The Female Gaze Across Time

“Who is a good photographer?” we may wonder. The reality is that a good image, a good photograph, is like a beautiful poem. The elements are all set around us. We may have seen them every day, but we take them for granted. When an artist puts them into an image, a poem, a photograph, it brings us an “awe” as we ask why we hadn’t seen it in this perspective, in this grandeur.

For a photographer, the camera is the tool. But how much the tool is, is not what matters; it's how you use it. As with words, it's our emotions, patience, perspective, skill, observation, passion, and enthusiasm that come alive. In just a click, a moment in history is seized into a fraction of a second. Never again will you be able to create the same moment. No matter how much you try, it will never be the same.

The best photographers find joy and amazement in the finest details in what they see and capture. Their fascination for the details comes alive in the photographs they click too.

As a humble beginner in photography with the minimal gadgets I have, I am in awe of the vibrant colours and moments coming alive around me. An eye for the details of nature and life might have helped me unfold some moments, though it is only a very humble step compared to the vast ocean of photographs and photographers around the world.

Photos by the author Meena Sunil

Every skill needs to be updated over time, both theoretically and technically, and it is a must to know the best photographs and photographers since the beginning of photography. The greatest photographers have a lust for images, and they never feel satisfied with the content they created because they feel that something much better could have been achieved, or at least they conceive it thus. This prompted me to dive deep into the works of women photographers as well.

We can trace the origin of women photographers from the beginning of the photographic process. We can see women entering the business of photography, opening studios in Denmark, France, Germany, and Sweden from the 1840s. Many took it seriously as an art form from the 1850s. There are some remarkable names among female photographers from the 19th century, with figures like Constance Fox Talbot and Anna Atkins. Then came the prominent photographers Julia Margaret Cameron, Dorothea Lange, Vivian Maier, Diane Arbus, Annie Leibovitz, and Cindy Sherman.

Artistic photography and pictorialism developed. Photographic studios became fashionable meeting places for the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy. Many exhibitions began to be conducted by amateurs: portrait, press photography, landscapes, and war reporting. Miserable lives were captured by women photographers, making them inevitable members in the picture — capturing her storybooks, seeing the world through their eyes. They were able to redefine and reshape the art of photography from the 19th century to this day.

Anna Atkins, an English botanist, is one of the pioneers among women photographers. She published her first book illustrated using the photographic process. Having learned the cyanotype process from John Herschel, she published The Illustrated Book of British Algae in 1841.

Dorothea Lange was a documentary photographer with the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression. She humanised the struggles of rural Americans. Her photographs influenced the public and reshaped government policies. Her 1936 image, Migrant Mother, is an iconic symbol of the era and became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century. She is considered a co-founder of documentary photography and has been an inspiration and role model to many contemporary artists.

Another influential photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, turned to photography at the age of 48. She became one of the most important photographers of the Victorian era. The Portrait of Julia Jackson (1867) is a typical example of her work. There seems to be a veil or a mystery over the faces portrayed — they let the viewer see inside the person. Julia’s pictures continue to influence viewers to this day.

When we speak about pioneer women photographers, we cannot forget the first American female photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White. She was allowed to document Soviet industry. As the first female photographer of Life magazine, her powerful images documented industrial landscapes, social inequalities, and WWII. She was also the woman photographer to accompany Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi never stood still, disliked being photographed, but ironically, he was continually photographed for his tremendous influence. Without disturbing his work, daily activities, or innumerable meetings, photographers were allowed to capture him. Margaret Bourke-White was among them. Her photograph of Mahatma Gandhi spinning the charkha became iconic in describing Gandhiji. This picture became a symbol of the Mahatma. She accompanied him until his assassination, leaving us invaluable visual records of his life and work.

In India, the parallel figure was Homai Vyarawalla, the country’s first female photojournalist. Working through the 1940s and 1950s, she documented the transition from colonial rule to independence, photographing leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama. At a time when photojournalism was almost entirely male-dominated, Vyarawalla’s presence behind the lens challenged conventions and inspired generations of Indian women photographers. Her images are not just records of political history, but also a testimony to a woman claiming her place as an equal contributor in shaping the visual archive of a new nation.

While photographing to document was the popular practice, some women like Diane Arbus challenged the notions of beauty and normalcy by focusing on marginalised communities such as nudists, circus performers, and individuals with physical differences — all questioning society’s perceptions of “the other.” Her photographs like Child with a Toy Hand Grenade or Jewish Girl often focus on the subject’s eyes. The eyes seem to stare out with a frozen expression, reflecting our deepest fears or private wisdom.

Thus, when we study and try to understand women photographers like Vivian Maier, Annie Leibovitz, Francesca Woodman, Sally Mann, Justine Kurland, or Poochie Collins, we can see that photography by women encourages inclusiveness and invites viewers to look at the world from a different point of view — creating perspectives outside the narratives of patriarchy.

Written by Meena Sunil, edited by Janaky S. and Parvathy Ramachandran