THE IMAGES IN AN ARCHIVE
WOMEN: The National
Geographic Image
Collection illuminates
and reflects on women’s
lives with 400 stunning
photographs that span
more than 30 countries.
It features 17 behind-
the-scenes stories from
famed female National
Geographic photog-
raphers and interviews
with luminaries includ-
ing Jane Goodall, Sylvia
Earle, Oprah Winfrey,
Laura Bush, Nancy Pelosi,
and Melinda Gates. The
book will be available
October 22 wherever
books are sold and at
shopng.com/books.Sarah Leen is National
Geographic’s director
of photography.form an invaluable record of the eras in which they were made. Looking
through early files to find photographs for these pages—and for our new
book, Women: The National Geographic Image Collection—we were struck
by how narrowly women were once defined. The pictures are often beau-
tiful, sometimes funny or sad or even shocking—but they are reflective
of the prejudices and practices of the times.
The archive holds more than 60 million images amassed since National
Geographic’s founding in 1888: published and unpublished photos, slides,
negatives, glass plates, and more. It’s almost certainly one of the world’s most
comprehensive visual records of women in diverse societies and cultures.
In the early 20th century the magazine’s images—shaped by the techni-
cal limitations of photography then and a very Western colonialist point
of view—often portrayed women as exotic beauties, posed in their local
costumes or bare-breasted. That reflects who was behind the lens in those
days: mostly white men. As camera technology evolved, our images of
women became more active, but still focused heavily on traditional arche-
types: wives, sisters, mothers. It wasn’t until World War II that women
turned up in more roles: boosting the war effort by working in industry,
hospitals, the military. Postwar, the magazine reverted to more domesti-
cated views; women smiled their way through a few more decades until the
1970s and the rise of photography that captured an unvarnished view of life.
The archive also documents the history of the women behind the pho-
tos: the magazine’s photographers and photo editors, the few that there
were in the early days. Writer and photographer Eliza Scidmore’s first
credit as photographer was in April 1907. She is believed to be the first
woman whose color photos—lovely hand-colored images of Japan—were
printed in the magazine, in 1914. The first female staff photographer, Kath-
leen Revis, was hired in 1953; the next two, Bianca Lavies and Jodi Cobb,
not until 21 and 24 years later. Since then the magazine has sought out
more female photographers to tell our stories.
I was one of those young photographers. I started freelancing for National
Geographic in 1988. I remember the excitement in 2000 when we published
a book, Women Photographers at National Geographic, with images from
more than 40 contributors. Four years later I joined the staff as a senior
photo editor. In 2013 I became the magazine’s first female director of pho-
tography. As the sign on the facing page says: We’ve come a long way, baby!
Today, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the image collection,
we’re telling real stories about real women in images taken by more women
photographers than ever before. We encourage “the female gaze”: the idea
that women photographers might see the world differently than men do,
and choose different topics to emphasize and explore. Thanks to women
photographers’ vision and images, we have the chance to bring you the
whole world, not just part of it. j
36 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC