A look into the photography of Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham was born in Portland Oregon in 1883 and past away at age 93 in 1976. She photographed often and taught photography up until her death. She lived mostly on the west coast. Since she started photographing in the early 1900’s she used many different kinds of manual film cameras and lenses. Her work is largely in black and white which enhances the contrast in her compositions and adds to the romance of each photograph. She once exclaimed; “I photograph anything that can be exposed to light” and her ability to capture natural light was quite poetic! She also beautifully captured forms, such as human body or plants and created very intimate feeling compositions. The rule of thirds and interesting angles feels very apparent in the structure of her shots. She wasn’t afraid to photograph what and how she wanted even though early in her career photographing nudes was considered taboo (especially from a women). In 1913, she wrote a manifesto called “Photography as a Profession for Women” as she was an active advocate for women rights. She was a member of f/64 a photography group in California founded in 1932 alongside well known contemporary Ansel Adams. The group aimed to photograph “life as it is”. Imogen in an interview mentioned how she loved to focus in on peoples hands when taking portraits because the hands can be so expressive. She often played with double exposure to give a surreal dreamlike essence to her work and sometimes a collage like composition. To me the spirit of nature is really reflected in the content and expressions of her photographs. There is so much rhythm and movement in each shot whether it is of human form or a plant.

Photographic Slide show:

Credits