Commercial, Portrait, and Offbeat Photography by 3 Postmodern Women Photographers

As I was going through some blogs I follow, I noticed that one of them brought up this question: If you had to take one poster that was on your wall in middle school and hang it in your house today, which would you choose? I thought hard about it, and came up with two photos I had on my wall when I was growing up. The first is a photo of Paul McCartney with a baby peeking out of his jacket, and the other is the John Lennon and Yoko Ono Rolling Stone magazine cover. Both photos made me think of the women who took them, and their careers in a male-dominated industry.

Each of the three women photographers featured in this article took hundreds of photos that show a plethora of emotions on subjects that are often relatable yet sometimes offbeat. Read on and enjoy the photos of Linda McCartney, Diane Arbus, and Annie Leibovitz. Tell us about your favorite photographers and their work through Facebook or Twitter!

Linda McCartney

Linda McCartney is an accomplished artist in her own right. She’s remembered for many things such as her animal rights activism and vegetarianism, and she captured photos of the Swinging Sixties depicting that era during its heyday. The fact that she’s married to a Beatle (and the cutest Beatle, at that) did not overshadow her talent in photography. Her images include those of some famous musicians such as the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Aretha Franklin.

Diane Arbus came from a privileged family that owned a famous Fifth Avenue department store. Her first photos were for the store’s advertisements. She and her husband, Allan Arbus, contributed to magazines such as Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vogue. However, they eventually quit commercial photography, with Diane accepting assignments from magazines such as Esquire and The Sunday Times. Some of her well-known photographs show eerie and offbeat subjects. These photos were criticized by other photographers, some saying that the photos fail to make the viewer feel compassionate about Arbus’s subjects.

Annie Leibovitz

One of the most well-known commercial photographers today, Annie Leibovitz and her photos are often associated with glossy magazines. She started her career as a staff photographer for Rolling Stone magazine and was the chief photographer there for 10 years. Her celebrity photos for the magazine helped define its look. Her memorable photos include that of Yoko Ono and John Lennon for the magazine’s cover, shot hours before Lennon was assassinated.

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