Amazing Women Photographer of the past!

Imogen Cunningham
(1883 - 1976)

An American photographer known for her photography of botanical, nudes and industry.

Cunningham was born in Portland, Oregon. While studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, that she was inspired by an encounter with the work of Gertrude Käsebier to take up photography again. With the help of her chemistry professor, Dr. Horace Byers, she began to study the chemistry behind photography; she subsidized her tuition by photographing plants for the botany department.
After graduating in 1907 she went to work with Edward S. Curtis in his Seattle studio. This gave Cunningham the valuable opportunity to learn about the portrait business and the practical side of photography. In Seattle she opened her own studio and won acclaim for portraiture and pictorial work. Most of her studio work of this time consisted of sitters in their own homes, in her living room, or in the woods surrounding Cunningham's cottage.
In San Francisco, Cunningham refined her style, taking a greater interest in pattern and detail as seen in her works of bark textures, trees, and zebras. Cunningham became increasingly interested in botanical photography, especially flowers, and between 1923 and 1925 carried out an in-depth study of the magnolia flower. Later in the decade she turned her attention towards industry, creating several series of industrial landscapes throughout Los Angeles and Oakland.
Cunningham became one of the co-founders of the Group f/64, which aimed to “define photography as an art form by a simple and direct presentation through purely photographic methods”.
In 1934 Cunningham was invited to do some work in New York for Vanity Fair. Her husband wanted her to wait until he could travel with her but she refused and they later divorced. She continued her work with Vanity Fair until it stopped publication in 1936.
In the 1940s Cunningham turned to documentary street photography which she did as a side project while supporting herself with her commercial and studio photography. In 1945, Cunningham was invited by Ansel Adams to accept a position as faculty at the first fine art photography department at the California School of Fine Arts.

Amazing Women Photographer of the past!

Lisa Larsen
(1925 – 1959)

German born Lisa Larsen came to New York as an adolescent and after graduating from college when she was only 17 years old. Larsen then became a young apprentice photographer for Vogue magazine. Later, as a freelancer, she had assignments from New York Times Magazine, Parade, Glamour, Vogue, Charm and Holiday.  In 1950, LIFE magazine hired Larsen as a contract photographer through February, 1958. Working with a Leica camera in color and black and white, Larsen became known as the “glamour girl” of press photography for her way of endearing herself to people, particularly those in the news. Larsen had a way of bringing out the lovely and engaging side of the people she photographed. Larsen’s photographs reflected great emotional intensity, and she produced warm, realistic, sympathetic portraits. Larsen was a very attractive woman and liked people, and the people she photographed quickly grew to like her as well. Larsen also had a way of being front-row center where the news was. 

In 1957, Larsen was diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone an operation, bounced back and everything looked fine. But it wasn’t. Larsen died in March of 1959 from cancer.  

 

Portrait of Lisa Larsen

Amazing Women Photographer of the past!

I love being a photographer. I can think of nothing better than the enjoyment of beauty and the expression of love and happiness. I love to show the world as it is. For all its beauty and its turmoil. We have been so blessed in our lives to live on such an amazing planet. I am seriously falling in love with some of the most famous women photographers. The women who laid a path for women photographers to come. I would love to share the information and photographs that I have found from these amazing and inspiring women.

Nina Leen
(1914 - 1995)
An amazing portrait and fashion photographer.
“Some pictures look posed that are not posed”

Nina Leen was one of the first women photographers for LIFE. She was born in Russia but grew up in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. She always wanted to be a photographer and her first camera, bought in Europe while she was still an amateur, was a Rolleiflex that she continued to use throughout her assignments for LIFE. She is best known for her many pictures of animals. Nina was married for a few years to Serge Balkin, who was a fashion photographer.

During her early years on the magazine, Nina Leen did a number of memorable stories about teenagers. As an expert observer of the manners and mores of her new country, her reactions to American youth were particularly acute. She photographed many fashion stories for LIFE and was a perceptive interpreter of “way of current life” stories.