Portraits of Famous Photographers

Since the Mid-15th century and the advent of better and cheaper mirrors artists have modelled for themselves in their own works of art. Whether it is an in-depth exploration of the artist’s own psyche or simply because as a model, the artist is clearly the cheapest and most available. Whatever the reason, nearly every artist, in every medium from painters to photographers have attempted this exploration of self.

The Term selfie has become part of our lexicon and was the Oxford word of the year for 2013. The self portrait has never been so predominant in our culture. But the photographic masters did it first and did it best. Have a look!

Richard Avedon, self-portrait, New York, ca 1963

© Andreas Feininger's iconic image of Photojournalist  Dennis Stock for Life Magazine, 1951


 Photographer Sam Haskins 1963

Helmut Newton – Self-portrait with wife June and models (1981)


© Sally Mann, Self-portrait, 1974

Model Veruschka and photographer Franco Rubartelli, January 15, 1968, Vogue 

© Robert Doisneau, La petite monique, 1934

Arthur "Weegee" Fellig Self Portrait

Stanley Kubrick

Ansel Adams

Irving Penn

© Vivian Maier, Self-portrait

Henri Cartier-Bresson, self-portrait, 1957

SELF-PORTRAIT © PAOLO ROVERSI

Rodney Smith

Diane Arbus Self Portrait

Imogen Cunningham, “Self Portrait on Geary Street” (1958)

Yousuf Karsh ~ Self Portrait

© Felix Nadar & Adrien Tournachon, Pierrot photographer by the mime Debureau, 1854

André Kertész

© Ed van der Elsken, Self-portrait with Ata Kandó, Paris, 1953


Photographer Peter Beard

© Germaine Krull, Self-portrait with Ikarette, 1925


© Willy Ronis, Self-portrait, 1955

Jeanloup Sieff Self-portrait 

Mark Seliger self portrait in a stairwell at his studio in New York, 2011

© Gerda Taro, Robert Capa, Spain, 1937

© Helmut Newton, Self-portrait with model, Hotel Bijou, Paris, 1973

The first photographic portrait image ever produced was this self portrait of Photographer Robert Cornelius, daguerreotype, 1839

© Hank Walker

Self-portrait by photographer Gordon Parks

© Paul S. Taylor, Dorothea Lange pictured in Texas, 1934


© Ilse Bing, Self-Portrait in Mirrors, 1931

Ilse Bing 1986

© Oscar Graubner, Margaret Bourke-White working a top the Chrysler Building, 1934

Photographer Lee Friedlander self-portrait

Jeanloup Sieff self-portrait Undated

© Edouard Boubat, Self-portrait with Lella, 1951

© Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Self-portrait with Leica, 1952

© Martin Munkacsi

Photographer Willi Ronis

© Willy Ruge, Arno Boettcher, 1927

Robert Mapplethorpe Self portrait ( one of the few I can publish here)

© Nobuyoshi Araki, Self-portrait

© Irving Penn portrait of  Cecil Beaton with nude, 1946

© Daido Moriyama, Self-portrait with Dogs, 1997

© Weegee, Lisette Model, 1946

© René Burri's portrait of  Henri Cartier-Bresson, New York, 1959

© Lee Friedlander, Self-portrait, 1997

 Vivian Maier Self-Portrait 

 Andreas Feininger self portrait, 1946

O. Winston Link   and George Thom with flash Equipment. New York, March 16, 1956.

O. Winston Link

 Edward Steichen, selft portrait.

Harry Callahan ~ Self Portrait

André Kertész Self portrait ~ distorsion-no-41-1933

© Peter Seker, Walker Evans, 1935-1936

© Jacques-Henri Lartigue, portrait of Richard Avedon, New York, 1966