Brassai was was born in Transylvania and had his first job as a journalist. While he was a journalist he engaged in other artistic hobbies such as drawing, painting, and sculpting. When Brassai started photographing he was quickly asked to photograph the studios of certain artists. For example, Picasso asked him to take photographs of the bust that he made. He was so famous because he was able to capture photos in a way that other people could see things the way he was seeing them.
http://www.iphf.org/hall-of-fame/brassai-gyula-halasz/