W FEATURE
L
WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY
BY STUART RAYSON, LEICA STORE MANCHESTER
Regardless of our age or interest in photography, many of us will know or remember the
names of certain ‘famous’ photographers, whether they be from the past or the present.
British photographer John Rankin Waddell, known better by his working name ‘Rankin’,
may be used as an example of a present day ‘famous’ photographer. Historically, we
may have heard of names such as Henri Cartier Bresson, often regarded as the ‘father
of photojournalism’, or the war photographer Nick Ut, who we spoke about in our April
issue, famed for his powerful image of ‘The Napalm Girl’ photograph taken during the
Vietnam war. But what about the female Leica photographer?
All of the names above have two things in common - all the
photographers are men and all these photographers choose to
use a Leica camera for their work.
But what about the female Leica photographer and their
place in photographic history, or is the history of women and
photography similar as in the rest of the arts, dominated by
stories of men...
German born avant-garde and commercial photographer Isle
Bing (23 March 1899 – 10 March 1998) produced pioneering
black and white monochrome photographs during the inter-war
years, yet she represents perfectly what was at stake for women
who were wanting to become professional photographers
at that time. Shocking her family, a young and feisty thirty
something Bing moved from Frankfurt to the surrealist scene
of Paris in 1930, where she was commissioned to photograph
the Moulin Rouge. This drew her to the attention of magazines
such as Vogue and Le Monde Illustre, where she mixed daring
perspectives with an unconventional use of natural light to
produce her striking images, from which she became known
as ‘queen of the Leica’. Her work was exhibited alongside
the great Henri Cartier-Bresson and she also pioneered new
photographic development techniques.
However, sadly her success was short lived, for during the
outbreak of the Second World War, in order to escape Nazi
persecution Bing had to leave Paris and fled to New York with
her husband. Once there, although safe, Bing was never able to
resurrect her career, and instead slowly faded into obscurity.
Ingeborg Hermine “Inge” Morath (May 27, 1923 – January 30,
2002) was an Austrian-born Berlin languages graduate who
became fluent in French, English and Romanian. Morath was
drafted for factory service in Berlin during the Second World
War, where she was ordered to work alongside Ukrainian
prisoners of war. Horrified by this, during a Russian bomber
attack on the factory where she was working, she fled on foot
back to Austria.
After the war Morath worked as a translator and journalist and
had by this time added fluent Spanish, Russian and Chinese
to her language skills. She was hired as the Austrian editor for
92 wirrallife.com
Heute magazine, a illustrated publication, which bought her
into contact with many photographers of the time. In 1949,
Marath was invited by Robert Capa to join the newly founded
magnum Photos Agency in Paris, where she started as an editor,
often scrutinising Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work at that time!
During the early 1950’s Morath worked as a researcher and
assistant to Cartier-Bresson, which in turn influenced her to
pick up the camera herself and start taking photographs. Which
she was good at, as by 1955 she was herself invited to become a
full-time member for Magnum photos. Morath’s contribution
to photography during this time was significant as she was one
of only two female photographers working for a predominantly
male led photo agency. She subsequently travelled widely as a
photographer with her Leica M camera, covering world wide
stories for publications such as Paris match and Vogue.
Morath was famed by her achievements in portraiture, where
she often photographed celebrities in posed images thought out
and researched for previously by Morath. She would often use
her language and journalistic skills to thoroughly research the
background and history of her subjects, knowledge which she
used to create her posed portrait shots.
Since her death in 2002 at the age of 78, Magnum Photos
have honoured their former colleague by establishing the
Inge Morath Award, to support emerging young female
photographers from around the globe.
More recently one may remember the renowned and award
winning work of Mary Ellen Mark (March 20, 1940 – May
25, 2015), the American photographer known for her
photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography.
Often seen using her Leica to photograph those who live or
exist upon the fringes of our society, Mary said of her Leica
camera “It was expensive. I tried the Leica and I loved it
immediately. That summer I went to Europe and photographed
and I took a Leica with me. The Leica was my first street
camera. I’ve worked with Leica for years and years and years. I
kno