Home >>>> Researcher's Toolbox
>> Every Photo is a Story >> Part 2

Every Photo is a Story
Part 2: Get to Know the Photographer

Try It Yourself Exercise

Prints and Photographs Division

Finding Biographical Resources
Exercise: Get to Know the Photographer

View Part 2

View all parts of
"Every Photo is a Story"

Before getting started:

Watch "Every Photo is a Story" Part 2: Get to Know the Photographer

Review the Top Tips for Part 2: Get to Know the Photographer:

Consult secondary reference sources--both printed and online.
Track down primary sources, such as the photographer's own publications or magazine and newspaper articles from her lifetime.
Establish a chronology of key dates and places to anchor the photographer within world events and to build a framework for when different kinds of photos were taken.

Frances Benjamin Johnston, ca. 1930

Finding Biographical Resources

Learning about the photographer offers insight into his or her photographs. Using the information discovered, you can construct a chronology of the photographer's life, such as this Biographical Overview and Chronology for Frances Benjamin Johnston.

Resources for biographical research are available in print and online. Seek the assistance of a reference librarian at a public or research library to locate relevant resources. Resources useful in learning about a photographer include:

Biographies or books about specific photographers or photographic groups
Autobiographies, memoirs and personal papers of the photographer
Photography journals
Magazines or newspapers
Photography directories and bibliographies
Biographical dictionaries
City directories and business directories

The Prints and Photographs Division staff compiled a collection of online resources known as the Cataloging & Digitizing Toolbox. Under Online Reference Sources for Cataloging Visual Materials, look at the Biography section for a selection of free online resources.

Exercise: Get to Know the Photographer

Consider how your understanding and perception of photographs changes after you learn more about the photographer who took them.

1. Study sample images below. (Remember to look closely, and follow tips from Part 1: Start to Read a Photograph.)
2. Read biographical information about the photographer.
3. View the sample image again, and read the catalog description as well.
4. Study additional photographs by the same photographer in the Prints and Photographs Division's collections.
5. Answer these questions:

In what ways does knowing more about the photographer affect your viewing of the images?
What aspects of the photographer’s experience appear to impact the photographs and their creation?
Were you surprised by the facts of the photographer's life or did they confirm observations you made regarding the photographs?
What did you learn by looking at the additional photographs in the collection that you did not learn from viewing a single image?

Marjory Collins

1. Look closely at three photographs by Marjory Collins:

New York, New York. Italian-Americans of Mott Street