The Travel Photographer's 5 Favorite 2017 Photographers

Photo © Nagi Yoshida-All Rights Reserved

I now feature my favorite 5 photographer for 2017. I do so in no particular order, either alphabetically, nor chronologically nor by preference...just randomly.

Nagi Yoshida: 

My first favorite photographer of 2017 is Nagi Yoshida which was featured on this blog on June 26 with her work on Ethiopia. I liked her imagery of the various tribes in the Omo Valley such as the Mursi, Bume, Hamer and the Afari people. 

The Japanese photographer's love affair with Africa started when as a child, she was fascinated by being African. Some children want to become pilots, some models, but her dream was just to become African. 

Photo © Corentin Fohlen | All Rights Reserved

Corentin Fohlen:

Another favorite is French photographer/photojournalist Corentin Fohlen featured in my post of March 3, with his incredibly colorful and fantastical portraits of Haiti's Karnaval. This festival has been held for over 100 years in different towns of Haiti.

Fohlen began to photograph Haitians by creating a makeshift studio on a city sidewalk near the Karnaval celebrations, where he could create portraits of each unique costume. Since 2012, he has been involved in long term projects in Haïti, and has published two books on this country and its culture.

Photo © Hiroshi Watanabe - All Rights Reserved

As for the next favorite photographer, it's Hirshoshi Watanbe.

He was featured in my post of May 23 for his lovely work on Kabuki performers. This gallery is of square format monochromatic portraits of non-professional kabuki performers in the small town of Nakatsugawa; located midway between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Hiroshi Watanabe was born in Sapporo, Japan and graduated from the Department of Photography of Nihon University in 1975. He moved to Los Angeles working in Japanese television commercials, obtained an MBA from the UCLA Anderson Business School in 1993 and subsequently, started to travel worldwide, extensively photographing and since 2000, has worked full-time at photography.

Photo © Robert van der Hilst | All Rights Reserved

Robert van der Hilst:

I was happy receiving Robert van der Hilst's lovely 'Chinese Interiors' voluminous coffee-table photo book as a gift in Shanghai, and discovered the talents of this Dutch master photographer who was influenced and inspired by Dutch mid-17th century genre painting. Naturally, I wrote of him in my post of November 8.

Robert van der Hilst is certainly an inspiring photographer, and his website's galleries feature his lovely work from Mexico, Fukuoka (Japan), Shanghai and his Cuban Interiors is particularly worth viewing. 

Photo © Leonid Plotkin | All Rights Reserved

Leonid Plotkin:

Closing the list is a long time favorite photographer; Leonid Plotkin whose Men of Heart work was featured on my blog on March 5. 

Men of Heart is about the Bauls who are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal (Indian State and Bangladesh). The Bauls are members of a syncretic religious sect, and a follow a distinct musical tradition. A very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims.

Leonid Plotikin is a freelance documentary photographer and writer. His work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, The Economist, Penthouse Magazine, Student Traveler, Budget Travel, Discovery Magazine, MSN.com and others.