WOMEN: New Portraits

Annie Leibovitz
Lessons and Activities for Students

Exclusive Commissioning Partner

Teacher INTRODUCTION

WOMEN: New Portraits is an exhibition of newly

Guide commissioned photographs by the world-renowned
photographer Annie Leibovitz. The exhibition will travel to
10 cities over the course of twelve months - London, Tokyo,
San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Milan,
Frankfurt, New York, and Zurich.

The new work is a continuation of a project Leibovitz began

over fifteen years ago. Her most enduringly popular series
of photographs, Women, was published in 1999 in a book
accompanied by an exhibition that opened at the Corcoran
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Susan Sontag, with whom
the original project was a collaboration, called it 'a work in
progress’. WOMEN: New Portraits will reflect the changes in
the roles of women today. In addition to the new photographs,
the exhibition will include work from the original series as well
as other photographs taken since.

Created by the International Center of Photography (ICP),

these materials are designed to introduce you and your
students to the exhibition. The goal is to help you integrate
the exhibition content into your classroom across disciplines.
To this end, we have created activities that you and your
students can view and discuss before or after visiting the
show. The following table of contents is a framework to guide
you through the materials.

1
CONTENTS

3 B i o g r a p hy

4 Exhibition Introduction

5 L e s so n # 1

Annie Leibovitz’s Portraits of Women

6 Part I. Annie Leibovitz: Women, 1999

7 Part II. The Continuation of the Project,

WOMEN: New Portraits, 2016

9 L e s so n # 2

Making Empowered Portraits of

Women and Ourselves
10 Part I. Portraiture in Our Lives: Its Uses and Techniques

10 Part II. Debating Women through Making Portraits

12 L e s so n # 3

An Introduction to Portrait
Photography and Its Evolution
13 Part I. Portrait Photography Today

13 Part II. The Invention of the Daguerreotype

14 Part III. The Invention of the Portable Camera

15 Part IV. Digital Technology and Photography Today

17 Images

30 B i b l i o g r a p hy a n d Li n ks

31 A b o u t I CP

2
BIOGR APHY
Annie Leibovitz
[Image 1, p.17] began her career as a
photojournalist for Rolling Stone in 1970, while
she was still a student at the San Francisco Art
Institute. Her pictures have appeared regularly on
magazine covers ever since. Leibovitz’s large and
distinguished body of work encompasses some of
the most well-known portraits of our time.
Leibovitz’s first major assignment was for a cover
story on John Lennon. She became Rolling Stone’s
chief photographer in 1973, and by the time she
left the magazine, ten years later, she had shot
one hundred and forty-two covers and published
photo essays on scores of stories, including her
memorable accounts of the resignation of Richard
Nixon and of the 1975 Rolling Stones tour. In 1983,
when she joined the staff of the revived Vanity Fair,
she was established as the foremost rock music
photographer and an astute documentarian of the
social landscape. At Vanity Fair, and later at Vogue,
she developed a large body of work—portraits of
actors, directors, writers, musicians, athletes, and
political and business figures, as well as fashion
photographs—that expanded her collective portrait
of contemporary life. In addition to her editorial
work, she has created several influential advertising
campaigns, including her award-winning portraits
for American Express and the Gap. She has also
collaborated with many arts organizations. Leibovitz
has a special interest in dance, and in 1990 she
documented the creation of the White Oak Dance
Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris.
Several collections of Leibovitz’s work have
been published. They include Annie Leibovitz:
Photographs (1983); Annie Leibovitz: Photographs
1970–1990 (1991); Olympic Portraits (1996);
Women (1999), in collaboration with Susan Sontag;
American Music (2003); A Photographer’s Life, 1990-
2005 (2006); Annie Leibovitz at Work (2008), a first-
person commentary on her career; Pilgrimage(2011);
and an over-sized, limited collector’s edition of her
photographs published by Taschen (2014).
Exhibitions of Leibovitz’s work have appeared at
museums and galleries all over the world, including
the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran
Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the International
Center of Photography in New York; the Brooklyn
Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam;
the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in
Paris; the National Portrait Gallery in London; the
Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia; and
the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.
Leibovitz is the recipient of many honors. In 2006 she
was made a Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et
des Lettres by the French government. The previous
year, in a compilation of the forty top magazine
covers of the past forty years by the American
Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), she held the
top two spots (#1 for the photograph of John Lennon
and Yoko Ono taken for Rolling Stone the day Lennon
was shot, and #2 for the pregnant Demi Moore in
Vanity Fair). In 2009, she received the International
Center of Photography’s Lifetime Achievement
Award, ASME’s first Creative Excellence Award,
and the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic
Society in London. In 2012, she was the recipient of
the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Award
to Distinguished Women in the Arts and the Wexner
Prize. In 2013 she received the Prince of Asturias
Award for Communication and Humanities. She was
the inaugural recipient of the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art Contemporary Vision Award in 2015.
Leibovitz has been designated a Living Legend by
the Library of Congress. She lives in New York with
her three children, Sarah, Susan, and Samuelle.
3
ExHIBITIOn InTROduCTIOn
The photographer
Annie Leibovitz has
made some of the
most well-known
portraits of our time.
Her latest body of work, WOMEN: New Portraits,
is a continuation of the 1999 series, Women,
which was also published as a book and
exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the
International Center of Photography (ICP). This
continuation reflects the changes in the roles of
women today. WOMEN: New Portraits will be
shown in 10 cities over a period of 12 months,
beginning in London in January 2016. The
exhibition includes new photographs, as well as
digitally displayed work from the original series.
The accompanying activities aim to help
students deepen their understanding of
the ideas addressed in the exhibition and
provide them with hands-on activities that
engage them with the photographs. These
lessons and activities are broken down into
three lesson plans that can be used with ages
8 to 18, with suggested adjustments based on
age. They are designed to be integrated with
Social Studies, Humanities, Arts, and English
Language Arts curricula.
For the first lesson, students explore Annie
Leibovitz’s two series Women and WOMEN:
New Portraits. They think about how these
photographs confirm or challenge stereotypes of
women, debate the use of certain techniques in
portrait photography, and examine ideas
of beauty.
For the second, students are prompted to
examine a portrait they have of themselves
and discuss how the ultimate uses or
purposes of it determined how it was
captured. They create new portraits to
engage in a debate, as articulated in the 1999
eponymous book, about “what women are, can
be, and should want to be.” 1 They display their
work in class and reflect on what it says about
the state of women today as well as their own
hopes for the future.
For the third, students engage in
discussions about portrait photography
and its evolution. They explore changes in
technology over time as well as the evolving role
of portrait photography. Finally, they examine
current trends in photography and portraiture.
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Annie OVER ARCHING QUESTIONS

What can portrait

Leibovitz’s
photography express about
Portraits women today—and how can
of Women it convey its message?

RECOMMENDED AGES SUPPORTING QUESTIONS

8–18, with adjustments
What do Leibovitz’s photos say about
women today? How do they confirm or
OBJECTIVES
challenge stereotypes? Does a photograph
- To explore what portrait
photography can express about express an opinion? What techniques does
contemporary women.
Leibovitz use?
- To examine the ways in which
Leibovitz’s photos confirm or
challenge stereotypes.

SUGGESTED TIME FR AME R E L AT E D I M A G E S

Approximately one 75-minute
class period

RESOURCES
- Projections or hard copies of
Related Images I m a g e 1, p.17 I m a g e 2 , p.18

- Paper and pencils

I m a g e 3 , p.19 I m a g e 4 , p. 2 0

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PART I
A NNIE LEIBOVITZ: WOM EN, 19 9 9
Note to teachers: For younger students, adjust language
accordingly. For instance, instead of speaking about
“compositional elements,” you may want to focus on one
element, such as lighting or point of view.”
• Ask students to imagine being tasked
with creating an exhibition of photographs
of women today. What would they want
to convey?
• How would they go about selecting their
subjects? Who would they choose (both
familiar and unfamiliar and/or famous)? What
would the challenges be in the selection
process?
• Ask each student to create his or her
own “top-10” list of subjects.
Compare the lists and discuss how they differ,
and how the differences would affect the
exhibitions and their messages.
• The first iteration of Leibovitz’s project came
out in 1999, and resulted in the exhibition,
Annie Leibovitz: Women, which debuted at
the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington,
D.C., and then continued on to ICP in New
York in 2000. An eponymous book accompanied
the show. The exhibition encompassed more
than 70 portraits of American women at the
end of the millennium, including an astronaut,
farmers, scientists, artists, musicians, showgirls,
actresses, writers, athletes, and political figures.
The subjects ranged from famous to everyday
women. In the book's opening essay, it states:
"Each of these pictures must stand on
its own... But the ensemble says, So this
is what women are now—as different,
as varied, as heroic, as forlorn, as
conventional, as unconventional as this.” 2
Ask students which words they would use to
describe a grouping of portraits of women today.
How would they compare to Leibovitz's portrayal?
• Now, look together at one of the portraits
from the 1999 exhibition: it is of Eileen
Collins and was taken in 1999 (view at: http://
airandspace.si.edu/webimages/previews/
WEB11776-2011p.jpg). Ask students what they
see. What do they notice about the compositional
elements of the photograph—the lighting,
cropping, point of view, etc.? What do they notice
about the subject—her clothing, gestures, facial
expression, etc.?
• Tell students that the woman pictured
was an astronaut—the first female
pilot (Discovery, 1995) and first female
commander (Columbia, 1999) of a space
shuttle mission—until she retired in 2006.
What choices did Leibovitz make in portraying
her, and what do they communicate about
the subject?
• Now, look together at another portrait
from this 1999 exhibition—of Venus and
serena Williams (view at: http://resources1.
news.com.au/images/2009/02/26/1111120/
772753-annie-leibovitz.jpg). Again, ask
students what they notice about compositional
elements and what they notice about
the subjects.
• The subjects of this portrait are the sisters
Venus and Serena Williams, professional
tennis players who have won nearly 30
Grand slams between them. They changed
the face of professional tennis, a sport
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previously associated with white athletes. Ask
students to go back to the portrait and discuss it
further. What does the photograph communicate
about them and how does it do so?
• In the accompanying essay, it states
that Leibovitz’s photos both confirm and
challenge stereotypes of women. In what way
do the women in these two photographs do so,
if at all? What do these photos say about what it
means to be a woman today?
• Finally, read this quote to students and ask
them to respond, using the photos above
as evidence:
“It’s for us to decide what to make of
these pictures. After all, a photograph is
not an opinion. Or is it?” 3
Ask students what they think. Is a photograph an
opinion? Why or why not?
PART II
T H E C O N T I N U AT I O N O F
T H E P R O J E C T, W O M E N :
NEW PORtR AitS, 2016
Note to teachers: As in Part i, for younger students,
make adjustments to language.
• Leibovitz decided to continue her 1999
project to photograph contemporary
American women. She met with Gloria
Steinem [Image 2, p.18] —a feminist, writer,
and activist—several times to develop the list
of women she wanted to photograph for this
continuation of the project.
• Tell students: Return to the list you
made of 10 potential female portrait
subjects in Part I. Now, work with a partner
to combine your lists and to choose just 10
subjects. What is it like to pare down your lists?
What is it like to work with someone else to do
so? How do the themes and ideas evolve as
your lists change?
• In the past 17 years since Leibovitz's first
project, many would say that women have
moved into and made their mark on more
fields. And, in some cases, there is a more
diverse array of women across industries. Ask
students what they think about that. Do they
think women are represented well in most
careers and/or fields? Do they think there is
more diversity in the types of women in various
fields? Why or why not?
• Look together at a photograph
Leibovitz made of Misty Copeland
[Image 3, p.19], who is included in this new
exhibition. What do students notice about it?
Think about its compositional elements as well
as the subject herself.
• Misty Copeland made history as the first
African-American female principal dancer
with the American Ballet Theatre. Look
at the photo again. What do students think it
communicates about Copeland?
• Compare Leibovitz’s photo of Copeland
with her photo of the Williams sisters. All
three women broke racial barriers in their fields
and have spoken about encountering racism
in the process. What do these photographs
communicate about them and how do they do
so? Again, think about how or if the photos
confirm or challenge stereotypes.?
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• In Leibovitz’s photos, we see women,

“some of them dancers and athletes with
the powerful musculature that only recently
began to be visible when such champion
female bodies were photographed.” 4
Ask students to respond to this quote, keeping in
mind the portraits of the Williams sisters
and Copeland.

• What are some stereotypes about women

in various careers and fields that students
think will be challenged in the coming years?

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Making
Empowered
Portraits of
Women and
Ourselves
RECOMMENDED AGES
8–18, with adjustments
OBJECTIVES
- To explore students’ opinions about
“what women are, can be, or should
want to be.”
- To explore how women are seen,
how they see themselves, and how
we can change that.
- To examine what students’ own
portraits say about their identity.
- To imagine how women’s lives can
change in the future.
SUGGESTED TIME FR AME
Approximately one 75-minute class
period or two 30-minute class
periods with an at-home assignment
in between
OVER ARCHING QUESTIONS
How can a photograph
express an opinion, ask
a question about women
today, or change the way we
see and empower women?
SUPPORTING QUESTIONS
What do photographs convey about identity
and how do they do so? How do the uses
or purposes of a photograph determine
how it is captured? How do students think
the debate about women will change in
the near future? How can images make an
impact on this process?
RESOURCES
- For making and editing photographs (ideally):
cameras, printers, digital-editing equipment, and
materials for editing, such as collage materials
(magazines, tissue paper, etc.), glue, scissors, sharpies,
and even paint
- Materials for gallery display;
in particular, painter’s tape
- Paper and pencils
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PART I
PORTR AITURE IN OUR LIVES:
ITS USES AND TECHNIQUES
• Before the lesson, ask students to bring in a
portrait of themselves. It can be a portrait or
self-portrait, and it can be digital or printed. Ask
students to share the photo they selected with
a partner. What do they think the photo conveys
about their identities? What specific details do
they see in the image that makes them say that?
• Ask students how they create and share
photographs today (e.g., Instagram,
Snapchat, etc.)?
• Ask students to compare the techniques they
use when making portraits or self-portraits
(e.g., selfie sticks, filters) to Leibovitz’s
methods. Are there ways in which the “camera
distorts,” as Leibovitz says? Are there ways in
which students intentionally make the camera
distort—and if so, why? Do they ever digitally alter
their photographs—and if so, why?
• Ask students about their reasons for making
portraits or self-portraits today.
Reasons may include:
- Posting on social media
- Publishing in zines or newspapers
- Documenting moments or experiences
- Creating photo albums or scrapbooks
- Experimenting with photographic
techniques
- Sending a message or making
an argument
How do the purposes for the photos
determine the techniques and choices of
the photographer?
• some could argue that Leibovitz’s
photographs both document and make an
argument. In the essay introducing Leibovitz’s
book, it states, “There continues to be a debate
about what women are, can be, should want
to be.” Ask students how they think Leibovitz’s
photos engage in this debate, if at all. What is
the point that they want their own images to
make and/or what do they want them to say?
PART II
D E B AT I N G W O M E N T H R O U G H
MAKING PORTRAITS
• Tell students that for this activity, they will
engage in the “debate” described above.
To scaffold the activity, ask students to list both
their opinions and questions on “what women
are, can be, and should want to be.” Have them
further reflect on the idea of empowerment when
considering this quotation. What does it mean
and feel like to be empowered?
• Next, ask them to select one opinion and
one question to address through two
portraits. They can either make new portraits
or alter portraits they have already created. For
instance, a student might write, “Women should
want to be less defined by their beauty.” That
student could then take a photo that focuses
on a woman’s other strengths. Or, that student
could use digital (or analog) editing techniques
to alter a previously taken selfie to express
this opinion. Portraits can be of people in the
class or people in the community (e.g., female
leaders, role models, etc.).
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For younger students: If cameras classroom wall. What models do they see before
or other equipment are not available, them? What models do they hope will be added
students can collage onto photographs 15 years from now?
of women from magazines or
• Finally, reread this quote to students and
newspapers, or photocopies of
ask them to respond, keeping the photos in
photographs of women they know. They
their gallery in mind: “It’s for us to decide
can then express their opinions or ask
what to make of these pictures.” 6 In the
questions about women through these
portraits they have made, what are the points
collages. For instance, a student might
students have expressed? Moving forward, in
write, “Women can be strong.” They can
what ways can their images and actions make a
then alter an image of a woman in an
difference in how we see women—and how we
advertisement to express this opinion,
see everyone?
using paint or glued paper.

• After all the photos have been made or

altered (either in or out of class), display
them on the walls of the classroom. You may
want to include the original opinion or question
as the title of each piece. Take a “gallery
walk” as a class. Reflect: What techniques
did students use? Which subjects did they
include? What do these works as a whole say
about women today? How do the students
think that their images have contributed to this
conversation? How do they think that the images
women face will change in 15 years?

• For older students: The individuals

in Women, its essay claims, “will be
looked at (especially by other women) as
models: models of beauty, models of self-
esteem, models of strength, models of
transgressiveness, models of victimhood,
models of false consciousness, models of
successful aging. No book of photographs of
men would be interrogated in the same way.”
The essay continues, stating that we don’t want
to “present ideals…. We want to have a plurality
of models.” 5 Ask students to respond to this
quotation as they look at the photographs on the

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An Introduction OVER ARCHING QUESTIONS

How has portrait

to Portrait
photography evolved since
Photography its beginnings?
and Its Evolution
SUPPORTING QUESTIONS

RECOMMENDED AGES How has the changing technology of the

8–18, with adjustments
camera affected the role of photography in
our lives? What are the qualities of today’s
OBJECTIVES
portrait photography?
- To explore portrait photography
across the years.
- To investigate how changes in
technology have altered.
photography’s role in society
- To examine current trends R E L AT E D I M A G E S
in portrait photography.

SUGGESTED TIME FR AME

Approximately one 75-minute
class period Image 5, p.21 Image 6, p.22 Image 7, p.23

RESOURCES
- Projections of photographs
by Sawada, Hawkins, and of
Image 8, p.24 Image 9, p.25 Image 10, p.26
activist Sojourner Truth and
aviator Amelia Earhart, both by
unidentified photographers
- Color copies of photographs
by Laub, Iturbide, Seidner, Sidibé,
Sawada, and Kruger
Image 11, p.27 Image 12, p.28 Image 13, p.29

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PART I
P O R T R A I T P H O T O G R A P H Y T O D AY
Note to teachers: For younger students, adjust language
accordingly. For instance, “portrait photography” can
become “photos of people.”
• Begin by asking students to imagine a time
when they could not take a selfie or a picture
of someone else. How would life be different?
• Ask students how they use photography—
especially portrait photography—today. What
kinds of photographs do they take of themselves
and others, and why? What kinds of portrait
photographs do they look at or buy, and why?
• Next, look together at [Image 5, p.21]
Tomoko sawada’s ID-400 #201-300 (1998).
What do students notice about the photographs?
How is the subject posed? What kind of technology
do students think the photographer used? How
does it compare to what they use?
• To produce this work, Sawada took
hundreds of photos of herself in public
photo booths while creating different
identities through changing clothing and
expression. What do students associate with
the photo booth? What are the purposes and/
or functions of a photo booth portrait (i.e., from
party activities to ID cards)? What do students
think this artwork says about Sawada as an
artist and as a woman? Why?
• The photo booth has been around since the
1920s, when it delighted people who were
accustomed to formal portraiture that required
people to sit still for long periods of time.
In 1927, a photo magazine wrote:
"You need no longer be dull in Boston if
you have 25 cents and a face. Go to the
new Photomaton, in Filene’s basement,
some noon and see how romance and
adventure have been injected into the
hitherto grim business of having your
picture taken." 7
Ask students to discuss this quote. How do they
think a photo booth could create this sense of
“romance and adventure” today? Do they see
this in Sawada’s work?
• Various photographic technologies have
changed the way we use and think about
portrait photography. Ask students to discuss
these changes in general. Can they think of
any photography-related technologies that have
changed during their own lifetimes? In their
parents’ or grandparents’ time? Then, ask them
to imagine portrait photography’s future. What
do they think will come next? How will it affect
their lives?
PART II
THE INVENTION OF
THE DAGUERREOT YPE
Note to teachers: For younger students, adjust language
accordingly. For instance, when asking students to
discuss “compositional elements,” have them say what
they notice about the photograph in general, and then
prompt them to focus on one element, such as lighting.
• Look together at [Image 6, p.22]
Ezekiel C. Hawkins’s Unidentified Woman
(ca. 1846), an example of a daguerreotype.
Talk about its compositional elements, such
as lighting, cropping, focus, setting, and point
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LEssOn #3

of view. Discuss the way the subject is posed become a famous abolitionist and women’s
and dressed. How would students describe the rights activist. She also produced and sold
subject’s gestures, facial expression, etc.? carte-de-visite, or small photographic portraits
for distribution, like this one. In this way, she
• An early type of photograph, daguerreotypes
controlled how her image was disseminated.
can be described as small images produced
Ask students to go back to the image with this
by light on silver or silver-covered copper
information in mind. What do they think she
plates. After the first commercial studio
wanted to project about herself?
opened in Paris in 1841, the popularity of
daguerreotypes swept through Europe and • share the title of this photograph with
America. The daguerreotype democratized not students and ask them to discuss its meaning.
just the image, but also the portrait. Before its
• The mid-1860s were the early days of
invention, only the wealthy had been able to
portrait photography, in which there were
afford to have portraits made.
no portable or handheld cameras, and
• Ask students what it would be like not to artists still adhered to the conventions of
have any portraits of their friends or family portrait painting. The photographer often used
members. How would it change their lives backdrops and props to communicate something
to finally be able to have a portrait taken of about the subject. Many of Truth’s distributed
themselves and/or the people they love? images, for instance, show her doing traditional
“women’s work,” such as knitting, which some say
• While portraits became more possible with the
represented her feminism. What do students think
invention of the daguerreotype, the process
about how the photographer portrayed Truth?
was still not easy. People had to pay money
How would students represent themselves—with
and find a studio just to make a photograph.
what backdrop, props, clothing, gestures, and
In addition, subjects had to sit still during long
facial expressions—in an era when having a
exposure times. With this in mind, ask students
portrait taken was a rare, special occasion?
if they now read Hawkins’s photograph differently.
What do they think they know about the subject
and the situation in which the image was taken?

• Now, look together at another early

portrait photograph: [Image 7, p.23]
I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance,
Sojourner Truth (1864) by an unidentified
photographer. What do students observe about
the way it is composed? What do they notice
about the way the subject is dressed, posed, etc.?
• The subject of this photograph, Sojourner
Truth, was born a slave in ca. 1797, but
escaped to freedom in 1826. she went on to
PART III
THE INVENTION OF
T H E P O R TA B L E C A M E R A
Note to teachers: For younger students, adjust language
accordingly.
• Ask students to talk about how they think
photography changed with the invention
of the portable camera. What types of
photographs could people take with portable

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LEssOn #3
cameras that they couldn’t capture before
their invention?
• With the advent of the portable camera,
portrait photography became less formal
and more diverse in setting and style. A
small box-type camera was produced by Kodak
in 1888 and allowed (primarily wealthy) people
to get out of the studio and into the world with
their cameras. By 1925, mass-produced Leicas
allowed photography to flourish with a
wider audience.
• Look together at this photograph
[Image 8, p.24] of Amelia Earhart by
an unidentified photographer in 1936. What
do students notice about it? How would they
describe the lighting, point of view, setting, etc.?
How would they describe the subject?
• The subject of this photograph is Amelia
Earhart, an aviation pioneer and the first
female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic
Ocean. What do students think about the
subject now that they have this information?
What does the photo convey about her?
Imagine if certain compositional elements were
different—if it had been taken from above,
for instance. How might our thoughts on her
change? How would it be different if the setting
were a studio?
• Ask students what kind of photograph they
think would be taken of Amelia Earhart if
she were living today. Where would it be
seen and/or how would it be used? What kind
of technology might be employed to create and
distribute it?
PART IV
D I G I TA L T E C H N O L O G Y
A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y T O D AY
Note to teachers: For younger students, adjust language
accordingly. For instance, talk about “photography
today” rather than “contemporary photography.”
• Ask students to think about the following:
What is photography like today? Where do
you encounter it? How do you utilize it (e.g.,
Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook). How does
photography today differ from its earlier forms?
What technological and social changes have
transformed its appearance, function, and role
in society?
• In 1975, a young engineer at Kodak named
Steven Sasson invented the first true digital
camera. It was the size of a computer hard drive
and took 23 seconds to record a black-and-white
image. It would be six more years before the first
digital camera was available to consumers (from
Sony in 1981), though it didn’t sell well. More
refined digital cameras followed over the years,
with new elements such as the LCD screen for
previewing images (from Casio in 1995). Then,
in 1997, the first cell-phone camera was born
(invented by Philippe Kahn). 8
• That young Kodak engineer, Steven Sasson,
recently said:
"The options the average person has
today for imaging [are] unlimited. You
walk around with your cell phone or your
digital camera today and the pictures are
excellent, they’re reliably produced, you
can share them instantly. I like to say to
inventors, ‘Be aware that your invention
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LEssOn #3

is in an environment where the rest of • After examining these photographs, what

the world is inventing along with you. By
the time your idea matures, it will be in
a totally different world.’ I think that was
the case with the digital camera." 9
• Tell students that in the upcoming sessions,
Ask students to respond to this quote. How do
they think the invention of digital photography—
especially cell-phone photography—has
changed the way we take portraits and the way
we live? How has the invention of programs for
editing photos and platforms for sharing photos
(e.g., Instagram and Facebook) changed the
way we take portraits and the way we live?
can students say about contemporary
photography? How do these images compare
to what they see on a daily basis?
they will be looking at photographs focused
on empowered women. Ask them if they think
this selection of contemporary photographs
depicts empowered women. Why or why not?
And if so, how?

• Next, divide the class into small groups

of three to four students. Hand out color
copies of the following photographs:

- [Image 9, p.25] Gillian Laub,

Angel Before the Prom, 2009
- [Image 10, p.26] Graciela Iturbide,
Our Lady of the iguanas, 1979
- [Image 11, p.27] David Seidner,
Jessye Norman, 1995
- [Image 12, p.28] Malick Sidibé,
Les trois Mareines, 1984
- [Image 5, p. 21] Tomoko Sawada,
iD-400 #201-300, 1998
- For older students: [Image 13, p.29]
Barbara Kruger, Your Body is a
Battleground, 1989

• Ask students to discuss these photographs

in small groups. What do they notice about
compositional elements, such as lighting, point
of view, cropping, etc.? What do they observe
about the subjects and the settings? How do
these photographs compare to the ones they
looked at from earlier in the history
of photography?

16
IMAGE 1

Annie Leibovitz, New York City, 2012

© Annie Leibovitz

17
IMAGE 2

Gloria Steinem, New York City, 2015

© Annie Leibovitz from WOMEN: New Portraits

18
IMAGE 3

Misty Copeland, New York City, 2015

© Annie Leibovitz from WOMEN: New Portraits

19
IMAGE 4

Laura Poitras, New York City, 2015

© Annie Leibovitz from WOMEN: New Portraits

20
IMAGE 5

Tomoko Sawada, iD-400 #201-300, 1998.

ICP Collection

21
IMAGE 6

Ezekiel C. Hawkins, [Unidentified Woman], ca. 1846.

ICP Collection

22
IMAGE 7

Unidentified photographer, i Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance, Sojourner truth, 1864.
ICP Collection

23
IMAGE 8

Unidentified photographer, [Amelia Earhart], 1936.

ICP Collection

24
IMAGE 9

Gillian Laub, Angel Before the Prom, 2009.

ICP Collection

25
IMAGE 10

Graciela Iturbide, Our Lady of the iguanas, 1979.

ICP Collection

26
I M A G E 11

David Seidner, Jessye Norman, 1995.

ICP Collection

27
I M AG E 12

Malick Sidibé, Les trois Mareines, 1984.

ICP Collection

28
I M AG E 13

Barbara Kruger, Your Body is a Battleground, 1989.

ICP Collection

29
BIBLIOGR APHY AND LINKS

Goldberg, Vicki. “The Photo Booth: A Portrait 1

Susan Sontag, Annie Leibovitz: Women, New York:
Random House, 1999, p. 21.
Studio Of One’s Own.” the New York times,
August 3, 2003. 2
Ibid., p. 20.

Leibovitz, Annie, and Susan Sontag. Annie 3

Ibid.
Leibovitz: Women. New York: Random House, 4
Ibid., p. 35.
1999.
5
Ibid.
Storm, Christian. “In just one hour, two Bell
6
Ibid., p. 36.
Lab scientists had a breakthrough that won the
Nobel prize—and changed photography forever.” 7
Vicki Goldberg, “The Photo Booth: A Portrait Studio Of
Business insider, June 17, 2015. One’s Own,” The New York Times, August 3, 2003.

8
Christian Storm, “In just one hour, two Bell Lab scientists
had a breakthrough that won the Nobel prize—and
changed photography forever,” Business Insider, June 17,
2015.

9
Ibid.

30
ABOuT ICP

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Center of Photography
(ICP) is the world’s leading
institution dedicated to
photography and
visual culture.
Through our exhibitions, school, public programs, and
community outreach, we offer an open forum for dialogue
about the role images play in our culture. Since our
founding, we have presented more than 700 exhibitions
and offered thousands of classes, providing instruction
at every level. ICP is a center where photographers and
artists, students and scholars can create and interpret the
world of the image within our comprehensive exhibition and
educational facilities.

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icp.org • 212.857.0045 • @ICP • @ICPhotog

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