Drew Doggett Beach

Known for a style that's best described as breathtaking, American photographer Drew Doggett captures the actions of horses, wild animals and far-flung peoples in a way that makes the images feel larger than their border can contain. Each shot is so energized with life that the stillness of the photo feels only temporary.

Born in Maryland in 1984, Doggett discovered a passion for photography in high school. He also developed a zeal for travel, accompanying his father — who was an architect —- on many trips all over the world. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, Doggett's desire to turn his artistic interest into a career brought him to New York City, where he worked as a fashion photography assistant to some of the most notable names in the field, including Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger and Steven Klein. These apprentice years brought him face to face with many people of great importance, such as American pop star Madonna, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Barack Obama. 

Doggett’s life and career took a dramatic turn in 2009, on a photographic expedition to Nepal. He had found the world of fashion photography unfulfilling and decided he needed to pursue other avenues for practicing his art. On one outing during this trip, Doggett and his party found themselves caught in a terrifying snowstorm. The accompanying sherpas kept the group safe and guided them back to safety.

Doggett became inspired to visually tell the stories of Nepalese sherpas and the Humla people of the region. Doggett has since produced volumes of photographic tales depicting the character and beauty of cultures around the world — especially underrepresented peoples of Africa and Asia — as well as countless equestrian, wildlife and landscape images.

Doggett currently lives and works in Charleston, South Carolina, where he continues to plan photographic excursions and pursue visual stories the world over for his camera to tell.

Find original Drew Doggett portrait photography, landscape photography and abstract photography on 1stDibs.

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of photography on 1stDibs today.

The first permanent image created by a camera — which materialized during the 1820s — is attributed to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The French inventor was on to something for sure. Kodak introduced roll film in the 1880s, allowing photography to become more democratic, although cameras wouldn’t be universally accessible until several decades later. 

Digital photographic techniques, software, smartphone cameras and social-networking platforms such as Instagram have made it even easier in the modern era for budding photographers to capture the world around them as well as disseminate their images far and wide. 

What might leading figures of visual art such as Andy Warhol have done with these tools at their disposal?

Today, when we aren’t looking at the digital photos that inundate us on our phones, we look to the past to celebrate the photographers who have broken rules as well as records — provocative and prolific artists like Horst P. Horst, Lillian Bassman and Helmut Newton, who altered the face of fashion and portrait photography; visionary documentary photographers such as Gordon Parks, whose best-known work was guided by social justice; and pioneers of street photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, who shot for revolutionary travel magazines like Holiday with the likes of globetrotting society lensman Slim Aarons.

Find photographers you may not know in Introspective and The Study — where you’ll read about Berenice Abbott, who positioned herself atop skyscrapers for the perfect shot, or “conceptual artist-adventurer” Charles Lindsay, whose work combines scientific rigor with artistic expression, or Massimo Listri, known for his epic interiors of opulent Old World libraries. Photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron was given a Kodak camera as a child. Later, she shot on Polaroid film before buying her first 35mm camera in her teens. Barron's stunning portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Warhol and other artists chronicle a crucial chapter of New York’s cultural history.

Throughout the past two centuries, photographers have used their medium to create expressive work that has resonated for generations. Shop a voluminous collection of this powerful fine photography on 1stDibs. Search by photographer to find the perfect piece for your living room wall, or spend some time with the work organized under various categories, such as landscape photography, nude photography and more.