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30 For 30: Friends Who Overcame and Inspired

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re featuring items from the PWP Archives* each day on this blog. In looking back, we see not only where we started, but how far photography, women, and the world have come since 1975.

PWP lineup of speakers for 1981-1982

From the beginning PWP has had some very good friends. The guest speaker list from the 1981-82 season includes Ruth Orkin, Arlene Gottfried, Arlene Alda, and Maggie Sherwood of the Floating Foundation of Photography. Below are Dianora Niccolini’s notes for the first PWP board and outside advisors, along with a later list of people who served. It is impressive, and includes Kathryn Abbe, Sonja Bullaty, Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Lilo Raymond, Maggie Sherwood, Erika Stone and Via Wynroth.

Notes for the first PWP Board and outside advisors (left & center); list of people who served as advisors (right)

Via Wynroth was the first Director of Education at the International Center of Photography, and was extremely forward in her thinking and hiring practices. She had a huge impact on a generation of photographers, and supported organizations that supported them, including PWP. She was an early advisor, and a warmly received guest speaker who shared her work and thoughts about her life and career (PWP Newsletter below left). When she passed away far too soon from cancer, she was fondly remembered in the Fall 1995 issue of The PWP Times (below right). Her friends, including PWP members Dianora Niccolini and Meryl Meisler, still speak of her today; hers is a rich legacy that runs deep in many hearts.

Early PWP Newsletter featuring Via Wynroth’s talk (left); later article remembering Wynroth’s life (right)

Danielle Hayes was the founder of PWP. Concerned the 1975 FIT exhibition Breadth of Vision: Portfolios of Women Photographers wasn’t getting enough attention, she called participants together for a bootstrap publicity campaign. It was from this group that PWP emerged.

This was the lady who drove a truck into Rockefeller Center to get attention for her book concept, Women Photograph Men. She got that attention and more: a deal with William Morrow & Company. The 1977 book was historic, with 100 images of men by 70 women photographers, including Arlene Alda, Barbara Gluck, Joan Liftin, Mary Ellen Mark, Barbara Morgan, Martha Swope, and Suzanne Szasz. It also contained a half folio of color photographs, unusual for the time, and an introduction by renowned film critic Molly Haskell.

Dannielle Hayes’ anthology “Women Photograph Men”

Not all the photographers who gathered at Hayes’ apartment for these first meetings were included in the book, so she graciously bowed out as leader of the “yet unnamed PWP.” She went on to a distinguished career as a freelance photographer, writer, illustrator, and designer. But a list of Hayes’ clients (which includes Time, Inc., The New York Times, and the National Geographic Society), or the places where she’s taught (Canon Creativity Workshops, Simon Fraser University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology), fails to indicate the wealth and richness of her ideas or the generous way she views the world.

Dannielle Hayes featured in the PWP Magazine, February/March 2000

Her outlook is truly global. She once approached J. Walter Thompson, trying to put Kodak and UNICEF together, and has worked in many countries, including South Africa, Niger, Uganda, Cameroun, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Indonesia, Jamaica, Cuba, Peru,Venezuela, Argentina and Canada. Equally impressive is her affiliation with and work on behalf of a wide range of worthy causes, including CARE, UNICEF, the United Nations’ Women’s Conference, Helen Keller International, and the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games, for which she felt a special fondness.

A few years back Hayes suffered a massive stroke, but recovered. Currently she is on a cruise, but before she left, told friends not to email till she got back because she was too busy with other things. For Dannielle Hayes breadth of vision isn’t just the title of a show that came and went, it very simply is a way of life.

– Catherine Kirkpatrick

*The PWP Archives were acquired by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library of Emory University

**Links to all the 30 For 30 Women’s History Month blogs:**

Help Me Please! Hopelessly Waiting…

Exhibition and Anger

Spreading the Word

Early Ads On Paper

Cards and Letters

A Lady, a Truck, a Singing Dog

Women of Vision

A Show of Their Own

Taking It To the Street

Sisters of Sister Cities

Sold!

Education and More

Face of a Changing City

Digital Enabling

Expanding Walls and Other Possibilities

A Wonderful Life–Lady Style

Branding–the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Great Change Sweeps In

PWP Goes Live!

Honoring the Upcoming

Continuity Through Change

Reaching Out

Eye a Woman Naked

Rapidly Multiplying Alternative Options

Women In the World, As Themselves

Kudos!

Friends Who Overcame and Inspired

Reversing the Gaze

Photography and More

Chicks Telling It Like It Is

Looking Back With Thanks

30 For 30: Kudos!

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re featuring items from the PWP Archives* each day on this blog. In looking back, we see not only where we started, but how far photography, women, and the world have come since 1975.

2011 WIN Award to PWP

PWP was founded in the 1970s to encourage women photographers, but has always reached out to help other groups. In recent years it has been recognized for some of these efforts.

In 2009, PWP’s Community Service Committee chaired by Andy Mars and Karen Smul began to work with the organization Women In Need (WIN). Images taken by committee members of WIN people and events were used in reports and publications, helping the nonprofit raise awareness of its mission. A mentoring program was also begun to teach WIN children and their mothers about the art of photography. In 2010, in recognition of their service, Women In Need honored the PWP Community Service Committee with its Suzanne Pincus Commit to WIN Award.

Andy Mars at the 2010 WIN Awards

In 2011, PWP was included in the WQXR Star Initiative that recognizes excellence in the arts.

WQXR Star Initiative

In 2012, a PWP blog about PWP photographer Jane Hoffer and her images of the first NYPD women on patrol was named to Photoshelter’s list of Best Blogs of 2011:

Screen shots of the PWP Blog and Photoshelter Blog featuring PWP’s article on Jane Hoffer

Image from the PWP blog “Sgt Pepper Uncovered” ©Jane Hoffer

There has always been a lot of talent in PWP, and for many years Shoshana Rothaizer paid tribute to it each month with her compilation of member accomplishments. Called “Kudos!”, this feature listed all the shows and publications PWP photographers were in, as well as any awards they won. It was was recognition of our own, and was a much-loved feature of PWP. Though Shoshana left us too soon, she lives on in our hearts, and in the spirit of PWP to which she contributed so greatly.

1999 PWP “Kudos!” list produced by Shoshana Rothaizer

– Catherine Kirkpatrick

*The PWP Archives were acquired by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library of Emory University

**Links to all the 30 For 30 Women’s History Month blogs:**

Help Me Please! Hopelessly Waiting…

Exhibition and Anger

Spreading the Word

Early Ads On Paper

Cards and Letters

A Lady, a Truck, a Singing Dog

Women of Vision

A Show of Their Own

Taking It To the Street

Sisters of Sister Cities

Sold!

Education and More

Face of a Changing City

Digital Enabling

Expanding Walls and Other Possibilities

A Wonderful Life–Lady Style

Branding–the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Great Change Sweeps In

PWP Goes Live!

Honoring the Upcoming

Continuity Through Change

Reaching Out

Eye a Woman Naked

Rapidly Multiplying Alternative Options

Women In the World, As Themselves

Kudos!

Friends Who Overcame and Inspired

Reversing the Gaze

Photography and More

Chicks Telling It Like It Is

Looking Back With Thanks

30 For 30: Women in the World, As Themselves

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re featuring items from the PWP Archives* each day on this blog. In looking back, we see not only where we started, but how far photography, women, and the world have come since 1975.

PWP grew out of a show of women photographers in 1975, with its structure inspired by the consciousness raising groups of Women’s Lib. So it has always been deeply involved with women’s issues, and through some recent exhibitions took a close look at what it means to be female in today’s world:

2007 “InDwelling: Living in a Female Body” exhibition

The PWP exhibition A Woman’s World was held at Macy’s in Herald Square (the world’s largest store!) during Women’s History Month 2011:

Invitation PWP’s “A Woman’s World” exhibition

Images from the show were featured in Reflections, a publication of the Yale Divinity School. Titled “Women’s Journeys: Progress and Peril,” the issue presented different thoughts and perspectives on gender:

Images from “Woman’s World” were featured in the Yale publication “Reflections” gender issue

PWP’s 2014 We Au Natural exhibition allowed women to picture themselves as they saw themselves, unvarnished. The first installation took place at Brooklyn Fire Proof in Bushwick, the second at Manhattan’s Soho Photo Gallery:

PWP’s 2014 “We Au Natural” installation at Brooklyn Fire Proof

“We Au Natural” being installed in the guest artist spot at Soho Photo Gallery

PWP’s Women Inspired show was held at the Grady Alexis Gallery in Manhattan:

PWP’s “Women Inspired” exhibition at the Grady Alexis Gallery

– Catherine Kirkpatrick

*The PWP Archives were acquired by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library of Emory University

**Links to all the 30 For 30 Women’s History Month blogs:**

Help Me Please! Hopelessly Waiting…

Exhibition and Anger

Spreading the Word

Early Ads On Paper

Cards and Letters

A Lady, a Truck, a Singing Dog

Women of Vision

A Show of Their Own

Taking It To the Street

Sisters of Sister Cities

Sold!

Education and More

Face of a Changing City

Digital Enabling

Expanding Walls and Other Possibilities

A Wonderful Life–Lady Style

Branding–the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Great Change Sweeps In

PWP Goes Live!

Honoring the Upcoming

Continuity Through Change

Reaching Out

Eye a Woman Naked

Rapidly Multiplying Alternative Options

Women In the World, As Themselves

Kudos!

Friends Who Overcame and Inspired

Reversing the Gaze

Photography and More

Chicks Telling It Like It Is

Looking Back With Thanks

30 For 30: Rapidly Multiplying Alternative Options

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re featuring items from the PWP Archives* each day on this blog. In looking back, we see not only where we started, but how far photography, women, and the world have come since 1975.

From the very beginning photographers have pushed the technical and artistic boundaries of their medium, seeking more choices and avenues of expression. When PWP was founded in the 1970s, serious photography meant black-and-white and gelatin silver prints, but enthusiasm was growing for other ways.

Postcard for PWP member Suzanne Szasz’ exhibition “Juxtapositions” in 1982

At the time, there was no Photoshop (the first stand alone version would launch in 1990), so people had to get creative with chemicals, brushes, and photo paints. Popular alternative processes as they were called included Polaroid transfer, xerography, Kwik prints, as well as older techniques like gum bichromate, cyanotype, and Van Dyke Brown printing.

Books on alternative photo processes

One of the great experts in this area was a woman named Bea Nettles, author of Breaking the Rules: A Photo Media Cookbook which was published in 1977.

In the book, Nettles covered many of these processes, as well as magazine rubbings and lifts, photo screen printing, and how to use halftone screens and ortho film. It was very hands-on, and very different from standard silver printing. In this short audio clip, photographer Kay Kenny talks about her own discovery of alternative processes and her own tutorial with Bea Nettles: Kay Kenny Audio Clip on Alternative processes and Bea Nettles.

PWP sought to share some of these new ideas with its members. In the late 1980s, Joan Tedeschi wrote an article called “Manipulating the Medium” for the PWP Newsletter. In it she described the work of Diane Mitchell which involved “sandwiching negatives, creating montages of slides, or multiple exposures on one piece of film.” In a series of street scenes, different elements from different locations were combined to create “a place that is noplace (sic) and anyplace.” It sounds evocative, but laborious and imprecise.

A 1980s PWP Newsletter article on the photo manipulation by Diane Mitchell

PWP workshops began to include topics like Polaroid manipulation and hand-coloring:

PWP magazine offering classs in hand-coloring prints and Polaroid manipulation

But as Photoshop evolved with adjustment layers, filters that emulated film grain, surface texture, painting and lighting effects, modes for halftone and high contrast images, many looks once accomplished by chemistry and hands-on manipulation were easily done by computer. There were still plenty of PWP speakers pushing boundaries, only now they were pushing them with digital tools.

PWP magazine with an image of the cover of Theresa Airey’s book “Creative Digital Printmaking”

For all the manipulation possible in Photoshop, its best tools are often its most basic: sharpening filters, levels and curves to set black points, adjust color and contrast, allowing even the simplest photo to shine. Compare the vibrant color and varied typefaces of recent PWP invitations with the postcard from the 1975 FIT show:

Postcards from recent PWP exhibitions

FIT Exhibition Announcement

It’s a brave new world, visually stunning, brimming with possibilities.

– Catherine Kirkpatrick

*The PWP Archives were acquired by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library of Emory University

**Links to all the 30 For 30 Women’s History Month blogs:**

Help Me Please! Hopelessly Waiting…

Exhibition and Anger

Spreading the Word

Early Ads On Paper

Cards and Letters

A Lady, a Truck, a Singing Dog

Women of Vision

A Show of Their Own

Taking It To the Street

Sisters of Sister Cities

Sold!

Education and More

Face of a Changing City

Digital Enabling

Expanding Walls and Other Possibilities

A Wonderful Life–Lady Style

Branding–the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Great Change Sweeps In

PWP Goes Live!

Honoring the Upcoming

Continuity Through Change

Reaching Out

Eye a Woman Naked

Rapidly Multiplying Alternative Options

Women In the World, As Themselves

Kudos!

Friends Who Overcame and Inspired

Reversing the Gaze

Photography and More

Chicks Telling It Like It Is

Looking Back With Thanks

30 For 30: Eye a Woman Naked

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re featuring items from the PWP Archives* each day on this blog. In looking back, we see not only where we started, but how far photography, women, and the world have come since 1975.

In the 1970s, liberation was in the air. Women were waking up to their power, creativity and rights. They were pouring into the workforce and into professions long dominated by men–like photography.

Graphic for Dianora Niccolini’s exhibition “Eye a Woman Naked Am I” in the 1970s or early 1980s

Eager to promote their own, women photographers began to organize groups and shows. Before PWP, there was was Woman Photographers of New York, founded by Dianora Niccolini, who would become PWP’s first president.

Because there wasn’t a lot of gallery space devoted to photography in the 1970s, exhibitions were often held in offbeat spaces. This show by Women Photographers of New York was held at the Interchurch Center on Riverside Drive:

Women Photographers of New York show press release, 1974

Contact sheet of photos of the show reception (all images ©Darleen Rubin)

The exhibition was reviewed in the Vajority Report:

“Vajority Report” review of “Women See Women” show, inset image by Dianora Niccolini

Tired of being portrayed solely through the male gaze, women photographers and artists were taking a look at themselves and showing new identities more in line with the reality of their lives. Doors long shut were being pushed open…or kicked in.