A questionable categorization
I came across a book named ‘Women Photographers’ the other day and couldn’t but wonder at the arrogance of the title. To in some way suggest that gender distinction was worthy of a book simply raised my hackles. A good photograph is just that. A good photograph. To try to ladle distinction on a subset of the species just because it happens to include pictures made solely by women seems specious.
But it did get me thinking, I confess. Click on ‘Photography Books’ in the right hand column and you will see what’s currently in my library. I see monographs on Barbara Morgan, Germaine Krull, Joyce Tenneson, Imogen Cunningham, Ilse Bing, Margaret Bourke-White, Mary Ellen Mark, Regina Relang and Tina Modotti. Yet not a one of these was bought because the photographer was a woman. They were bought for the simple reason that the photography was special and unique.
Strangely I seem not to have anything by Dorothea Lange, so here’s a reminder of what she did and a mental note to fix that omission at the earliest occasion.
Migrant Mother. The most famous Depression era picture
Lange snapped this in Nipomo, CA, just a few miles south of the old estate. Lange was a great photographer who just happened to be a woman.
For a daily snap be sure to visit my photoblog Snap!
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