Her, with the camera

~ vintage photo, early version of stereo camera designed to take stereoscopic images ~

Do you remember your first?

I do.  It was a box Brownie, bright pink plastic and I thought it was the cat's meow.

That probably was the start of everything.

Later, during college years, I collected a hoard of old relics, stacked them

on a bookcase in my tiny studio and if they were lucky

I even dusted now and then ... similar to this collection below

although not near as tidy.

~ photo collection courtesy of Flickr ~

I've simplified since then and only "collect" online images of these antiquities

 - far less space involved & no cleaning required -
and the subject matter is mostly women  using  cameras.
Don't ask why that started cuz I just don't know.

But here's some favorites ... all females, using the *tool* of the day.

Where am I going with this?  I hope it will become clear in the end.
I'm thinking these pictures may be good food for thought because

these glimpses back in time could spark a few potent thoughts about  now.

In no particular order than just because I like them ...

~ Kodak girl, 1909 ~

~ Photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White with her camera during WWII assignment,

Time Magazine. Favorite quote: "Work is something you can count on, a trusted,

lifelong friend who never deserts you." ~

~ Myrtle Lind, posed with Graflex camera, 1919, Library of Congress ~

~ American, Berenice Abbot, portrait behind a view-camera, early  1900s.

Specialized in architecture & urban street photography ~

~ Georgia O'Keefe with her new Leica, New Mexico, by Todd Webb ~

~ Jessie Tarbox Beals, pioneer photographer working Worlds Fair, 1904.

"Her trademarks were her self-described 'ability to hustle' and her tenacity in

overcoming gender barriers in her profession." First female night photographer. ~

~ Patti Smith, with one of her Land Poloroids, circa 1960s ~

~ Maiko girls (Apprentice Geisha) with camera, Japan, postcard mid 1920s ~

~ Documentary photographer, Dorothea Lange, working on 'Dust Bowl' series, circa 1936.

Favorite quote: "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." 

I've had a framed postcard of this image in my room for over 30 years - such spirit ~

~ Women holding Kodak cameras, Ideal Home Exhibition, 1971, Eastman Kodak 

eyeeee, the hot pants! ~~

~ Elizabeth Taylor with a Rolleiflex, photographer unknown ~

~ vintage photograph, little girl with her camera, circa 1910, from Flickr ~

~ Mary Ellen Mark, self portrait with Marlon Brando, 1979 (set of 'Apocalypse Now').

Known for in-depth documentary projects and portraiture - Time Magazine called her

a "humanist" photographer.  My teacher for one life-altering workshop, 1985. ~

~ Woman holding early Kodak camera, 1895. The camera was sold with

the film already loaded.  The entire camera was returned to the  factory

for film processing. Hulton Archive, Getty Images. ~

~ Diane Arbus, Central Park, 1969.  Noted for photographs of marginalized people.

Photo, Gary Winogrand ~

~ Climbing pioneer, environmentalist, and feminist, Miriam O'Brien Underhill,

Chamonix Aiguilles, France, 1929. To scale this center ridge she held her camera between

 her teeth.  She was the first woman to conquer the Matterhorn, along with other 

challenging peaks. On these treks she climbed only with other women - famously known

as "manless Alpine climbing." ~

~ Queen Elizabeth II and her Leica M3, circa 1958 ~

~ Imogen Cunningham, circa 1970s. Prolific American photographer known for

her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes.

Proponent of "sharp-focus rendition of simple subjects." ~

~ College girl recording her experiences in yearbook photos, date unknown ~

~ Margaret Bourke-White, top of the Chrysler Building, New York, NY 1935 ~

~ Edwardian woman, c. 1900. Possibly the world's oldest documented "selfie"

taken with a Kodak Brownie box camera ~

Which brings me back to the beginning of this story 

and that pink plastic Brownie camera ....

This morning I read a blog post by one of my favorite  male  photographers,

David du Chemin, called  'The Place of Craft.'  He always seems to arrive at the heart of

the matter, no matter what subject he chooses to speak about.  Now, although his post is

aimed at photographers - the craft of photography - one could replace that word with ANY

other artistic discipline and his thought provoking words could still be applied.

Here's why [aside from the fact that many of them produced incredible work]

I've put up a truckload of images of women using the cameras of their day,

and why the *tool* is not the point at all.

Not yesterday ... and not today.

Excerpt from du Chemin's post:

Make your art with the tool you have. Use a Polaroid or a RED camera. Use film or digital. Use Leica lenses or Lensbabies. Create abstracts and impressionistic studies of shape and colour, or stunning landscapes that are tack-sharp @ 400%, but don't kid yourself - it's not sharpness that makes it great. It never has been. Humanity doesn't need more sharpness. That is not one of the things for which we hunger. We hunger for beauty, and meaning, for stories, and for love - among other things, things that are communicated visually through light and composition - through our use of balance and tension and movement and scale and colour and a hundred other things that you can't buy in the B&H catalog, and won't be found in the manual of your new camera, no matter how much money you spend, no matter how much better your camera is than mine. We get it. Hell, every one of us has right now, at least one camera that's better than what every photographer who created a truly iconic image before the year 2000 ever had. You can make sharper, larger, cleaner images than any of them, together, ever made. And you know who cares?

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