Photographer in the Picture

Catch the man – and the woman – behind the camera in a set of photographs recently added to the Library of Congress Flickr photostream. Drawn from multiple collections and ranging from the mid-1800s to the modern day, the Photographer in the Picture set shows photographers at work, sometimes catching them only in shadow or reflection as they strive to capture a moment.

We added more images of women photographers to mark the August 18th anniversary for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women in the U.S. the right to vote. See Dorothea Lange at work in 1936, perched atop her Ford, camera at the ready. Look further back at Gertrude Käsebier, feet firmly planted on the ground and camera on her tripod, in 1905.

Not all of the photographers are easily spotted, so we hope you’ll accept the challenge to see if you can find the photographer in the picture!

 

Marion Post Wolcott in Montgomery County, Maryland. Photo by Arthur Rothstein, 1940. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.00195

 

Learn More:

Women Photojournalists in the Prints and Photographs Division’s collections

Votes for Women – The Struggle for Women’s Suffrage – Selected images from the collections of the Library of Congress

Visit the Library of Congress on Flickr

Caught Our Eye: Sisters Who Weave

On September 26, 1859, sisters Lucretia Electa and Louisa Ellen Crossett stood before photographer Alfred Hall to have their portrait taken together in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I like to think of them as mill workers participating in the expanding American Industrial Revolution. The sisters, dressed in identical aprons, blouses, and simple jewelry, are both holding weaving …

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Welcome to Picture This!

The Picture This blog invites you to share our love of pictures and the stories they can tell. You’ll see special images that caught our eye and also learn about entire collections as we explore the vast holdings of the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress—more than 14.5 million photos, posters, cartoons, …

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