Posts in Category : Featured Articles
30 For 30: A Lady, a Truck, a Singing Dog
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. Photography books weren’t common in the 1970s, and getting one published was hard, especially if you were a woman. So PWP’s founder, Dannielle Hayes, had to get creative. In 1976, she put out a call on the theme of “woman photographs man” and received hundreds of photos. Then she wrangled a truck, drove it into Rockefeller Center between 49th and 50th streets, and with the help of volunteers, set up two projectors (courtesy of Kodak) and a rear projection screen. She [continue reading...]
30 For 30: Cards and Letters
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, women interested in photography not only faced hostility from men established in the field, but lacked role models and peers. As word of an organization for them spread, PWP received letters from women all over the country eager for information on a group that promised encouragement and support. But in that pre-Internet day, they had to work a little bit to get it. They couldn’t do a quick online search and click a link, they had to write [continue reading...]
30 For 30: Early Ads on Paper
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. Because there was no Internet in the 1970s, ads for PWP were placed in newspapers and magazines like Vogue, The Village Voice, and Photo District News (now PDN). The idea of an organization dedicated to women photographers was a novelty at the time, and letters seeking information about it poured in. An ad in The Village Voice invited photographers to a slide lecture by Ruth Orkin: The 1981 issue of Photo District News where PWP was mentioned cost fifty cents. At [continue reading...]
30 For 30: Spreading the Word
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 a day before the Internet, many women photographers felt isolated and alone. Information on careers in the field came via newspapers and magazines, where women had long been underrepresented. There were very few role models for them, and little encouragement. They didn’t know that others struggled, or what was possible. So improving communication and creating a community for women photographers were important to PWP from the start. Through newsletters it kept subscribers up to date on meetings, industry trends, and [continue reading...]
30 For 30: Exhibition and Anger
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. Desktop publishing didn’t exist in 1975, so the roster for the FIT show Breadth of Vision: Portfolios of Women Photographers had to be mimeographed for distribution. Mimeographed roster for the 1975 FIT show “Breadth of Vision” It was the largest exhibition of its kind at the time, and included photo luminaries like Ruth Orkin, Suzanne Opton, Mary Ellen Mark, Susan Meiselas, and Dianora Niccolini, who would become PWP’s first president. Dismayed by the lack of press, Dannielle Hayes, one of the [continue reading...]