The 6 Best Photographers From Chicago

Chicago has produced phenomenal artists in media from blues music to sculpture. However, it is the city’s photographers that have consistently created works that have focused on the intersection of breathtaking aesthetic, clarity, and social and racial realities found in the city of Chicago and beyond. Culture Trip rounds up six talented photographers you need to know about.

John H. White

John H. White started taking photos at 14 years old when his father asked him to take photos of their burned-down church during its reconstruction. As an adult, he made a name for himself as a photographer for the Chicago Sun Times and as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s DOCUMERICA project. In 1982, White was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for photojournalism, heightening the controversy of his being let go from the Sun Times when the paper laid off its photographers in 2013.

Vivian Maier

Victor Skrebneski

Victor Skrebneski’s ties to Chicago are numerous, from his birth in 1929 to his education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to the studio he opened in the city in 1952. Skrebneski is mostly known for his fashion photography, which has been used in famous ad campaigns for companies like Esteé Lauder, and for shooting celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Audrey Hepburn, and Cindy Crawford.

Walker Evans

Walker Evans took up photography as an adult and took some of the most iconic photographs of the Great Depression. Before that, he took photos of Cuban street life under the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado while befriending Ernest Hemingway. During the Great Depression, Evans captured rural America in the wake of the Dust Bowl throughout the southern United States.

Gordon Parks

Legendary photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks began his professional career in Chicago taking portraits, specializing in taking photos of society women. However, it was his photographic work of Chicago’s African American community that caught the art world’s attention. Although always a photographer at heart, Parks branched out into filmmaking, becoming the first African American to produce and direct major motion pictures. His work focused on the struggles of black people in America from slavery to modern times, with films like The Learning Tree and Shaft.

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

Born in Chicago, photographer Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe landed a job early in her life as a documentary photojournalist for NBC. She later married tennis star Arthur Ashe, but did not stop working and went on to publish several photo collections on subjects like African American women and their contributions to the photographic record. Later, when her husband was diagnosed as HIV positive, she produced beautiful photographs for the book Daddy and Me: A Photo Story of Arthur Ashe and His Daughter, Camera, that has helped demystify AIDS for children.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.