Noteworthy female landscape photographers

Photography in 2020 is a male-dominated profession - or so many mainstream media outlets would have us believe. There is in fact a multitude of talented and inspirational female photographers and this series of blog posts aims to highlight some of my favourites in the hope that I can contribute, even in a teeny-tiny way, to their names becoming household! This first post in the series is dedicated to Imogen Cunningham.

IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM

Born in 1883, Imogen Cunningham began a 75 year exploration of photography at the age of 17. Although not described as a landscape photographer Imogen Cunningham produced a wide array of beautiful photographs that can be described as landscapes. In her own words, 'I've very seldom...done anything that could be called a landscape. But I do things in a landscape' and it is for that reason that she appears in this blog series. I'm interested in exploring and questioning what can be and is generally called landscape photography and Imogen Cunningham has helped to challenge my own perceptions. Often, I think the first thing that pops into our minds when we hear the term is sweeping vistas, extensive mountainous views, forests in national parks etc. but at its base, we could argue that landscape photography focuses on 'scapes' of land - or showing perspectives, however small, of the natural and manufactured world. Below, are just a few examples of Imogen Cunningham's work that I would describe as landscape/industrial landscape photography. I hope they inspire you to look her up and find out more about her!