Women Photographers and Photojournalists

• Berenice Abbott- In the 1930s, Abbott was best known for taking pictures of New York architecture and society as well as documenting Changing New York. In the 1950s and 1960s, her work centered on scientific photos, like this gorgeous photo of the Behavior of Waves. 
• Joan E. Biren (JEB) - A self-taught photographer, JEB's interest in photography came from a desire to see images of herself and other lesbians during a time, the 1970s, when authentic images of lesbians were few and far between. Eschewing galleries, JEB formed a traveling show so that many women across the country could view her groundbreaking work. This show became a book, Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians, which combined photographs from the show with personal essays from the women featured. 
• Margaret Bourke-White - A pioneering photojournalist for Time, Fortune, and Life magazines, Bourke-White first gained fame for her photos of the Otis Steel Company. MoMa has a digital collection of some of her work in this gallery 
• Charlotte Brooks- A full-time staff photographer at Look magazine, Brooks contributed more than 450 features during her 20 year tenure at Look (1951-1971). She covered presidents, celebrities and much of her work focused on social changes. She documented the life of a young divorcee and the first same-sex couple to be legally wed in the U.S. The collection of her photographs can be found in the The Look Magazine Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. 
• Esther Bubley- Bubley took slice of life candid photographs of ordinary Americans through the 1940s-1960s. Her work was featured in Life  and Ladies' Home Journal.  Bubley won numerous awards during her career and, when television lessen the popularity of photo magazines, Bubley published books on animals and plants. 
• Marion Carpenter- One of the first female White House photographers, Carpenter won awards for her photographs of Harry Truman and was part of the press that traveled with him. Reportedly, she threw a bowl of soup at a male columnist who stated that she flirted her way into taking a Senator's picture. Sadly, personal issues ended Carpenter's White House career early and she left D.C. in 1951. 
• Dickey Chapelle- Chapelle's career spanned from WWII to Vietnam, and she deeply embedded herself with the soldiers and people she was writing about. Sadly, she was the first female journalist killed while reporting about combat. Read more about her adventurous life in  First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent or watch a PBS documentary about her life Behind the Pearl Earrings: The Story of Dickey Chapelle, Combat Photojournalist. The Wisconsin Historical Society has Dickey Chapelle's papers and photographs. 
• Gloria Emerson- Reporter Emerson was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times in Vietnam. Her reporting showed the impact war had on the ordinary soldiers and Vietnamese citizens. Emerson won the National Book Award in 1978 for her book Winners & Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from the Vietnam War.
• Martha Gellhorn  - Author, journalist and war correspondent, Martha was known for her fearlessness and desire to tell the stories of those on the ground. Her landmark reporting from the beaches of Normandy right after D-Day showed the suffering and bravery of the soldiers. In the late 1960s, she reported from conflicts in Vietnam and Israel. In addition to her reporting, Gellhorn wrote several fiction books based on her wartime experiences. Clover reads her memoir Travels with Myself and Another while she sits with her client Abigail in the hospital.
• Marguerite Higgins - WWII and Korean War correspondent Higgins was a longtime reporter for the New York Herald Tribune and won a Pulitzer for her Korean War coverage. She was the first woman to win a Pulitzer for Foreign Correspondence. A recent biography, Fierce Ambition: The Life and Legend of War Correspondent Maggie Higgins by Jennet Conant, showcases her remarkable career and life. Additionally, the children's graphic novel Cold War Correspondent covers Higgins time in Korea.   
• Dorothea Lange- Best known for her haunting portraits of migrants during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, Lange’s illustrious career spanned decades and showed her to be one of the 20th century best photographers. Lange’s powerful lens can be seen in her pictures of Japanese-American internment camps and the Americans held in them during WWII. The book, Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment, shows these haunting images that were censored by the US government for decades. To learn more even about Lange’s life, check out these items: 
  • Dorothea Lange, Grab a Hunk of Lightning: American Masters DVD  DVD/770.92/DOROTHEA 
  • Dorothea Lange, Grab a Hunk of Lightning: Her Lifetime in Photography (ebook) 
• Catherine Leroy - Just 21 when she went to Vietnam to cover the conflict there, Leroy was on the ground with soldiers and her photographs showed the grim reality of the war. For her efforts, Leroy won the George Polk Award, a prestigious journalism award. Read more about Leroy's time covering the Vietnam conflict in Close Up On War by Mary Cronk Farrell 
• Frances and Kathryn McLaughlin- These identical twin photographers were groundbreaking fashion and magazine photographers in the 1930s and 1940s. Read more about their amazing lives in Double Click:Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines by Carol Kino.  
• Susan Meiselas:  Known for her photographs from the insurrection in Nicaragua, Meiselas documented human rights issues there as well as around the world. She is also known for her photographs of women others would ignore. President since 2007 of the Magnum Foundation, Meiselas is also the author of several books. 
• Lee Miller  - Described as a “woman of many lives” Lee Miller career ranged from fashion model to pioneering photographer to combat photojournalist to an award winner gourmet cook. In September, Lee, a movie staring Kate Winslet, will premiere. The movie follows Miller through the turbulent war years of 1938-1948. 
• Dixie Tighe - Like her contemporaries  Martha Gellhorn and Lee Miller, Tighe was a war correspondent during WWII. She also covered  Asia for the New York Post. She was known for her no nonsense language and courage. Sadly, she died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the young age of 41. 
• Mary Welsh- Far more than the fourth wife and widow of Ernest Hemingway, Mary Welsh was a celebrated war journalist and photographer. You can watch the documentaries Women at War (Mary Welsh, writer) and Rationing in Britain (Mary Welsh, writer and narrator) at the Imperial War Museums film archive. 
• In addition to featuring Martha Gellhorn and Lee Miller, The Correspondents: Six Women Writers Who Went to War by Judith Mackrell highlights the great work of Sigrid Schultz, Virginia Cowles, Clare Hollingworth and Helen Kirkpatrick. While most of the book covers their careers during WWII, the author also writes about their postwar careers.

These women and more can also be found at Trailerblazers of Light. This website is dedicating to showcasing pioneering women of photojournalism. 

Still wanting to learn more? Register for the Women in Photojournalism Post-WWII Zoom presentation on September 11 given by art historian Jeff Mishur.

Inspired by one of these pioneering women and want to take up photography? You can borrow Cameras & Accessories from our Library of Things collection to help you get started as well as a robust collection of photography books.