All,

I was placing a couple of new monographs I received for Christmas up on the shelf tonight and as I started to go through the books I noticed something odd - to me at least.

Of the 100 or so volumes I have, only TWO are by or about female photographers. The two represented are Laura Gilpin ( An Enduring Grace) and my freind Marion Patterson (Grains of Sand). Of these, only Marion has worked primarily in the landscape.

So I sat down and tried to write down all the contemporary female landscape photographers I could think of and only came up with a few names. These are Marion Patterson, Paula Chamlee, Joan Myers and Sally Mann ( her last book was landscape so I counted her). That is all!

I can come up with MANY female photographers working in other areas such as still life, portrature, documentary, social exploration and the nude. Photographers such as Flor Garduno, Mona Kuhn, Annie Liebovitz, Carola Clift, Anne Larson, Carol Henry, Lynne Gesseman, Ruth Bernhard and Barbara Kasten.

But few seem to concentrate their efforts on the landscape, why is that?

There has to be others that I am just not coming up with at the moment. I would like to see more landscape work by women but can find little in the way of books, articles, etc.

I understand that there were several in the past, artists like Imogen Cunningham, but who are the top female landscape photographers working today?

If some of you have ideas on whose work I should take a look at or why there don't seem to be more female visions of the landscape represented in the current market I would appreciate your insight.

Thanks to all and have a very happy new year.

Eric