Women have a complex and multifaced history as both photographers and photographic subjects. In the early years of photography, women were largely underrepresented in the field, most practitioners being men. However, women were frequently the subjects of male photographers, who often used their images to reinforce traditional gender roles and societal norms.
As photography became more accessible and affordable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, more women began to take up photography as a hobby or profession. Nevertheless, women photographers still faced barriers and biases in the field, such as discrimination in the art world, lack of representation in exhibitions and museums, and limited access to education and resources.
Despite these challenges, many women photographers made significant contributions to the field throughout the 20th century, they used photography to challenge these stereotypes, and depicted women in a more diverse and empowering way.
More info: all-about-photo.com
#1 She Is Strength By Praveen Emmanuel
"I met Josephine in the inner-city slums of Lusaka, Zambia. She was sharing how she lost her husband, daughter, and son-in-law to HIV/AIDS. Without any job or source of income, she is now faced with taking care of her grandchildren. There was a brief moment when she stopped sharing and I was able to capture that moment. Although this image shows the sadness that comes with the situation, for me, Josephine reflects the courage and strength that is needed to face them. This is a powerful visual representation of the human spirit."
74points
In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the work of women photographers and the representation of women in photography, both as subjects and as photographers. Scholars, curators, and photographers are working to uncover and showcase the work of women photographers from the past, and there has been a growing awareness of the importance of diversity and representation in the photography world.
This 29th edition of AAP Magazine sought not only to acknowledge the strength, beauty, and resilience of women but also their artistic poetry and talent as demonstrated by the 16 women photographers selected.
The 24 artists featured in this edition, regardless of gender, gave us - through their different approaches and techniques - a powerful tribute to women.
Although choosing the winners was undoubtedly difficult, we hope you will all enjoy this stunning group of remarkable photographers.
#2 Being 60, Big Sur, 2015 From The Series "Women Of Strength" By Cara Weston
"This photograph was taken when my childhood girlfriend turned 60. She has me photograph her every 5 years to document how her body changes. Most of these images are of her nude. This photograph was taken after the photo shoot while she was resting and drying out in the sun. There is so much being said in her face. This series is part of a series featuring all the women in my life that embody strength in life and living."
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58points
#3 The Winner: Hounds From The Series "Dianas" By Frieke Janssens
"Having built a solid reputation in staged, concept-driven photography, in her new series Frieke Janssens questions the feeling of being a single woman and the search for a lover as a kind of hunting. By introducing the theme of Diana, the ancient Roman goddess of the moon and patroness of hunting and virginity, the photographer engaged a string of luscious top models to pose for her as Dianas. All of the models are distinctly feminine and tall referring to the height of Diana’s stature. They carry typical attributes - be it a lunar crown, a wood stock air rifle, a robust bow, a mighty, dreadful eagle, or a herd of hounds. The huntresses are often adorned with leather boots, exquisite garments, and eye-catching jewelry made of feathers. The women are pictured in the silence of the early, misty morning, surrounded by a woodland pond or grass, reed and wild plants.
Known for her enduring commitment in the creation of uncanny, narrative stills, Janssens makes fascinating picturesque tableaux. The bodies of the Dianas are like statues, breakable or rather detached and rough. Most of the models have a strong, venturous, inaccessible appearance. However, an underlying refined fragility is always near. With their daunting gaze, they look like the opposite of a submissive, spineless woman. Others conceal a more servile, compliant attitude. They seem to prefer a silent hunt. They evoke impenetrable mystery. The series creates a beautiful synergy between both.
With their female vigor, the mythological figures govern the fates of all things. Almost all men depicted in the series have been brought down. They are fallen - reduced to a hunting trophy, a coveted prey. Except for the lonely black man in the wood. Without any possibility of resisting the divine will, he seems to be hiding from the death that one of the Dianas will bring upon him. He is no longer the master of creation. He has become a creature in itself hiding away from the inevitable."
Known for her enduring commitment in the creation of uncanny, narrative stills, Janssens makes fascinating picturesque tableaux. The bodies of the Dianas are like statues, breakable or rather detached and rough. Most of the models have a strong, venturous, inaccessible appearance. However, an underlying refined fragility is always near. With their daunting gaze, they look like the opposite of a submissive, spineless woman. Others conceal a more servile, compliant attitude. They seem to prefer a silent hunt. They evoke impenetrable mystery. The series creates a beautiful synergy between both.
With their female vigor, the mythological figures govern the fates of all things. Almost all men depicted in the series have been brought down. They are fallen - reduced to a hunting trophy, a coveted prey. Except for the lonely black man in the wood. Without any possibility of resisting the divine will, he seems to be hiding from the death that one of the Dianas will bring upon him. He is no longer the master of creation. He has become a creature in itself hiding away from the inevitable."
54points
To learn more about the winning image of this competition and its creator, Bored Panda got in touch with the photographer, Frieke Janssens. We were wondering what inspired her to create her photography series ‘Dianas’. Frieke responded: “I was inspired by my single friends and how they all went looking for love in different ways. Their characters obviously played the biggest role, but so did factors such as place of residence. 'Prey', for example, was rather raw with love, while ‘Camouflage’ is about someone who hides for love, and ‘Huntress’ is always full-force looking for love but actually vulnerable. It’s all about the singles these days, being (economically) independent.”
#4 Chorsu Bazaar, Tashkent, Uzbekistan From The Series "Sisterhood" By France Leclerc
"This project attempts to illustrate that despite the diversity seen worldwide in people's appearance, traditions, and norms, most of us share strong common core values. I have found that there is no better place to see these commonalities than by looking at women's lives. Women everywhere are driven by the same concerns beginning with a love for their family and community. Though daily activities vary dramatically from one part of the world to the next, I have seen women working hard everywhere, showing incredible determination and strength, to provide a better life for their people. We are all part of the same sisterhood."
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52points
#5 Grace By Osama Elolemy
"One can be gracious at any age. Wherever you live, whatever life you lead, however simple, if you love yourself it will show – you will beam with beauty. Don’t wait for later! Now is the time to adorn yourself with your special possessions."
48points
As audiences, what we see is just a finished result of amazing work, but behind the scenes, there is a lot going on. We asked Frieke what her biggest challenge was in creating the series. “Dianas was my biggest series after Smoking Kids, that series has gone around the whole world. With expos in NY, Chicago, and Spain … and articles in international newspapers, such as The Guardian. So I felt a bigger pressure than before, and my preparation was not less than 80 pages full of ideas, remarks, warnings, and so on. I overcame it just after starting the shooting, with trial and error. Annie Leibovitz said, for example, in a masterclass, don’t be afraid to go back and work on it again,” shared the photographer.
#6 Searching The Light By Ilaria Miani
"Guangxi Province, China. In a little village, this woman invited me to step into her house. A tiny, dark, spare house with a wall darkened by the burning of a wooden stove, and with just a window from where the weak light of a cloudy day came in. The old lady while we were trying to speak bent toward the light as to get some kind of inspiration to find the right word that we both could understand."
42points
#7 Women In Black From The Series "Desolata" By Domenico Iannantuono
"The suggestive choir made up of over 350 women dressed in black and with their faces completely covered, accompanied by the local musical band, sings the Stabat Mater by Jacopone da Todi to express all their torment and pain. The project is part of a broader research concerning the intensity and passion with which some populations of Southern Italy live their religious faith during Holy Week."
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39points
In response to what message Frieke was trying to convey through this project, she responded: “I never want to give an exact message, but rather offer a topic or theme to talk about. Of course, in Trophy, I wanted to show also how absurd trophy hunting is. I also like to play with cliches and turn around the theme of the trophy wife.”To achieve such a cinematic look in her photographs, Frieke shared that patience is a virtue.
#8 August Afternoon In Uptown Manhattan From The Series "Face Of My Town: Urban Portraits" By Vytenis Jankunas
"My latest photography project is called “Face of My Town: Urban Portraits - NYC Edition.” I have lived in New York City for over 25 years and have always been asking myself: what keeps me here for so long? Is it cultural richness, the career opportunities this city can offer, or maybe the ability to experience most of what the world can offer without leaving the city? I guess everything at once, but one thing became certain to me: I fell in love with the people, the way they look, the way they dress, the way they talk. It is hard to find another city in the world with such, or similar diversity within its population. This is what my project is about, just walking the streets and capturing people with my camera religiously. The result is something in between street photography and portraits of people in the vulnerable state of everyday life."
35points
#9 Portrait Of An Irish Traveler Woman, Galway, Ireland 2022 From The Series "Irish Traveler Women" By Joseph-Philippe Bevillard
"A teenage Irish Traveller girl attended a popular horse fair in Galway, Ireland. Like many girls and women from the traveling community, they proudly wore makeup, hair extensions to add volume, gel nails, false tan, eyelash extensions, large jewelry, high heels, and elaborate clothing. Many are married between 16 and 18 years of age and have children within the first year of their marriage."
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34points
“I don’t use one specific technique. In terms of how I always get this result, you can call that my style. I think it’s, for example, because of my use of clair-obscur light and building my work step by step with lots of patience. Per one shoot I have only 1 or 2 works done, or even none,” shared Frieke.
The artist shared what she hopes viewers will take away from her work: “I’m satisfied if viewers think and talk about the theme and even more if they want to have it for their home.”
And lastly, she shared her advice to aspiring photographers from her point of view: “Be inspired by everything around you, not only photography. Follow your own path, even if it’s not (immediately) successful, a certain stubbornness is important.”
#10 The Red Purse By Jacque Rupp
"The Red Purse is about loss and transition and my experiences when I became a young widow. I struggled with sadness, conflict, and guilt. I was grieving the loss of my own identity along with the loss of my husband. I felt numb, raw, and exposed then suddenly felt very sexual and alive. Anything was possible. These in-congruencies were confusing. My wants and needs had been neglected during his long illness. I was ashamed of my new desires.
Shortly after he died, I bought a red purse, which sat on my dresser for years. I knew I needed to have it, but I did not know why. I never used it. I see now it was a reminder of what I needed in my life as a woman; something feminine, frivolous, and out of character. It gave me permission to fantasize about who I could become during this transition."
Shortly after he died, I bought a red purse, which sat on my dresser for years. I knew I needed to have it, but I did not know why. I never used it. I see now it was a reminder of what I needed in my life as a woman; something feminine, frivolous, and out of character. It gave me permission to fantasize about who I could become during this transition."
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32points
#11 Uko Fiti By Mark Chew
"Over three million people live in the settlements of Mukuru and Kibera on the outskirts of Nairobi. In terms of land area to population, they are perhaps the most crowded places on earth. Extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV, cholera, and sexual abuse are prevalent.
UKO FITI is an attempt to understand the role that women play in these communities and to show the importance of respecting and harnessing their power to make a change.
Mark Chew is a working Photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. His current clients include Australia’s leading universities, peak tourism bodies, airlines, corporations, hospitals, and charities but despite having a successful career in commercial photography for over 30 years, he has always been aware that the important work is usually unrelated to making a living. As time goes by, the attempt to return to the values of authenticity and truthfulness becomes more important. But it’s not a linear journey. As we progress down this path we find we are really only arriving at the place we set out from many years before. The danger for documentary photographers is that they can become didactic. This is what I saw, so this is what you should think. In his personal work, Mark attempts only to ask the questions, and in finding a response, the viewer is hopefully in some way enriched."
UKO FITI is an attempt to understand the role that women play in these communities and to show the importance of respecting and harnessing their power to make a change.
Mark Chew is a working Photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. His current clients include Australia’s leading universities, peak tourism bodies, airlines, corporations, hospitals, and charities but despite having a successful career in commercial photography for over 30 years, he has always been aware that the important work is usually unrelated to making a living. As time goes by, the attempt to return to the values of authenticity and truthfulness becomes more important. But it’s not a linear journey. As we progress down this path we find we are really only arriving at the place we set out from many years before. The danger for documentary photographers is that they can become didactic. This is what I saw, so this is what you should think. In his personal work, Mark attempts only to ask the questions, and in finding a response, the viewer is hopefully in some way enriched."
26points
#12 Eyes Closed From The Series "Caretaking" By Lynne Breitfeller
"This is an image of my mother from one of my daily visits."
24points
#13 The Second Place Winner: Grandma's Doll From The Series "The Persistence Of Family" By Diana Cheren Nygren
"My mother passed her beautiful porcelain doll down to me, Delicate Dolly. I got into heaps of trouble when I gave Delicate makeup with some magic markers. Thirty years later I passed her down to my own daughter who wasted no time in pulling off one of her arms.
Our connections to our ancestors and our descendants often feel stronger than our connections to those around us. I often wish my children knew my grandparents. These are portraits of my children as the product of a history of lives lived and intertwined, each affecting and shaping the other. This series interrogates the role of family relationships and history in shaping our sense of ourselves and our place in the world. I have composited my old family photographs, photographs I took of my children as they grew, and images of the New England landscapes in which my children and I grew up. With these compositions, generations reach for each other across time. I exist in the tension of the space between those who came before me and those who will come after. The project is driven by a longing for connection that makes real those things I hold dear, and by anxiety around individual responsibility in passing on family history."
19points
#14 Keepers Of The West By Landry Major
"My childhood summers were spent on a family dairy farm in Nova Scotia. Waking at dawn and herding cows alone in the field, where the only sounds were the birds waking and the gentle murmurs of the cows. The smell of fresh milk and fields of grass were the touchstones of my youth. The barn where I helped my uncle hand-milk the cows is now gone back into the earth.
My ongoing series Keepers of the West took me back to fields at dawn, this time on the family-run ranches of the American West. Visions of the West have long been central to our culture, but the way of life of the cowboy and the family-run ranch is fast disappearing.
Over half of all family-owned ranches in Montana are run by people over 65 and many of their children are not choosing to remain in ranching.
It is because I recognize these struggles that my series celebrates the beauty of family-run ranches. The lives of these people are framed by hardship, yet they thrive in the simpler way of life that remains their routine, and in the stewardship of the land and the animals they tend. Over the past four years I have witnessed the strength, determination and commitment of these families to continue this way of life and pass it on to their children. The images are made up of the places, people, and creatures that have welcomed me into their world to remind us of the arresting moments of grace and beauty found in a life lived under the wide-open western skies."
My ongoing series Keepers of the West took me back to fields at dawn, this time on the family-run ranches of the American West. Visions of the West have long been central to our culture, but the way of life of the cowboy and the family-run ranch is fast disappearing.
Over half of all family-owned ranches in Montana are run by people over 65 and many of their children are not choosing to remain in ranching.
It is because I recognize these struggles that my series celebrates the beauty of family-run ranches. The lives of these people are framed by hardship, yet they thrive in the simpler way of life that remains their routine, and in the stewardship of the land and the animals they tend. Over the past four years I have witnessed the strength, determination and commitment of these families to continue this way of life and pass it on to their children. The images are made up of the places, people, and creatures that have welcomed me into their world to remind us of the arresting moments of grace and beauty found in a life lived under the wide-open western skies."
19points
#15 Women Of The World, Romania From The Series "Beauty And Power" By Orna Naor
Through my travels around the world, "I'm always fascinated by the beauty in the power of women and the power of their beauty. This collection contains pictures from Israel, Brazil, Romania, New York, Crete, Cuba, China, and Guatemala. All of them, with all their expressions, strong and intriguing women."
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19points
#16 Sweeping From The Series "I Imagined It Empty" By Ruth Lauer-Manenti
"I live in a dream house built in 1940 too small and weary to be considered desirable. Life is going by quickly. I have lost people close to me and not, in ways unexpected or if expected, naively I did not see coming. I know I will not live in this house forever. Hopefully, it will outlive me, but I wonder if part of me will outlive the house. In this time of instability, especially during Covid, despite so much suffering, many realized how much value and mental benefit could come from household activities, rejuvenating the idea of home and health. There was hope this would bring positive change. With a sense of the collective sadness of the present times, I’m interested in sharing a poetic orientation towards healing."
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18points
#17 Frederiek Muller: Actress By Susanne Middelberg
"In my portraits, I am looking for honesty and vulnerability. I believe that vulnerability makes us nicer human beings and that this makes the world a little more friendly and more understanding. People who show themselves vulnerability give others the confidence that they themselves may be who they are. I am most fascinated when I can see the opposite qualities of a person at the same moment. I find this exciting because people are complex. I hope that the portrait touches something of the viewer himself."
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18points
#18 Dorothy Canning Miller By Lynn Gilbert
16points
#19 Sass From The Series "Born On The Same Day" By Jaclyn Cori
"Born On The Same Day is a poetic family album documenting the lives of my fraternal twin daughters. Every morning they open their eyes and there is “the other one”, their twin, their castmate. Everything around them began the same, yet they are entirely unique. This photograph, “Sass”, displays a confident, flamboyant girl approaching the right of passage from preteen to teen."
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15points
#20 The Third Place Winner: Mujer From The Series "Red Is The Color Of…" By Shesaidred
"I started with a single red dot then a smear and then the redness just continued from that point on… the women in these images symbolize the goddess of love and fertility. females have only so many oocytes upon birth whereas males can supply their contribution till death…. the red dots floating represent the oocytes and the decisions that may arise upon fertilization of those eggs. fertilization is complex and can become more complex depending on circumstances, and a female can find herself fertilized against her wishes… only “she” should decide what is to become of her oocytes upon fertilization..."
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10points