As I wrote in a previous entry, one of the best ways to become a better photographer and to hone your composition skills is to look what others are doing. Of course that makes most sense when you look at the work of real masters. Photographers that have received prizes and honors for their work. One great source to find these photographers is the World Press Photo Contest web-site. Here you can see the works of the photographers that the WPP Jury found worthy of winning one of the categories.
The most famous photo agency is of course MagnumWorld Press Photo is not the only web site featuring works of contemporary master photographers. Most of these photographers are connected to photo agencies and their web-sites usually show samples of their work.
The most famous photo agency is of course Magnum, but there are numerous others with photographers that are equally good. Noor is one of these, where you, amongst others, can see works of the Danish photographer Jan Grarup, who won World Press Photo Awards in 1999 and 2000.
Another good source is to look at the personal web-sites of the photographers that have previously won prizes or in other ways attracted attention for outstanding work. Digging up the adresses for these sites can be a time consuming task which is why I below have listed some of the sites that I have dug up of time and which have inspired me.
James Nachtwey | Eugene Richards | Tim Page | David Alan Harvey | Klaus Holsting | Krass Clement | Giorgia Fiorio | Joachim Ladefoged | Henrik Saxgreen | Robert Mapplethorpe
All of the above photographers represent different genres and different areas within photography, but common to the all are that they have produced outstanding work and received numerous prizes for it. I suggest that you start building your own list of photographers that you find to be representing work that you like and find inspiration in. By studying light, cropping, composition etc. you can get new ideas for experiments you would like to do and by that you can develop your practical skills.
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