuses on displaying fashion clothing and stylish items. You will often find this sort of photography in fashion magazines and on advertising boards. Most of the photography will include models that wear the display items. This is a genre of photography that has been around for almost as long as photography itself.
Dovima with Elephants, which was taken by Richard Avedon in 1955 for Harper’s Bazaar is an iconic fashion photograph. Dovima was one of the world’s most famous models at the time, and the juxtaposition of her delicacy with the strength of the elephants was a sheer work of art.
Portraiture
Another genre that is popular is that of portraiture, which is the recording of a person’s personality and appearance. Of course, we are talking about this in photography form, yet portraiture also covers mediums like sculpture and painting as well.
This form of art can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt, where it really flourished from approximately 5,000 years ago. Armenian-Canadian, Yousuf Karsh, is probably the most famous portrait photographer in history. He was famous for his portraits of celebrities, royalty, and politicians. His list includes the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, and Ernest Hemmingway.
Wildlife
Wildlife photography is a genre that is concerned with various types of wildlife being documented in their natural habitat. Jenny E. Ross is a famous name in the world of wildlife photography.
Her work has drawn worldwide acclaim, awards, and abundant publications, so we would certainly recommend taking a look at it to get a real feel for what this genre is all about. Her arctic wildlife photographs, in particular, show off her true photography skills in this area to stunning effect.
Architectural (buildings)
The fifth and final genre that we are going to take a look at is architectural photography, which is all about capturing images of buildings and structures. One of the most influential and famous architectural photographers of all time is Julius Shulman. His photography of the Stahl House is one of his most incredible pieces of work, yet there are many!
His works have been published all over the globe. Carol McKinney Highsmith is another architectural photographer who you should check out. Her ‘Born Digital’ work was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2009. It features 1,000 photographs of 21st century America taken in digital format.
Whether you’re a fan of photography or a photographer themselves, taking a look at different types of photography could help you understand more about this fascinating artform.
