28 Most Famous Landscape Photographers in 2023
Discover the most famous landscape photographers from past and present in this definitive guide. Get inspired to create better landscape photography.
Famous Photographers | Learn | By Ana Mireles
Landscape photography is all about capturing natural scenery.
A landscape photographer is attracted to nature and the outdoors. There are many ways to approach the subject, though.
Some landscape photographers prefer to focus on one subject – for example, the night sky. Others research a topic, such as the human influence on nature.
If you’re interested in this type of photography, you may benefit from seeing what the best landscape photographers are doing.
This way, you can find inspiration, reach out to them, sign up for one of their workshops, etc.
Here’s a list of 28 famous landscape photographers who are creating amazing imagery on Instagram in 2023.
Table of Contents
Who Are Some Famous Landscape Photographers to Follow on Instagram in 2023?
1. Ansel Adams
Credit: Ansel Adams, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
@anseladams
Who is the most famous landscape photographer of all time? 99% of people you ask would respond, “Ansel Adams!”
He was a well-known landscape photographer with his body of work influencing the future generations of photographers.
He isn’t just the most well-known. He’s also considered the father of landscape photography. Many also regard him as the best landscape photographers of all time.
He practised what’s called pure or straight photography. The term refers to a strict technical method. The subject should be in sharp focus and the photograph should have the entire tonal range.
Adams dedicated his life to perfecting this method and developed the zone system – a great example is in his photo shown at the top of this article.
The zone system is what allowed Adams to make breathtaking landscape images. He published a trilogy of books covering the entire process from the negative to the print.
While Adams passed away in 1984. But the Instagram account is managed by The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
2. Erin Babnik
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@erinbabnik
Babnik is an American photographer. She was formed as an art historian and researcher.
This laid the groundwork for her landscape photographs to be so deep and expressive.
She’s also an educator and speaker hosted in institutions worldwide.
Babnik is a Canon Explorer of Light and a member of Photo Cascadia.
She’s also a Wilderness First Responder certified by Wilderness Medical Associates.
3. David Brookover
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@thebrookovergallery
Brookover’s landscapes are more than just beautiful pictures. He uses traditional techniques to create an exceptional print that’s a unique artwork.
This approach makes him one of the great landscape photographers in the US. His work is featured year-round in The Brookover Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming.
His Instagram account can be an inspiration for all aspiring photographers. However, if you’re in the area, make sure you visit the gallery in person. This is the best way to appreciate the exotic handmade papers as well as the printing methods.
4. Chris Burkard
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@chrisburkard
Chris Burkard is one of the most famous landscape photographers. His Instagram account is one of the most followed on this list.
His work aims to inspire the human race to consider a better relationship with nature. He promotes preservation and encourages his followers to explore the world as he does.
He’s known for his powerful landscape photography and surf lifestyle. He’s worked for Fortune 500 clients on multiple projects and campaigns.
He’s also established himself as an expert through public speaking. He offers conferences and keynotes, including a TED talk.
- Read more: 9 landscape photography tips for beginners
5. Edward Burtynsky
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@edwardburtynsky
He is a photographer and artist who explores “nature transformed through industry”. His work explores opposites and creates metaphores about our modern way of life.
His work has been recognized internationally. Most recently, he won the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award from the World Photography Organization. He’s also done a series of award-winning documentaries.
The Studio of Edward Burtynsky runs his Instagram account. And he’s represented by multiple galleries around the world.
- Read more: Where to take landscape photos in Iceland
6. Patricia Davidson
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@pdavidsonphoto
Davidson is an American landscape photographer whose work blends nature and fine-art photography.
She primarily works in the American West. Oregon, in particular, where she lives and works.
Davidson likes to travel and capture nature. She focuses mainly on color, texture, and flowing water.
Davidson’s landscape photographs have been featured in many publications. She also writes for some of them and five conferences all over the US.
- Read more: How to shoot better night landscape photos
7. Zack Doehler
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@calibreus
He entered the photography world when he was a child. Now he has 22 years old and is a prolific full-time photographer.
Each one of his breathtaking images has a story that’s worth reading. This makes his Instagram account unique. Usually, people use it only to showcase their photography skills.
He’s also interested in experimenting with post-processing. He says it helped him define his style with a “focus on dreamy light and punchy colors”.
- Read more: Who is the most famous street photographer?
8. Peter Eastway
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@petereastway
Peter Eastway is an award-winning landscape photographer. He’s mostly dedicated to editorial photography. In 1995, he founded the publication Better Photography Magazine.
He hosts many photography workshops and has judged countless landscape competitions. Eastway was featured in the TV series Tales by Light.
He’s won multiple awards and published fine-art books. He’s also the author of Lonely Planet’s Guide to Landscape Photography.
- Read more: Famous wildlife photographers
9. Nicki Frates
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@nickif24
Nicki Frates started as a fashion designer. Later on, she discovered her passion and talent for landscape photography.
This happened thanks to a single image entitled Fire Falls. It features the Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park. It changed her life completely when it won many awards and publications.
Since then, her work has been published in many magazines, including National Geographic. She’s also been featured in the Art My Way series from Pixels.
10. Jake Guzman
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@jakeguzman
Jake Guzman is one of the top landscape photographers in the commercial sector. He’s worked with Honda, Huawei, Canon, Visit Sweden, National Geographic, and many others.
He has a very distinctive editing style full of vibrant colors. This is why Guzman sells some of his presets on his website.
Guzman is based in Seattle, but he’s constantly travelling, both for work and passion. He’s also into video making and shot the DJI Mini 3 Pro commercial campaign.
11. Viktoria Haack
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@viktoriahaack
While she is a famous landscape photographer, Viktoria Haack is also very versatile. She photographs weddings, lifestyle portraits, and other events and portrait genres.
This is quite unusual among landscape photographers. However, Haack manages to do it without losing her style and focus. This is because all her photographs feature a stunning landscape as a backdrop.
She has collaborated with brands like Lowepro and Purina. She’s also a Nikon ambassador.
Her photography has been featured and published all over the world. Some media where she’s been featured include the BBC, Outdoor Photography, and Vogue Italia.
12. Tony Hewitt
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@tony.hewitt
Hewitt is one of the most famous landscape photographers in the world. Hewitt’s won over 350 awards throughout his career.
Some of his most stunning images are abstract from aerial photography. Although, he doesn’t limit himself to shooting landscapes. He has a series on concrete and one on environmental portraits.
Hewitt has been invited to judge contests since 1995. He’s co-authored a series of books, offers conferences, and teaches workshops.
His signature style manages to create “something from nothing”.
13. Christian HØiberg
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@chrishoiberg
He is one of the most famous landscape photographers. He specialises in the Arctic Borders. This is where he usually offers his workshops, but he also travels to the Dolomites or Greenland.
GEO, Digital Photographer, NPhoto Magazine, and others have published his landscape photography work.
It’s also been licensed by Adobe, BenQ, Manfrotto, and other noteworthy brands. He’s also sponsored by Vallerret, NiSi, Skylum, and Fotopro – just to mention a few.
14. Nick Jackson
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@nickjacksonphotography
He’s a London-based photographer who specializes in cityscape and landscape photography. He started teaching himself how to use a film camera at a very young age.
After travelling the world with it, he decided to move on to a digital camera. This helped him develop his creative style. His famous landscape photos are full of color while featuring sunbursts and sunsets.
As a travel photographer, he’s been commissioned to capture cultural and natural heritage. Some of his clients include American Airlines, Lonely Planet, Emirates Airlines, and the Crown Estate.
He is surely one of the landscape photography artists to watch out for.
15. Rachel Jones Ross
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@rachel_jones_ross
Rachel Jones Ross is one of the best landscape photographers specialising in nightscapes. She started her photography career fascinated by the possibility of capturing the Milky Way.
Another recurrent subject in her landscape photos is the Canadian Rockies. This is where she lives and works. She offers group workshops as well as private tutoring.
She is a Sony Alpha Ambassador and a member of the Alpha Collective. As you can imagine, her extensive camera equipment is from Sony.
- Read more: How to take photos of the Milky Way
16. Michael Kenna
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@michaelkennaphoto
Michael Kenna is a British photographer. He is probably one of the most famous landscape photographers in the contemporary art world.
He achieves an ethereal quality in his landscape photography art through long exposures. He uses a Hasselblad medium format camera or a Holga. This is why many of his images are squared.
He looks for relationships, juxtapositions and confrontations between nature and human-made structures. He has occasionally applied the same vision to photograph nudes.
Kenna’s work has been exhibited worldwide and shown in over 30 publications. He’s also won many prestigious awards.
As a commercial photographer, he’s collaborated with many known brands. Some selective clients include Adidas, Huawei, and Rolls Royce.
Read more: Who are the world’s most famous portrait photographers?
17. Justin Minns
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@justinminns
Justin Minns is an award-winner British photographer. He describes his work as atmospheric landscape photography.
He lives and works in East Anglia, where he holds 1-2-1 and group workshops. However, he’s travelled all over the world to capture his landscape photos.
His portfolio features black and white, colour photography, and even infrared. He has captured panoramas and close-ups, breathtaking winter landscapes and rocky coasts.
Minn’s versatility led him to be an ambassador for Pathfinder and LEE filters. He’s also done projects for the National Trust and NEOM.
His photographs have been widely published. And his first book is expected to be published in 2023.
18. David Noton
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@notonphoto
David Noton is a famous landscape photographer. He has a 32-year (and counting) career under his belt.
He has been commissioned to photograph two product launch campaigns for Canon. Also, two Special Edition Stamp collections for the Royal Mail. This is just to mention a couple of his projects.
He’s also been featured in multiple publications. And he’s been asked to judge many prestigious landscape photography contests.
Noton has published three books and ten ebooks.
19. Tim Parkin
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@timonlandscape
Tim Parkin is a professional photographer. He’s also the editor of On Landscape – a landscape photography magazine.
His preferred medium is film photography – especially 4×5′ and 8×10′ view cameras. He also uses digital cameras, though.
He does enjoy digital post-processing, though. He scans his negatives and spends some time ‘revealing’ them. He’s also quite open about “distorting an interpretation”.
This may not be one of the most followed Instagram accounts featuring landscape photos, but it’s certainly a very inspiring one.
20. Sapna Reddy
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@sapnareddy
Sapna Reddy is one of the best nature photographers in the US. She is also a radiologist and manages to blend both careers in unexpected ways.
For example, she’s been asked to incorporate her images in medical centres to create an ambience of healing.
She’s also been featured by Adobe, Lonely Planet, and Sony. In fact, she’s a Sony Alpha ambassador. Her landscapes have been awarded in multiple competitions. Some of them were featured by National Geographic and Popular Photography.
21. Michael Shainblum
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@shainblumphotography
Michael Shainblum is one of the best landscape photographers. He’s based in San Francisco but works worldwide.
Shainblum also creates stunning videos using time-lapse photography. He puts particular interest in storytelling. And his landscape photos have a surreal style.
He’s been commissioned by Nike, Facebook, Apple, and other famous brands. He’s also been featured in many media outlets.
22. Kristel Schneider
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@kristelschneider
Schneider is a fine art and landscape photographer. With her work, she likes to explore texture, color, patterns and light found in nature.
She’s based in the Netherlands and works on private commissions and assignments. She’s a member of the Canon Professional Network and The Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography.
Schneider published a book in 2017 with her series Variations in Trees. In it, she aims to make the invisible visible by exploring an ordinary subject – trees.
23. Cath Simard
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@cathsimard
She is one of the most famous landscape photographers in the NFT world. Her own unique style is a recognisable cold blue that unites her photo composites.
Don’t think that this technique makes her any less of an outdoor photographer than any other. She’s trekked 18 days in the mountains to capture the shot she wanted.
Each of her breathtaking landscapes results from physical and mental exhaustion. This is why she releases only 5-7 images per year.
Simard works for National Geographic and is a Sony Alpha ambassador.
24. Isabella Tabacchi
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@isabellandscapes
Tabacchi is one of the best landscape photographers and has been recognised in many ways. Not only with the multiple awards, she’s won but also by being a Hasselblad Heroine.
She’s partnered with multiple brands, such as Gitzo, f-stop gear, Fotoamatore, and Fowa. She teaches at Grido photo school in Switzerland. She also offers workshops, photo tours and private tutoring.
Her famous landscape style is very dramatic and evocative. She aims to capture the essence of a site and translate the feeling in her images.
Truly one of the best contemporary landscape photographers in the world today.
25. Rachael Talibart
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@rachaeltalibart
If you like black-and-white images, Rachel Talibart is one of the best landscape photographers you can find. Although, her abstract photographs in color are also stunning.
She’s particularly interested in capturing the sea in stormy weather as she grew up on the coast of the South of England.
Her work has been exhibited and awarded internationally.
Talibart owns f11 workshops and offers photo tours through Ocean Capture. She also writes for different landscape photography magazines.
26. Charlie Waite
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@charlie_waite
Charlie Waite is one of the most famous landscape photographers. This is thanks to his award-winning career and TV presence.
He’s appeared on British television to discuss landscape photography. Also, he filmed a six-part TV series on the subject.
Waite launched the UK Landscape Photographer of the Year competition in 2007. He’s also the owner and founder of Light & Land.
Waite has shown his work in exhibitions across the globe and won many awards and recognitions. With his images, he aims to convey calm and a spiritual quality of serenity.
27. Nathaniel Wise
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@nathanielwise
Nathaniel Wise is a nature and wilderness photographer. Unlike other landscape photographers, he’s fully committed to an outdoor lifestyle.
So much so that he moved into his Toyota and lives on the road to capture the best landscape photos. He has some amazing shots of America’s National Parks but is available for projects worldwide.
As a freelance landscape photographer, he makes a living out of his commercial photography. He’s shot advertising campaigns for Honda, JetBlue Airways, and others.
28. Hillary Younger
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@hillary_younger
Born in Tasmania, Younger has been surrounded by nature her entire life. This might explain her natural approach to landscape photography.
Unlike many of her fellow photographers, she didn’t pick up a camera until she was 47 years old. However, she quickly became one of the most famous landscape photographers.
This was because she was included in Photo Cascadia’s list of female landscape photographers who inspire.
She uses her landscape photography to raise awareness and protect the environment. She’s also worked with other famous landscape photographers in Tasmania.
They created a code of ethics to keep working without damaging the environment.
What Factors Make a Landscape Photographer Famous or Successful?
Several factors contribute to making a landscape photographer famous or successful. While there is no definitive formula, the following elements are often crucial in establishing a photographer’s reputation and attracting recognition within the field:
- Technical Proficiency: A successful landscape photographer should possess a strong grasp of technical aspects such as composition, lighting, exposure, and post-processing techniques. Mastery of the craft allows photographers to capture stunning and technically flawless images consistently.
- Unique Vision and Style: Developing a unique artistic vision and distinctive style helps photographers stand out from the crowd. It involves finding a personal voice and expressing it through their work. A signature style can evoke emotions, capture attention, and leave a lasting impression on viewers.
- Exceptional Composition: Composition plays a vital role in landscape photography. Successful photographers skillfully arrange elements within the frame to create visually pleasing and balanced compositions. A keen eye for details, lines, shapes, leading lines, and the rule of thirds can make a significant difference in capturing captivating images.
- Patience and Persistence: Landscape photography often requires patience, persistence, and dedication. Waiting for the perfect light, weather conditions, or the right moment can take time. Successful photographers are willing to invest the necessary effort, sometimes returning to a location multiple times to capture the ideal shot.
- Mastery of Light: Light is one of the most critical elements in photography. Understanding how light interacts with the landscape and knowing how to use it to enhance the mood, create depth, and emphasize certain elements can elevate the quality of the photographs.
- Scouting and Location Knowledge: Successful landscape photographers invest time in researching and scouting locations. They study maps, investigate potential shooting spots, and gain an in-depth understanding of the landscape they wish to capture. This knowledge enables them to find unique and less-explored locations, which can result in more original and impactful images.
- Storytelling: Powerful landscape photographs often tell stories or convey emotions. Successful photographers know how to convey a sense of place, evoke emotions, or capture the essence of a particular moment. The ability to tell stories through images can captivate viewers and contribute to a photographer’s success.
- Consistency and Portfolio Curation: Consistency in delivering high-quality work is crucial for establishing a reputable brand as a landscape photographer. Building a cohesive portfolio that showcases the best work and reflects the photographer’s style and vision is essential. Curation helps maintain a consistent standard of excellence and reinforces the photographer’s identity.
- Networking and Marketing Skills: Developing relationships within the photography community, networking with potential clients, and utilizing effective marketing strategies are important for gaining recognition and opportunities. Building a strong online presence through websites, social media, and collaborations can significantly contribute to a photographer’s success.
- Recognition and Awards: Recognition from peers and industry experts, along with awards and accolades, can enhance a photographer’s reputation. Participating in photography competitions, exhibitions, and submitting work to publications or contests can increase exposure and provide validation for the quality of their work.
Final Words about the Best Landscape Photographers
Ansel Adams is known as the best landscape photographer in history.
While this may be true, there are tons of landscape photographers doing amazing work. They have different areas of interest and creative styles.
I’m sure you can find at least one on the list whose work inspires you. These are the best landscape photographers I could find with an Instagram account. This doesn’t mean that they are the only ones, though.
Come up with your own list. Follow the ones you like, and figure out why you prefer them over others. Learning what you like and dislike is an excellent way to find your own path.
Most landscape photographers offer workshops. If you have the opportunity, take one to learn all the interesting details about how they work.
If you think we missed one of the best landscape photographers, please let us know in the comments. Let’s keep the list growing!
Ana Mireles is a Mexican researcher that specializes in photography and communications for the arts and culture sector.
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