Women in Photography

In this weeks discussion, we were introduced to prominent women of photography by Mr. Oxton. It was interesting to see the contrast between shots taken by a male photographer and a female photographer because the perspective changes the image so much. Male photographers photograph women in more seductive, revealing ways, while women would photograph women in a more natural way. Many of the female's photos that we saw were candids because women photographers are able to get so close to their subjects and act so natural, that they are unobtrusive and their subject just keeps doing their thing. We were introduced to an experienced women photographer named Bernice Abbot who was hired by MIT to make a visual representation of physics to encourage children to pursue science. This is the first time that anyone had represented science in art, and she was able to do it flawlessly. Unfortunately, later in her career MIT fired her and hired her male assistant to continue on with her job. We also were able to view many of her original pieces from her MIT work, because they are hung up on the walls of our Math and Science building. Photography is such an important art form because it gives people such interesting perspectives on current events, people, and places. It is important that we honor the women in the field, and encourage girls to explore their photography side. During my freshmen and sophomore year at Concord Carlisle, I took photo class. It was really cool to work with old film and develop a photo all by myself with the various chemicals in the dark room. There is something so intriguing about being able to capture an image from your own personal perspective, and I encourage others to try it.