Five women photographers born in the 19th century you should know about
Photography as we understand it today was only a few decades old when this women took on the newly discovered art form and made a name for themselves. Imogen Cunningham (1883–1976) She is best known for her portraits, nudes and botanical photography. In 1902, while a student in Seattle, she purchased her first camera and started to teach herself photography. After graduating with a degree in Chemistry she used a grant received from her sorority to study photographic chemistry in Dresden. Returning home she made a detour in New York where she met Gertrude Käsebier who encouraged Imogen to open her own studio in Seattle. Self-portrait Shortly after opening her studio, the Seattle news-paper Town Crier published the nude pictures of her husband taken by Imogen on Mount Rainier. She was the first woman photographer in history to take and publish a nude picture of a man. Although people were scandalized it didn’t damage her career, her studio became acclaimed for portraiture and picto