Each of the women in this series stepped out of the bounds of physical and social expectations to pursue her personal vision through photography. Some were fortunate to have come from wealthy families who fostered their interests. Others had to make their way by supporting themselves, or they found encouragement from other, more established photographers.
Many chose to avoid or leave behind the comforts of married life at a time when marriage provided the primary source of financial security for a woman. Each of them surmounted the challenges they encountered in order to pursue their dreams. I hope their true stories inspire you, and I invite you to continue documenting and recording whatever is most important in your life through the ever-evolving tool of photography, just as these women did before you.
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS:
Gertrude Kasebier (1852-1934)
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)
Alice Austen (1866-1952)
Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933)
Anne Brigman (1869-1950)
Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870-1942)
Bayard Wootten (1875-1959)
Doris Ulmann (1882-1934)
Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976)
Elise Forrest Harleston (1891-1970)
Laura Gilpin (1891-1979)
Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)
Berenice Abbott (1898-1991)
Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971)
Helen Levitt (1913-2009)
Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953)
Ausherman, Maria: - Maria Ausherman is a high school teacher and independent scholar residing in Stuyvesant, New York. She is the author of The Photographic Legacy of Frances Benjamin Johnston published by the University Press of Florida in 2009 as well as co-author with Patricia Jennings of Georgia O'Keeffe's Hawaii published by Koa Press in 2011. Ms. Ausherman completed her B.A. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received an M.A. in Cinema Studies from the City University of New York, and an M.Ed. in Social Science Education from the University of Georgia in Athens, where she also obtained a graduate certificate in historic preservation and completed coursework for a Ph.D. in Art.
Dunn, Fontaine: - Fontaine Dunn is an artist and writer currently living in upstate New York. She has taught painting and drawing at Sarah Lawrence College, Princeton University, and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. In addition, she has been an instructor of English for speakers of other languages. Ms. Dunn received her B.F.A. from Tulane University and her M.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Sancetta, Amy: - Amy Sancetta covered many of the world's biggest sporting events during her long career with the Associated Press. She photographed numerous Olympics, Super Bowls, World Series, Masters, and the FIFA World Cup, as well as the September 11th attack in NYC, political conventions, and feature stories across the country. She was the Associated Press's national enterprise photographer, and won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography along with a group of her colleagues for coverage of the 1992 presidential campaign.
