I really admire the work of Jacob Holdt, Cindy Sherman and Roger Ballen. And more contemporary photographers such as Ryan McGinley, and the fashion photography of Terry Richardson. The book that started it all though was Corinne Day's "Diary", which I stumbled upon when I was 18 or so. It paved the way for a lot of the photography I did with my first boyfriend when I first dabbled with the camera. I liked the rawness of the imagery, and the voyeuristic appeal of the narrative.