Bound by my upbringing, I find Henri Cartier Bresson intriguing, so are the photo-secessionists and some war photographers (Magnum) and even Ernest Haas, Andre Kertesz, Fulvio Roiter, just to name a few.

Technically; I find Ansel Adams' writings readable but they are mostly on technical matters about films particularly B/W large format films; his works are mostly on still life with only a few posed portraits. Things are changing so fast, Adams' rules and ideas are, knowingly or unknowingly, utterly broken more often than not, as a matter of course. I prefer Edward Weston by far.

Meanwhile, the enlightenment of some of my Flickr friends who have fully utilized the macro-photographic possibilities of the digital cameras, plus some exposure to the post realistic paintings including some abstract ones and above all, traditional Chinese paintings, I tend to see life and things in quite a different light...