Whether it’s a wedding reception, a birthday party, or a university convocation, we’ve always thought about a “man photographer.” A few of us might have been open to the idea of a female photographer but declined the idea in light of our patriarchal mentality.
To your surprise, countless famous female photographers have passed our history, and many are alive. People were stunned by their classic and visionary work, presenting living and nonliving things with a new perspective.
Wouldn’t it be nice to remember those famous female photographers and praise them?
The seven photographers on our list include Annie Leibovitz, Vivian Maier, Imogen Cunningham, Nan Goldin, Dorothea Lange, Diane Arbus, and Margaret Bourke White.
Look at these famous female photographers and learn what made them so successful.
Read More About> The Most Famous Black and White Photographers.
Contents
The 7 Most Famous Female Photographers
Enlighten your mind with our list of the 7 famous female photographers. You’ll be informed about their birthplace, the reason for their fame, the type of photography, awards, famous works, and more.
Let’s start the countdown to the famous female photographers.
01: Annie Leibovitz
Photographs of the late Queen Elizabeth II were taken by Annie Leibovitz. Yet, it’s not the only thing that makes her famous, but at least this reveals the greatness of Annie, convincing the Queen to choose her for the photographs.
Birth Place
Born in the United States under Libra’s birth star on 2nd October 1949, Annie’s career is already spread over five long decades.
Reason for Fame
An opportunity from Rolling Stone magazine boosted her career. During the early years of her career, her photographs were featured in the magazine. It is not surprising that controversy has followed her career, as she is famous for her intimate photographs. A topless photograph of Miley Cyrus caused her to face criticism from the public.
Theme of Photography
Being a portrait photographer, her career was stamped with private and intimate photographs of celebrities and other famous people. The photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, presenting a dressed woman with a naked man, is an example of her best photographs.
Famous Works
She has been an incredible photographer throughout her career. Here are some is of her work history:
- Captured the images of celebrities during their shooting of Walt Disney’s film. When Walt Disney hired her in 2007 for “Year of a Million Dreams.”
- She got the opportunity to take snaps of Kim Kardashian, North West, and Kanye West.
- Based on her book “Pilgrimages,” Annie’s work was presented in an exhibition in 2014.
Awards
Annie Leibovitz was nominated for Asia Pacific Photographer of the year in 2011.
02: Vivian Maier
Like many female novelists of medieval times, Vivian Maier’s works were recognized after her death. Her passion for photography continued in Chicago while she worked as a nanny for almost 40 years. Her career spanned more than 150 thousand photographs. Isn’t it a huge number?
Birth Place
We do not know many details of her life as she was an ordinary woman living a sacred life without anyone considering her. According to some records, she was born in 1926 in a French home in New York City. Her childhood was spent between the US and France.
Reason for Fame
We’ve already mentioned that Vivian wasn’t even known as a photographer. Even worse, most of her negatives were never developed into photographs. John Maloof, a Chicago collector, discovered photographs taken by Mary in 2007.
The world learned about this female photographer for the first time in 2008 when some other collectors discovered some of her photographs and published them on the internet. So she wasn’t famous in her life.
Theme of Photography
Her photographs captured the architecture and people of Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago. Her photographs contained life and emotions in a way that gives a new perspective on normal life situations and art.
Famous Works
When found, her works were published in 6 books. Among the books about her work are:
- Street photography, was published by Brooklyn in 2011.
- Out of the shadows, published by Chicago IL in 2012, and later on attitude by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams
Death
She died a natural death on April 20, 2009.
03: Imogen Cunningham
Among the influential members of the f/64 Photography Group, she helped photographers learn to add detail to their photographs. Despite Imogen’s admiration for imperfections, she believes nothing should be hidden that displays humans as “gods”. Her passion was never-ending, leading her to capture still photographs until a few days before her death.
Birth Place
Imogen Cunningham opened her eyes to this world on 12th April 1883 in Portland. Originally from Virginia, her parents were knowledgeable enough to let their 5th daughter attend art lessons whenever she had free time.
Reason for Fame
Cunningham is known for her celebrity portraits, which she shot in 1930. Photographs of hers depict imperfect human beings with all their flaws. Humans were never portrayed as perfectionist models in her photographs.
Theme of Photography
From an early age, she had art lessons that led to her passion for photography as an adult. Her interests went beyond a single type of photography. In her career, she has captured beautiful industrial landscape photography that gives you a breathtaking view of specific locations.
While mind-blowing nudes are not out of her photography career. Photographs of botanicals, however, also reveal her love of nature.
Famous Works
Our famous works are published in a collection of 8 books. These books include After Ninety, On the Body, Portraiture, and many others.
Awards
Imogen was given four awards in her lifetime, which include:
- Fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences in 1967
- Honorary doctorate of fine arts degree in 1968
- Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts for Philosophy in 1970
- Hall of Fame Inductee in 2004
Death
She died on 23 June, in 1976. Yet there is not enough information regarding her reason for death.
04: Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin has always been interested in displaying the realities of life, which are never explained in TV shows. She firmly believed that what she saw on television was not representative of reality. This inspired her to pursue photography, as she wanted to show people what life is like. She says, “I wanted to make a record of life.”
Birth Place
Nan Goldin was born in Washington, DC, in 1953 in a middle-class family. Her parents were Jewish, giving her similar beliefs.
Reason for Fame
Her photographs presented real-life problems in a way that any other photographer had never done. Having been involved with PAIN advocacy also allowed her to be a founding member.
Theme of Photography
The inspiration for her photography came from her childhood, which you could say affected her photography. Among her photographic themes were moments of intimacy, HIV/AIDS patients, LGBT cultures, and the opioid epidemic.
She never spent a healthy and happy life as she was exposed to suicide, sexuality, and fights for her parents over her sister’s matters. This was her turning point when she realized the reality of life is different from a film.
Famous Works
Goldins describes the post-Stonewall gay culture she observed in her friends and family in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. A collection of her other works has been published in more than 10 books, the latest of which was published in 2016 under the title ‘Diving for Pearls.’ Each book demonstrates her understanding of life.
Awards
The awards she won displayed her work’s uniqueness, which was a blessing for her. Among her awards are:
- Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2006
- Hasselblad in 2007
- Edward MacDowell Medal in 2012
- Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship in 2018
05: Dorothea Lange
Dorothea was a famous documentary photographer and photojournalist who worked for the Farm Security Administration(FSA). She photographed working-class people’s challenging life, displaying the hurdles they face in their everyday life without even complaining to anyone.
She influenced documentary photography during the Great Depression time when the world was facing extreme economic depression.
Birth Place
On May 26, 1895, Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. Her parents were German immigrants having one more child, as they couldn’t afford anymore in those times when people had nothing to eat.
Reason for Fame
The reason for the fame of Dorothea Lange lies in the Great Depression time between 1929 and 1939. The world was facing a significant stock fall, especially in the US. She played her role by capturing those painful moments to let the world know what living in the Great Depression was like.
She was standing with the working class who faced countless problems in their everyday lives because they were the most affected by the economic downfall.
Theme of Photography:
The theme of her photography was presenting the emotions, pain, and misery people were facing. She studied the life of unemployed and homeless people who were always striving hard for money and even jobs with a few pennies to give them one-time food that wasn’t even tummy-filling.
Whenever she documented such people, she always talked with her subjects to make them feel easy, eliminating all their fears and even pains for a moment.
Famous Works
The collections of her famous works include the Oakland Museum of California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and more.
Death
After suffering from post-polio syndrome and esophageal cancer, she died on October 11, 1965.
06: Diane Arbus
Calling Diane Arbus just a famous female photographer would be unjust as she is a post-modern American photographer who made her place in this list, putting in countless efforts during that time. She was always focused on the neglected people in society to help them feel like other normal people with her photography.
Birth Place
Her mother birthed her on 14th March 1923, giving the world a photographer who entered even the dwellings by the road and picture the living yet dead people, working hard to cope with the extremities of their life.
Reason for Fame
The reason for her fame, or better to say defame, was the way she looked at the lower class people who were ignored and hated by society.
She faced criticism when she was alive because she never stepped back from photographing strippers and nudists. She knew there was a secret in every snap that she wanted to unveil to the world to let them realize the value of these people.
Theme of Photography
Her photographs included carnival performers, nudists, dwarfs, and every other community facing extreme hatred from society without realizing the life they were living.
Famous Works
Some of her notable photographs that were given importance and fame include:
- Child with toy hand grenades in central park
- A teenage couple on Hudson Street
- Triplets in their bedroom
- A young Brooklyn family going for a Sunday outing
Death
She turned the eyes of the world on the people living in ugly, miserable situations, yet she couldn’t control her own life. At the age of 48, she died on 26 July 1971, leaving people around her sad because she was spreading love when alive.
07: Margaret Bourke White
Margaret Bourke White has made her place among the famous female photographers, presenting interesting documentary photography. She believed photography to be a subtitle thing where the camera leads the photographer into the subject.
Birth Place
Margaret Bourke entered this world on 14th July 1904. Her father was Joseph White, living in the Bronx, New York, the place of Margaret’s birth.
Reason for Fame
Being the first in her profession type, she was a trendsetter for all the coming female photographers. She is the only American photographer who pictured Gandhi at the spinning wheel in 1946 when LIFE magazine paid her for the task.
Theme of Photography
She was involved in taking photographs of the Soviet industry in the five years plan. She was the one who made the path for women photographers to be courageous enough and snap such authorities. The techniques she used to picture people were the ones that made her a famous photographer.
Famous Works
Famous works are published in countless books presenting her uniqueness, and versatility poster sum of these books includes Eyes on Russia, Shooting the Russian War, and Portrait of Myself.
Awards
She was fortunate and talented, winning some of the most respected awards.
- Honory Doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1951
- Honory Doctorate from the University of Rutgers in 1948
- Achievement Award in 1963
Death
After working on so many photographs, she died miserably at the age of 67 with Parkinson disease. Margaret dealt with the symptoms for almost 18 years before her death.
Wrapping Up
Few people have heard of these female photographers, yet they portrayed their thoughts through amazing photography. Knowing about these photographers adds to your information, and you’ll gather the courage to pursue your career as a photographer, especially if you are a woman.
These photographers never cared about the world and put all their efforts into everything they ever dreamed of without even caring about criticism. We can witness the sensual works of Annie Leibovitz bold enough to show the nakedness of humans to the world, although she faced extreme criticism for it.
We hope this article was a piece of essential and valuable information, helping you know about skillful photographers.