Jimmy Chin is a photographer, filmmaker, professional skier and climber. He's an explorer. The first time I pumped into his work was when I saw some Camp4 Collective's videos and later I also went to see the extreme sports film Into The Mind, which included footage from Camp4 Collective and Jimmy. By the way, I highly recommend that movie, especially if you feel like you're in need for some escapism from the daily churn. Here's Jimmy Chin's website for more info about him.

Also, Jimmy's Facebook feed is a wonderland of it's own. He posts material and updates from his trips and expeditions from the places like Himalayas, Yosemite and Patagonia as well as pictures and videos of the top of the top extreme sports athletes such as Alex Honnold and the like. Here's a great National Geographic talk with them. 

If you have interest (who wouldn't) in this kind of amazing and unique places, pictures and videos, look up his work.
You won't be disappointed.

Here is National Geographic's photographer profile on him.

I notice that I keep coming back to this beautifully shot short film (by Astray Films collective) for inspiration, so here it is for inspiration. Although the film is about a photographer's thoughts and world, I think the things he says go a long way for many of us, regardless of the passion or lifestyle that one has.
The photographer/cinematographer/director that centers this film is Mickey Smith. He's also part of Astray Films.

Dark Side of the Lens has won multiple awards for its cinematography (among others). Watch and enjoy!

Dark Side of the Lens - Directed by Mickey Smith, Produced by Helen Hayden, Line Producer Rivie Verran, DOP Allan Wilson.

"Plot outline
‘Darkside of the Lens’ offers a surreal, ethereal, passionate and personal glimpse into the life and motivations of an ocean based photographer - working on a magical, yet isolated, frozen and dangerous stretch of the Irish coastline. 

The story of the photographer is a tale seldom told. Through poignant, poetic narrative, the film eventually transcends itself as an abstract reflection of one photographer’s ideals, to become a voice for the artform. 

Indeed, the film itself becomes a visual poem of sorts, set in a mindblowing environment of epic heavy waves, strange sealife and monolithic stunning clifflines. Land, sea and wavescapes illustrate the grandeur of this environment, and huge explosions of water bring it’s realities home, as the photographer swims through the epicentre of it all. 

Through one mans translation of what it takes to create images that inspire, we also gain insight into the unheralded and misunderstood art form of ocean based photography.

The merits of the artform itself come into focus - how it is unique, the risks involved, the challenges faced, the highs and lows of the game. The narrative delves into the reasoning behind risking your life for a photograph when there are meagre financial rewards, and illustrates what it takes to succeed in a specialist niche that demands such a strange combination of photographic and physical prowess. 

The result is a unique, moving, and inspirational understanding of the nomadic lifestyle involved, and the subsequent realities of living it in the brutally cold big wave environment of Ireland."

Here's the next inspiration post and this time with a photographer that truly has his own style in his photography art: Alexandre Deschaumes. He's a French landscape photography artist, with a focus especially on a dreamlike and mysterious, yet dramatic landscapes.

His style and sceneries are something I really love watching. He effortlessly mixes colour photographs and black & white work in his portfolios, the main focus being in majestic landscapes throughout his photo galleries.

Also, the locations are pretty much either some of the ones I've already tried to capture (to my best abilities, that is) myself, or places that I really wish to go someday. Overall, the grand mountain scenes and the dramatic ocean shores are exactly what gets me excited with photography. Here's some samples of his work, more behind these links: Website and 500px.

Some time has passed since my last inspiration post, so I'll share you more works of great photographers: Here's Joey L. 

He's a young Canadian that has an amazing commercial portfolio (you're most likely familiar with some of his work), but he also shoots personal projects in the most remote locations. He also offers tutorials for photographers. Have a look. 
I really like his fine art twisted style, a classy blend of technical craftsmanship and artistic creativity. 
His full name is Joey Lawrence, by the way.

In this video Joey describes his style and the way he works.

Nick Brandt's photography work takes your breath away and just makes you stare, silent. He left his successful career in music video directing and commercial side to capture the wonders of wildlife of East Africa. How he became introduced to this area he later fell in love with? Nick Brandt directed Michael Jackson's music video for Earth Song, after which, fittingly, he wanted to express himself by photography and make his effort for conservation and threatened wildlife in Africa. He now has his own non-profit organization for conservation work called Big Life Foundation, which focuses on wildlife in the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya and Tanzania.

I wanted to share you one of the "new wave" photographers, who has his unique style of photography, but who also is eager to break some old school rules in the photography business. Free sharing, the active use of internet and social media, educating other photo enthusiasts and HDR (high dynamic range) photography are some of the things this man is well know for. He is Trey Ratcliff and I would recommend to look into his work, not just the great HDR images he creates, but also his versatile blog StuckInCustoms.com in general and the tutorials and videos he has put out for everyone of us to enjoy. Trey also offers a Free HDR Tutorial on his blog, so if you're interested in learning more about HDR shooting, this might be something you definitely want to have a look at.

Here's how Trey describes his work and himself: "I am known generally for the unique way in which I capture and process the world around me. I have my own “take” on HDR Photography, and you can see my free HDR Tutorial right here. I grew up blind in one eye and this might have changed the way I view the world. I don’t know. It’s hard to be objective about the way one’s brain was wired. My background is in computer science and math, so I bring an algorithm-like process to capturing the scene in such a way that it evokes memories in a palpable manner. Whatever that means."

This is a short behind-the-scenes video about one of his HDR landscape images from Iceland, just to give you an idea:

This is a bit longer video where Trey Ratcliff visits Google's Mountain View headquarters for an Photographers/Authors@Google talk: