14 Inspiring Photographers

Ole Henrik Skjelstad
6 min readJan 17, 2019

These 14 photographers have inspired and influenced me in several ways during 2017. Not only is their work stellar but they are also persons who I perceive as honest, humble, generous, and not least, as persons with integrity. In other words, to me photography is not only an image — it is also the person behind the image. I have asked each artist to pick one of his/her favorite images from 2017. The photographers are listed in no particular order.

Herman van den Berge

Herman has developed a very unique style and he creates images that are creative, visual impactful and strong both in composition, light and color. He is one of many photographers who cannot travel extensively but have learned to take full advantage of what is close to his home. Herman continues every day to set the bar increasingly higher for himself.

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Katherine Young

Whenever I lay my eyes on one of Katherine’s black and white images I cannot help but being awestruck by how she uses lines, light and shadows to create images with a strong visual impact and with a unique artistic feel. In the context of photography she plays a fiddle with far more strings than most.

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Morten Eriksen

I had the pleasure meeting Morten this fall. Until then his work was unknown to me. It turns out that he has a terrific eye for composition, colors and light and, further, his eye for details truly makes his images stand out to me. He has grown tremendously as a photographer in 2017.

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Dag Ole Nordhaug

Dag Ole is one of those who has this unique gift of letting the moment completely swallow him up so that he in a sense becomes one with the camera and the scenes he is capturing. That in combination with excellent editing skills and a brilliant eye for composition have produced a portfolio of which every professional can be envious.

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Thrasivoulos Panou

Thrasivoulos is driven by a strong passion and also interest for learning and that in combination with an outstanding eye have produced images that are visually pleasing and which have this unique mood which I always fall for. This past year he has taken giant steps in terms of developing his photography and that has resulted in images in perfect balance in more than one way.

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Miguel Angel Martin Campos

Whenever I see one of Miguel Angel’s landscapes I always wish I had his gift for colors and light — his immaculate and time consuming dodging and burning technique turns his images into artworks very pleasing to the eyes and with tons of visual interest….and incredible mood. He works as a wedding photographer and this image combines the best from his two worlds. The finest wedding image I have ever seen, btw.

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Anthony Million

His often dark renderings of what he sees with his inner eye must be viewed on a dark background to fully appreciate the amazing level of detail in his images and how carefully he mold his images so that everything is in perfect harmony and balance. An artist true to himself and his personal visions. Anthony’s panorama deserves to be viewed on black here.

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Peter Zajfrid

Peter is a dedicated and hard working artist who has this unique gift of taking the most mundane scene and turn into a piece of art. I often find myself admiring how he uses light, colors and shadows to lead the eyes and to give his images visual interest and visual impact.

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Lorenzo Riva

Lorenzo sees what others may just walk past, and he takes a scene and presents it as close to reality as possible. But, yet his images are visually compelling with a unique feel and mood — and you know what you see is what you get if you ever visit a location he has portrayed.

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Terrence J. Drysdale

Terrence not only creates stunning images but he also tells compelling stories using a variety a creative techniques. I have more than once uttered a quiet wow when I have viewed one of this works — notably the moods he creates are spellbinding.

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Sarah Lyndsay Veerman

Sarah’s sense of colors and light is what almost every landscape photographer strive for. She has a fantastic eye for strong and captivating compositions and familiar scenes look new and fresh through her eyes. Her images come across as perfectly balanced pieces of landscape art.

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Bjorn Baklien

I came across Bjorn’s artistry on Instagram last spring and was blown away by his interpretations of the landscapes he visits. Outstanding compositions and everything so well balanced in terms of colors and light — his images are truly a treat to the eyes.

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Hans Gunnar Aslaksen

Not many can boast of the level of progress Hans Gunnar has displayed this past year. His images are now top shelf stuff in terms of landscape photography. Notably how he uses lines is amazing. And his use of colors and light always strikes a chord in me.

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Noel Casaje

I have had many wow experiences this past year and Noel has been responsible for several of those. He has honed his craft to perfection and how he creates visual interest, depth and visual impact across a scene using colors and light is absolutely amazing.

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The great majority of those featured aren’t professionals. They have demanding full time jobs but yet they produce beautiful and visually compelling images. Most of them cannot travel extensively — instead they have become very skillful at using whatever they have close to home, and that certainly demands respect. Some of the featured photographers have the opportunity to travel more and they return home with terrific images from locations that are new to them — and that truly is also a talent well worth lauding.

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