Photographer Report

1. Margaret Bourke-White
2. 1904-1971
3.Bourke-White started her job in journalism in the 1920's, when few women were in that field. However as the 1920's progressed women became more and more commonplace in photo-journalism. Bourke-White completed college at cornell and moved to Cleveland where she opened her own studio. Later, in 1929 her work caught the attention of Henry Luce who hired her as the photographer for fortune magazine. This lead her to Russia where she conducted a series of photographs of life under communist rule. Her success at Fortune led to Life Magazine hiring her. Her credentials grew as the magazine gained national fame. During WWII she and many other women covered the war from the front lines through a series of photographic narratives called "They Called It Purple Heart Valley" After the war she focused on humanitarian issues. In 1956 she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. She continued photography until her death in 1971.

4.Bourke-White's work form her early career focuses mainly on images of the industrial power of the United States. This is best shown in her photograph of the Fort Peck Dam. Most of her later work focuses on people. Whether it be the soldiers fighting for us(WWII), life in soviet Russia, or the plight of the poor, she captures it all.

5. What attracted me to her work is how most of it (pre-humanitarian) is of stuff, not people. One of my favorites of her that I have seen is the one of a b-36. I love how they convey a sense of raw power. 

6.

Electric Train Locomotive, New York,
New Haven, & Hartford R.R.,
1939

B-36 at High Altitude, 1951

Fort Peck Dam, Montana, 1936


Pouring the heat

7. sources
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0301/pcox.html

http://artfiles.art.com/5/ncr/p/LRG/27/2700/1HQUD00Z/margaret-bourke-white-molten-steel-cascading-in-otis-steel-mill-in-historic-pouring-the-heat-photo.jpg

http://www.leegallery.com/photographers/63-margaret-bourke-white-american-1904-1971-