girl photo biography

• Current Issue

• All Articles

• Bestsellers
• New Releases
• Print and Book Bundles
• Coming Soon

• Limited Editions

• Portfolios and Sets
• Back Issues
• Aperture PhotoBook Club
• Aperture Conversations
• Member Events
• Online Resources
• Internships
• Professional Development
• Educational Publications
• Portfolio Prize
• PhotoBook Awards
• Creator Labs Photo Fund

• Connect Council
• Patron Circle

• Tax-Smart Ways to Give
• Annual Fund
• Capital Campaign
• Corporate Opportunities
• Vision & Justice Book Series

Justine Kurland Reflects on Her Photographs of Teenage Girl Runaways

Between 1997 and 2002, the photographer portrayed teenage girls as rebels, offering a radical vision of community against the masculine myth of the American landscape.

Justine Kurland, Orchard , 1998

The Runaways are everything that’s great about teenage girls. The tough ones who never came to school because they were out too late the night before. It’s true, there have always been as many girl punks as boys. The Runaways are as real as getting beat up after school. —Lisa Fancher, album liner notes to The Runaways, 1976

I channeled the raw, angry energy of girl bands into my photographs of teenagers. It was as if I took Cherie Currie—The Runaways’ lead singer—on a picnic somewhere out in the country. I would show her my favorite tree to climb, braid her hair by a gently flowing river, and read aloud to her, my gaze occasionally drifting toward the horizon while she lazily plucked a blade of grass and tasted its sweet greenness. All the power chords we would ever need lay within reach, latent, coiled in wait. The intensity of our becoming funneled up vertically from where we sat.

Alyssum was the first girl I photographed. At age fifteen, she had been sent to live with her father—a punitive measure for skipping school and smoking pot. I happened to be dating her father at the time, but I vastly preferred her company to his. After he left for work, we spent long conspiratorial mornings stretched under the air conditioner in his Midtown Manhattan condominium. Together we conceived a plan to shoot film stills starring Alyssum as a teenage runaway. I outfitted her in my own ratty clothes and brought her to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The only surviving picture from the time shows her in a cherry tree by the West Side Highway. The branches seem too thin to support even her small weight; their cloud of petals offers little camouflage. She hovers pinkly between the river and the highway, two modes of travel that share a single vanishing point.

I expanded the cast to include some college freshmen and eventually started trolling the streets around various high schools, cruising for genuine teenage collaborators. Looking back, it seems miraculous that so many of them were prepared to get into a stranger’s car and be driven off to an out-of-the-way location. But then, being a teenage girl is nothing without the willingness and ability to posture as the teenage girl.

My original inspiration was the after-school TV special—those cautionary tales of teenage delinquency that unintentionally glamorize the transgression they’re meant to condemn. The usually male protagonist doesn’t belong to the world as he has inherited it. He fights alienation by striking out to find a world of his own. I think first of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye , but I trace the teenage runaway story further back to Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which in turn rubs against tales of early immigrants pushing violently westward. Like a game of telephone, each reiteration alters and distorts a fundamentally American myth of rebellion and conquest, emphasizing or erasing certain details as new social and historical contexts demand. At least my narratives were honest about what they were: fantasies of attachment and belonging that sharply diverged from the hardships experienced by so many actual teenage runaways.

My runaways built forts in idyllic forests and lived communally in a perpetual state of youthful bliss. I wanted to make the communion between girls visible, foregrounding their experiences as primary and irrefutable. I imagined a world in which acts of solidarity between girls would engender even more girls—they would multiply through the sheer force of togetherness and lay claim to a new territory. Their collective awakening would ignite and spread through suburbs and schoolyards, calling to clusters of girls camped on stoops and the hoods of cars, or aimlessly wandering the neighborhoods where they lived. Behind the camera, I was also somehow in front of it—one of them, a girl made strong by other girls.

Lily was my dream of a teenage runaway; it was as if she walked out of a picture I had yet to make. She lived in Tribeca but dated boys only from Brooklyn, the kind that say “Waz good?” when they answer the phone. She would climb into my car slightly stoned, her legs weighed down by Rollerblades, making it difficult for her to pull them inside. Lily died some years later. At her memorial, her father told a story about pulling the car over to the side of the road and lecturing his kids not to fight while he drove. “As long as you live in my house and wear the clothes I buy you,” he recalled saying, “you will live by my rules.” Lily pulled her sundress off over her head, got out of the car, and walked naked down the country road.

The first condition of freedom is the ability to move at will, and sometimes that means getting into a car rather than getting out of one. It’s difficult to describe the joy of a carload of girls, going somewhere with the radio turned up and the windows rolled down. They sing along with the music, tell stories in rushed spurts, lounge across each other, swap shirts, scatter clothes all over the back seat, lick melted chocolate off their fingers, and stick their heads out the windows, hair whipping back and mouths expanding with air. At last we arrive at a view, a place where the landscape opens up—a place to plant a garden, build a home, picture a world. They spill out of the car along with candy wrappers and crushed soda cans, bounding into the frame, already becoming a photograph.

The car itself was the invisible collaborator in these pictures. I spent more and more time in it, over greater and greater distances. I could find girls wherever I stopped, but they went home after we made photographs, while I kept driving. My road trips underscored the pictures I staged—the adventure of driving west a performance in itself. I cross the Mississippi and when I reach Kansas, the land starts buckling up through the waving grass. Colorado crests, jagged and crystalline. The valley rolls between the Sierra Nevada and the Coastal Ranges, velvet green in the spring and scratchy yellow the rest of the year. Finally, the Pacific. The waves change to blue and flatten against the horizon. I pull into a turnout on Highway 1 and get out of my car with the radio still blaring and the surf pounding ahead of me. I dance in the beams of my headlights, because I’ve traveled as far away from far away as the highways will take me. Hello world! I’m your wild girl. I’m your ch- ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!

That was then. Revisiting these photographs now, twenty years later, I am confronted by a standing army of teenage runaway girls, deployed across the American landscape, at a time when they need each other more than ever. “So what,” they say, “we’re never coming back.”

This essay was originally published in Justine Kurland: Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020).

You May Also Like

The Uncanny Worlds of Nhu Xuan Hua

Akihiko Okamura’s Outsider View of Northern Ireland

Danny Lyon on the Making of “The Bikeriders”

In Kyoto, a Family Portrait by Two Japanese Photographers

A Brazilian Artist Finds Beauty in Hidden Revelations

One of Photography’s Most Enigmatic Love Triangles Finally Gets Its Due

How Images Make the Objects We Desire Seem Irresistible

11 Photobooks that Reimagine Queer History and Visibility

How Photography Influenced Duro Olowu’s Life in Fashion

For Bertien van Manen, Photography Was All About the Heart

These 9 Photographers Are Capturing Girl Culture Today

Like so many parts of our contemporary world, youth culture has been revolutionized by technology. Today’s teenagers have grown up with access to digital platforms like Instagram and Tumblr that have empowered them to build communities and cultural awareness, and share informed social and political opinions. Within this landscape, female photographers are reclaiming their image and the way young women are portrayed in the media—with body-positivity, individuality, diversity, and acceptance as foremost concerns.

With greater connectivity across the globe, photographers are finding new ways to share their voices. Some, like twenty-something artists Petra Collins and Mayan Toledano, are harnessing their girl power to form all-female creative collaborations like The Ardorous, World Wide Women Collective, and Girls Only NYC, to name a few. And many are members of The Girlfriends Collective: a curatorial project that focuses on all-girl independent publications. Below, we spotlight nine photographers who are capturing today’s image of girlhood.

Valerie Phillips (@ wynterinspace )

© Valerie Phillips

London-based photographer Phillips has long been fascinated with youth. For the past 15 years, she has sought to capture the souls of teenage girls, which culminates in her ninth book,  Another Girl Another Planet  (2016). Titled after a track by an English post-punk band and inspired in part by a love of outer space, the book pulls together the photographer’s favorite images across the years, and across the globe—from a portrait of PJ Harvey in star-spangled underpants in Los Angeles to Sara Cummings defiantly climbing a traffic pole in London. As with all of her work, the subjects are shot with messy hair and little or no makeup, displaying their quirks with unapologetic confidence.

Ashley Armitage (@ ladyist )

Courtesy of Ashley Armitage.

Through diverse, un-Photoshopped photographs of women in her friend group, the 22-year-old Armitage is redefining the media narrative around young women. Last year, the Seattle-based photographer published an image to her Instagram feed that zoomed in on a friend’s unshaven bikini line. And just before summer, she shot a feature for  Teen Vogue  titled “The ONLY ‘Beach Body’ Inspiration You’ll Need This Summer,” for which she photographed girls of all figures in an effort to dismantle the cookie-cutter industry standard. Armitage is also co-founder of Girlfriends Gallery, an online platform for promoting emerging artists.

Petra Collins  (@ petrafcollins )

Courtesy of Petra Collins.

At age 24, photographer, filmmaker, artist, model, and curator Collins influences teenage girl culture as much as she documents it. Since her early contributions to the feminist pop-culture  Rookie Mag , Collins has gone on to shoot campaigns for Gucci, release two photo books with her girls-only art collective, The Ardorous, and direct music videos. All the while she’s stirred controversy with her Instagram of her unwaxed bikini line and a provocative American Apparel t-shirt collaboration. Collins’s work is both confrontational and empowering. Her un-retouched photos dispel the vintage beauty standard by creating a new one—one that spotlights girls of all sizes and ethnicities, and embraces their vulnerabilities.

Francesca Allen (@ fr3nchiejane )

Courtesy of Francesca Allen.

The 24-year-old photographer Allen shoots London’s budding generation of young women from the inside. Armed with a Canon film camera, she photographs her peer group—some professional models, others who’ve never gone before the lens—to tell the story of coming of age in Britain. Her best-known series, shot from the age of 17 until her final year of art school, “Girls! Girls! Girls!,” is comprised of over 60 images of girls. At the tender ages between girlhood and womanhood, Allen’s subjects are laughing, lounging, sporting blue or pink hair, with their bodies untouched by Photoshop.

Nadirah Zakariya (@ nadirahzakariya )

Nadirah Zakariya, from the series “GIRLHOOD,” 2016. Courtesy of the artist.

Now based in Kuala Lumpur, Zakariya was born in Malaysia, grew up in Texas, Georgia, and Japan, and later moved to New York. Her “Girlhood” series, which shows sisters throughout their lives, reflects on the strong bond she held with her own three sisters as they moved around the globe. These photographs were shot with a Leica T in Kuala Lumpur in spring 2016, and feature young women who are strictly blood relatives. A highlight among them is a beautiful black-and-white image of two 16-year-old sisters, Ilya Syuhaila and Ilya Syuhaili, dressed in headscarves and sharing a pomegranate.

Jheyda McGarrell (@ jheydamc )

Courtesy of Jheyda McGarrell.

As a photo and video curator for the artistic platform Art Hoe Collective, 19-year-old McGarrell gives exposure to young artists, photographers, poets, and creators of color. “A main part of Art Hoe’s goal is gaining representation for people of color in the arts community,” said McGarrell. In her personal work, a mix of fashion, documentary, and fine arts photography, McGarrell works with a similar goal, in “representing those like me, who have grown up not seeing their black, chubby, queer bodies represented positively, if even at all,” she said. Born in California, McGarrell moved to New York to study photography at NYU. Her work can be found in  Rookie , on  Dazed , and on Instagram.

Mayan Toledano (@ thisismayan )

Courtesy of Mayan Toledano.

The Israeli-born, New York-based artist, designer, and photographer Toledano has crafted an impressive portfolio that depicts the dreamy, glitter-filled, safe space of girlhood. Calling upon her past service in the Israeli Defense Forces, for her series “Girl Soldiers,” she returned to Tel Aviv to photograph young female soldiers off-duty in the unseen moments of war, as they check their phones, apply lip gloss, and lounge on military-issued bunks after a long day. The images picture these young women’s struggles to define their individuality, while all clad in the same army-issued khaki pants, button-ups, and combat boots. She is also one-half of Me and You, a collaborative online shop that celebrates girlhood and female friendship, which she created with her best friend Julia Baylis.

Dafy Hagai (@ dafys )

Courtesy of Dafy Hagai.

Hagai’s 2014 book,  Israeli Girls,  captures teenagers in the Middle East—and they don’t fit the conservative stereotypes some might expect. As if pulled from American teen film classics, like  Heathers  or Sofia Coppola’s  The Virgin Suicides , her images illustrate a generation of young women discovering their bodies and sexuality. Subjects are stretching in a high school gym, sunbathing naked in a park, drinking a milkshake, or smoking a cigarette. Hagai’s pictures reflect her own experience growing up in a suburban beach town just beyond Tel Aviv, in close proximity to the tension-ridden West Bank and Gaza Strip. But despite that environment, the images depict a free-spirited vision of teenage girlhood that dispels misconceptions around Israeli youth.

Jessica Gwyneth (@ jessicamenace )

Courtesy of Jessica Gwyneth.

London-based photographer and stylist Gwyneth unearthed her passion for photography while creating her zine, Hullu , which documents young creatives in fashion, music, and art scenes worldwide. In her most recent work, Gwyneth has explored the way in which social media has fostered dialogue between young girls and the rest of the world, giving them agency to develop and disseminate their own opinions on issues like politics and sexuality. For “That’s What She Said,” a project produced in collaboration with creative director Izzy Whiteley, the pair shot teenagers in bedrooms or at youth clubs and asked them to write a handwritten note to accompany their image. Their responses reveal a generation that is far more tuned in than the media often suggests.

• Vertical The Example Article Title Longer Than The Line By Example Name Jan 1, 1970

The Napalm Girl and the Photographer Who Saved Her Life

The tragic life of phan thi kim phuc.

by Andrei Tapalaga | Feb 13, 2023 | War

Phan Thị Kim Phúc

Phan Th Kim Phc, also known as the ‘Napalm Girl,’ was born on April 6, 1963, in South Vietnam and eventually became a Canadian citizen. She was featured in the iconic battlefield shot displayed in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken during the Vietnam War.

Kim Phuc lives in the South Vietnamese village of Trng Bàng with her family. Her family, like the rest of the townspeople, were farmers who lived a humble existence. However, while Kim Phuc’s childhood, her country was at war.

There was a fierce battle between South Vietnam, which the US-backed, and the communist nation of North Vietnam and its allies, known as the Viet Cong, who operated in the South. This conflict began in the mid-1950s when communists attempted to take over South Vietnam and merge it with the North under Communist rule. The US government, on the other hand, was opposed, fearing that the takeover might incite Communist aggressiveness in other regions of the world.

To prevent this from happening, the United States provided financial and military support to South Vietnamese forces from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. The conflict was severe, with the United States sending thousands of combat troops into the country and carrying out hundreds of air attacks against the Communists. Their attempts to halt them were futile. The United States lost almost 58,000 men, causing serious internal divisions across the country.

When the United States ultimately departed from the conflict in 1973, the Communist forces ended the war in 1975 after seizing Saigon, South Vietnam’s capital city.

On the outskirts of Kim Phuc’s village in June 1972, there was a combat between North and South Vietnamese troops. The people of Trng Bàng had abandoned their village, according to a report presented to the US military leaders commanding the South Vietnamese forces. Because the US Commander suspected Northern forces were sheltering in the abandoned settlement, he directed the South Vietnamese air force to assault Trang Bàng.

However, unbeknownst to the US Commander and the South Vietnamese Air Force, Kim Phuc, her family, and other villagers remained behind, seeking safety in a small temple. Napalm bombs were dropped on the Village by South Vietnamese planes. When a bomb exploded near the shrine, the locals fled in terror.

Because the South Vietnamese air force pilot mistook them for enemy soldiers, he dropped a load of napalm on them.

Napalm is now described as a highly flammable, viscous liquid that sticks to the body while burning and is used in combat as an incendiary, particularly in wooded areas.

Two of Kim Phuc’s cousins and two other peasants were murdered in the bombing. The stuff landed on the young lady’s back, arms, and chest. Terrified and in serious pain, she pulled off her burning clothes and ran down a nearby road with other terrified children. They came across some South Vietnamese soldiers and reporters dressed in military attire after a few minutes.

One of them was Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, who captured Kim Phuc and other peasants fleeing. He and other reporters rushed to aid Kim Phuc, dousing her with water and transporting her and the other injured youngsters to the hospital. Kim had third-degree burns and it was thought she would not survive.

Nick Ut, on the other hand, had emailed his photograph to the company for which he worked. The photograph appeared on the first page of the New York Times and was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The photograph sparked outrage among Americans, most of whom had grown to regard the Vietnam War as a dreadful and tragic tragedy.

The horrors of the Vietnam War

Kim Phuc had been unconscious for days when she awoke one afternoon, and physicians confirmed that she would survive. Her body, however, was still far from recovered, as the burns covered much of her small frame. She would pass out every time the staff cleansed and bandaged her wounds because the agony was so excruciating. Ut paid frequent visits to her and arranged a fund-raising drive to assist with her medical expenditures. Kim Phuc was ultimately discharged from the hospital after fourteen months and seventeen operations.

Her burns were a source of anxiety for her; “I remember saying, ‘Oh My Goodness! “I got burned, and I’m unattractive, and people will see me differently,” she subsequently explained. That anxiety drove her to pursue a career in medicine. However, in the 1980s, after being accepted to medical school only to be rejected by the communist regime, her dream of becoming a doctor was dashed.

Kim Pluc contemplated suicide due to her ongoing agony, depression, and resentment for the people who had caused her suffering. However, at the age of nineteen, she went to a local library to study in 1982. She discovered a New Testament Bible there. Which she later read and led to her conversion to Christianity.

Years later, she met with the Vietnamese Prime Minister and informed him that she was unable to study due to the numerous interviews she had to attend and that she needed to return to school. She was granted permission to complete her studies in Cuba in 1986.

Along the way, due to her faith’s commandments of loving your enemies, she wrote down the names of the ones who caused her pain and suffering on a piece of paper and prayed for them. : “The more I prayed for my enemies the softer my heart became. When I felt real forgiveness my heart was set free.” She said. “If I can do it, everyone can do it too” Phan Thi Kim Phuc

She later founded the Kim Foundation to help provide medical and psychological aid to children who are victims of war. She also traveled the world as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador, informing others about her experiences and emphasizing how terrible war is and how innocent people suffer the most.

Kim Phuc was invited to the Veterans Day ceremonies at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1996. She delivered a brief address in front of the assembled throng during the ceremony:

“I have suffered a lot from both physical and emotional pain,” she continued, “Sometimes I could not breathe. But God saved my life and gave me faith and hope. Even if I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs, I would tell him, we cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace.” Phan Thi Kim Phuc

Kim Phuc was busy taking care of her family and travelling to speak about her experiences in the Vietnam War in the years following her statement at the Veterans’ Memorial. After the war, Nick Ut met Kim Phuc for the first time in Cuba, where she had gone to pursue her studies. She presented him to her boyfriend: “Uncle Nick, I think I’m going to marry him…” she said. Nick and Kim Phuc became lifelong friends.

Avid Writer with invaluable knowledge of Humanity!

Upcoming historian with over 30 million views online.

“You make your own life.”

[email protected]

You May also Like

• Follow PetaPixel on YouTube
• Follow PetaPixel on Facebook
• Follow PetaPixel on Twitter
• Follow PetaPixel on Instagram

Nick Ut: The Photojournalist Who Shot the Iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ Photo

Nick Ut: I had a big family in Vietnam. My father was a farmer. My mother was busy — there were ten brothers and one sister. Big family, but some of them died in the war. My brother was an AP photographer. He worked as a CBS cameraman in 1960. In 1964, he joined the AP and worked there for almost two years. He was killed in 1965 doing an AP assignment.

After my brother died, I asked the AP to give me a job. They told me I was too young. I wasn’t even 16 at the time. I kept calling them to tell them that I needed a job. Finally, in 1966, they gave me a job.

So you called the AP asking for the job?

Yeah, my brother’s boss, because he knew my brother very well. They didn’t want to hire me because he died. Then one day I called them saying, “Hey, I want to study something, and I love the job.” Then they told me to come in.

Then I started studying darkroom work at the AP darkroom in Saigon. I loved the darkroom because in Vietnam there wasn’t any place to study photography. Remember, in 1966, Vietnam was a very poor country. No cameras. Nothing.

After my brother died, they had his Leica, Rolleiflex, and Nikon cameras. I picked up the cameras and learned a lot. In the AP darkroom, they had tons of cameras. Every day I played with the cameras with the other AP photographers. Eddie Adams, the famous photographer who photographed the Viet Cong, worked for AP Saigon. A lot of famous photographers worked there.

Even though they were busy, I learned a lot from them. Every day, I took my camera, went out, and took pictures of everything. Then I would come back, develop the film, look through my pictures, and say, “Oh, it looks good.”

One day, there were Buddhist monks burning themselves in Saigon. My boss said, “Nicky, do you want to go take a picture?” I thought, “I’m not a photographer,” but he said, “Go shoot something!” So I shot some pictures. The next day, my picture was on the front page. That’s what boosted me into a photographer.

I spent over three months learning in that darkroom. In 1968, the Viet Cong attacked the American embassy in Saigon. I went out to take pictures. The AP told me, “you’re a good photographer.” That’s how I became a combat photographer in 1968.

So you didn’t do any photography at all before you got the AP job?

No. I learned after.

What was the first camera that you shot with?

I used the Nikon M and the Leica M2. The AP then gave me the M2, M3, and two Nikon Fs, so I carried four cameras whenever I went on an assignment.

Then I started traveling and covered Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos… I would travel by motorcycle and go to assignments every day. War every day. It was crazy. I did this until 1975 and the fall of Saigon.

Before that happened, the AP told me, “You need to transfer to Japan, but before you do that, you first have to become a refugee.” From Vietnam, I flew to the Philippines, and then to California. Camp Pendleton.

I stayed there almost for three weeks before the AP bureau came and told me, “Nicky, let’s get you out of here. Come to LA. We need to fill out all the paperwork before you transfer to Japan.”

I spent almost two weeks in LA while my papers were being processed.

In 1975, I went to Toyko and spent two years as an AP Toyko photographer. I wasn’t covering war, but there were a lot of soldiers there. After two years, I asked the AP to transfer me to Los Angeles. At that time, they had too many photographers there, so they didn’t want me transferring in. They suggested sending me to Hawaii or Washington DC instead… for politics. I said, “DC is too cold, I don’t want to go there, and in Hawaii, there’re no assignments for me.” So they sent me to LA.

I’ve spent over thirty years in LA now, from the 1970s until today. I spend a lot of time every day working on all kinds of assignments: politics, sports, fires, prison, etc… All kinds of assignments.

Do you remember what was happening leading up to your famous photo of Kim Phuc?

A friend of mine called saying that there was very heavy fighting in the village. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese had locked down Highway One for three or four days for the fighting. The first day I didn’t go. The second day, I went very early in the morning, like at six or seven AM.

When I got there, I parked my car. There was a lot of smoke and a lot of noise. Boom boom boom. All the time.

Then I traveled with South Vietnamese soldiers for about two miles. I took a lot of pictures of heavy fighting, with people dying everywhere.

When I went back to the highway, David Burnett and a lot of members of the media were there. I already had a lot of pictures, so I didn’t want to take too long. At around noontime, I saw a South Vietnamese soldier with a guide bomb. He threw it, and yellow smoke started rising into the air.

Soon there was the noise of an airplane coming. The first plane dove and dropped two bombs. The second one, an A-1 Skyraider, poured napalm. We thought, “Wow, the bomb was very close,” but we didn’t think there were any people still there.

I had a long lens, so I shot pictures of the bombs coming down and the bomb explosions. I thought to myself, “Good pictures. Maybe no one will get pictures because everyone else left already.”

I looked at the smoke, and then I saw children running. Then a cat. Then another family running. Then I saw Kim Phuc’s grandmother running with a one-year-old baby in her arms. She was an old lady, and was shouting, “Help me, help me, help my grandson.”

When she was about 50 yards away, she stopped, and all the photographers and TV cameras started taking pictures of the baby. The boy, that one-year-old baby, died in her arms right away.

I remember looking through my Leica at the boy when he died. As I was shooting, I saw in the corner of the viewfinder a girl running with her arms stretched out to the sides. I thought, “Oh my God,” and began running at her and shot all of my pictures.

While I was taking pictures, I noticed a photographer trying to rewind his film. He had no frames left in his camera. It was David Burnett, with an old Leica — a very old model. 1945, or something like that. It was very difficult to put film into it. When Kim came running, he tried to take a picture but had no film, so he started rewinding. After he put a new roll in, he had a picture of Kim by herself, and a picture of her back, but not one of the whole crowd running.

David then called the New York Times and Time Magazine right away, saying, “Nick Ut had a better picture. We need to call the AP right away.” They saw the picture from AP Saigon.

After I had taken a picture of Kim, I thought, “Oh my God.” The girl was running all naked, and when she passed me, I saw her left arm burned and her skin peeling off her back. I immediately thought that she was going to die. She was very hot even after the bomb. She was screaming and screaming, and I thought, “Oh my God.” That’s when I stopped taking pictures of her.

I had water, so I put water on her body. I then put my four cameras down on Highway One and began helping her. I borrowed a raincoat to cover her and then started carrying her. Her uncle said, “Please help the kids and take them to the hospital.” I replied, “Yes, my car is right here.” I put all the kids in my car right away.

In the van with my driver, every time I looked at Kim, she was saying, “I’m dying, I’m dying.” She was telling her brother that. “Brother, I think I’m going to die.”

The traffic was very bad from the village to the hospital. I kept telling the driver, “Hurry! Hurry!”

When we finally got to the hospital, it was packed, with bodies, dying people, and the wounded everywhere. I ran inside to ask the nurses and the doctors to please help the kids, telling them about the napalm. After she saw them, she said, “Normal medicine cannot help. We cannot do anything.”

Then I showed her my media pass , and said, “If these kids die, you’ll be in trouble tomorrow.” Once they knew I was media, they carried Kim inside right away.

After I helped the kids, I needed to go back to Saigon right away. A lot of people were helping them, so I didn’t need to stay there. I got back into my car and hurried back to AP Saigon. Only one editor was there. I had eight rolls of film and took them to the darkroom to develop. It was black and white and took about ten minutes for everything.

After the film development finished, we looked at my negatives. When my picture editor looked at one of the photos, he was shocked, and said, “Nicky, why did you take pictures of a naked girl?” He didn’t know. Then I explained that a napalm attack had hit a village. He was shocked when I said that, and he selected one negative. He took it to the darkroom and made a 5×7 print of it.

Then we went back to the light table and waited for my boss to come and two other editors to come. The two editors came after lunch. When they saw the picture, they said, “We don’t think we can use the picture in the paper, because she’s too naked.”

When my boss came back and saw the pictures, he asked, “Who took the pictures?” They said, “Nick Ut.” He asked, “Why didn’t we send these pictures right away?” The editors replied, “You think these are pictures we can use? Because she’s naked.”

My boss looked at me, and asked, “What happened?” I said, “A napalm attack.” He ordered everyone to move and looked through all the negatives again. He looked through twelve to fifteen pictures, and then yelled to the editors, “I want a caption on these pictures right away!”

One of the editors asked him again, “You think we can use the pictures?” My boss replied, “I don’t care. Write a caption. Move!” The editors sent the picture to New York to let them decide whether to use it or not. When New York saw the power in the photo, they said they wanted to use the picture right away.

The picture was immediately on the front page of every newspaper and on TVs. The newspaper called me and said, “Nicky, good job. Congratulations. Good picture.”

The next day, there were anti-war protests all over the world. Japan, London, Paris… Every day after that, people were protesting in Washington DC outside the White House. “Napalm Girl” was everywhere.

It seems like most people call the photo “Napalm Girl”. Is that what you call it?

I call the photo “Terrible.”

Do you have a specific name for the photo?

“Terrible War.” A lot of people say “Napalm Girl” or “Napalm Photo”, but when I use the photo I say, “Terrible War.”

Can you tell us about how you learned that you had won the Pulitzer Prize?

I was very young. I was only 19. After the picture, I went on another assignment right away, and then another one after that.

I won the World Press Photo first, and then prize after prize. Finally, the AP called me and said, “Nicky, let’s talk about the Pulitzer Prize.” The next day, when I came to the AP office, all the AP staff was there with champagne and food ready, clapping for me and saying that I was number one. “Nicky, you won the Pulitzer Prize.”

For the next two weeks, the AP had a party almost every day for me and my picture. The AP also sent me to New York to receive my Pulitzer Prize.

Newspapers all over the world called me to interview me about the picture. It kept me crazy busy. After a while, I told them I couldn’t say any more because I had to go on assignment.

I read that you were injured three times during the Vietnam War. Can you tell us about what injuries you sustained?

The first one was when I went back to Kim Phuc’s house to visit her. When I stepped near her house, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded and injured my leg. It hurt.

Another two were in Cambodia. I was very lucky. One almost killed me. A rocket exploded and injured my stomach.

When photographers went to cover the Vietnam War, everyone was getting shot. It was very dangerous. We had four or five photographers die among our AP staff in Saigon. My brother was killed too.

How did your brother pass away?

He was covering the Mekong Delta. The Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese attacked and killed hundreds of soldiers. When my brother landed with a helicopter that was sent to pick up the wounded, he stepped out of the helicopter and the helicopter was fired upon. They shot everyone and they shot the helicopter. That’s how he died.

At the Leica event, I heard Kim Phuc call you “Uncle”. How close are the two of you now?

She calls me “Uncle Nick.” After the picture, I went to see her all the time. She’s like my family. I call her once a week. She sometimes says, “He bothers me too much!” She’s just joking.

She tells me, “Uncle Nick, I love you.” We’re like family now. I call her all the time.

What advice do you have for people who want to do photojournalism?

People want danger. It’s not easy, it’s very dangerous.

First thing. A lot of people learn from my picture. People who want to help. When you see people get shot, injured people, or people who need help, you don’t just watch and let people die.

Remember Kevin Carter and his picture of the bird waiting to eat the little child. That’s why he killed himself. For the napalmed girl, if I didn’t help her and she died, I would have killed myself too.

That’s the job. People need to learn.

Also, remember that forty years ago, combat photographers carried many heavy cameras, almost like a hundred rolls of film. Negative, black and white, slide film… all in a big bag.

Today, it’s easier. You just carry two cameras and a laptop. You can send pictures right away. So easy.

You can follow along with Ut’s work on his Instagram account, @utnicky .

Photographing the magic of British suburban girlhood

Left to right: Priya wears T-shirt WILD DAUGTHER X NOKI X LMB, trousers ARIES and earrings AMOTEA. Lola wears top BASSIKE, pants CALVIN KLEIN, trousers ARIES, red charm necklace CAVE THINGS and jewellery stylist’s own

Photographer Elaine Constantine returns to THE FACE with a story that traces the hallmarks of British girlhood: the giggles, clothing, make-up, and hair that flies around and in your face.

Words: Claire Marie Healy Photography: Elaine Constantine Styling: Polly Banks 20th September 2021

Taken from the new print issue of THE FACE. Get your copy here .

I press replay on the Essex town I grew up in – population 4,835 – in my dreams. Only its outer limits have always stretched with the time in-between. At night, I move through, or rather up, the central high street, flying past the remembered places: Spar, Peacocks, Co-Op Funeral Services, the local caff (“POP-PINS”), the women’s shoe store (“Glamorous”). But in the dream version, there’s a kind of supernatural charge in the air, one which alchemises better shops, better restaurants – better everything. Sometimes, entirely new streets snake off the main stretch, with leafy, London-style squares or courtyards lying in wait; usually, a secret swimming pool appears in the ground and I jump in. This nighttime process of discovery feels like a series of dominoes toppling outwards, through which my suburban town unravels as a place to explore, not a place to escape. In the dream, I move with the stilted, ground-level flight of Google Street View, which is incidentally the only way I can keep up with the town these days, as nobody in my family lives there anymore (my lived experience of it died, with my girlhood, when I was 21-years-old).

In the dream I feel very strongly that those things have always been there, and I have missed out on them only because I just wasn’t looking hard enough. I wake up overwhelmed by the sensation of missing out, which is equivalent to how suburban adolescence has always felt, anyway.

My teenage hometown, like many others in the UK, is circumscribed by a railway line; it also happens to be on the coast, which means there’s always been only one way in, and one way out. In that sense you could call it the supreme example of suburbia: a dead-end road, or, in British parlance, a cul-de-sac.

The feeling of lack that defines British suburbia, as with any suburbia, is contradictorily defined by its adjacence to the city’s pleasures: always a train, bus, or car ride away. You’re out of their bounds, but you can see the outline. There’s a mythology around all this lack, and the things that girls find to do inside it, but it’s mainly American. We’re regularly subjected to it; it colours our own experiences. This year’s breakthrough pop star, Olivia Rodrigo , drives through the shared suburbs of our mind; containing the same gigantic houses Molly Ringwald drives past in Pretty in Pink ; the same chemtrails that Phoebe Bridgers looks up at the sky at; the same pavements that the protagonist walks down in the latest Netflix Original; and the same twilit sunsets that TikTokers are crafting their own cinematic odes to on their phones.

This spread, clockwise from left: Lola wears bodysuit MYLA. Elsepth wears bralette THE MIGHTY COMPANY and trousers LACOSTE. Juno wears boilersuit CARHARTT. Priya wears top and trousers ARIES. Mars wears bodysuit CALVIN KLEIN and trousers and chain stylist’s own

Elspeth wears shirt THE KOOPLES, bralette THE MIGHTY COMPANY and necklace charm CAVE THINGS

But why should young Americans have all the fun of seeing their adolescence in a cinematic mirror? There is, too, a shared experience of British adolescence, one that feels different in character than the movie-fied adolescences we regularly consume. The difference between American and British suburbs is, ultimately, one of space: the rise of the American suburb coincided with the nationwide acceleration of car use, whereas the establishment of UK equivalents is pre-car, and hence concerned with spatial efficiency. It’s the difference between detached McMansions and densely packed, terraced houses; plots of land and narrow strips of garden; concrete highways and a single National Rail line through a field. In the UK, we exist closer together with one another, then, but we’re also closer to our own messy, overgrown history: we’ve inherited our spatial constraints from more ancient cities and our suburbs follow the same, unplanned parameters. The British suburbs don’t adhere to straight lines – they jostle with and among the wildness, with history.

In A.K. Blakemore’s recent novel, The Manningtree Witches , teenage girls are variously described as pale, ​ “ sluttish”, ​ “ free with words” and covered with pimples; that these girls feel so familiar, in a story set during the English Civil War, makes its own argument for the timelessness of raucous girlhood. The story details the experiences of a 19-year-old girl, Rebecca, who sees the women around her become targets of Matthew Hopkins and the Essex witch trials he spearheaded. I love the throughline of life as a young woman in an average British town that Blakemore gives shape to; in how she brings to life girls who walk arm in arm and make fun of the whole world, their world being ​ “ two villages that add up to something like a town”. There is one, long road, along which ​ “ the people live, for the most part, in some few dozen houses hunched along in various states of disrepair and flake, all mouldy thatch and tide-marked, half-tended gardens and smalls drying on lines that hang window to window across the muddy street.” I read this and think of the identical brick estate houses with overgrown front lawns in my own Essex, which jostle for superiority with front gates and satellite dishes (the Americans can keep their white pickets; we’ll hold onto our creaky iron-cast).

Reading the book, you can’t help but feel a communion between the past and present of girls’ boredom across centuries, across aeons, with the devil infinitely everywhere – or, in other words, other people’s judgements. ​ “ The indignity of it all. The hopelessness. I could cry,” Rebecca thinks at one point. ​ “ Because nothing has ever really begun, and nothing is ever likely to.” She could be describing a Sunday in the suburbs.

Left to right: Mars wears jumpsuit DAVID KOMA. Elspeth wears jacket SACAI and shorts ASHISH

Lola wears T‑shirt SCOTT KING’S and jeans LEVI’S

But it’s inside all that nothing that British girls have formed their own mythologies; their own customs. Certain habits that grow and curl around your ankles in the summer months, inside all that stretch; all those ideas of things to do, where there is nothing to do, passed on through generations. Some of these are a little like superstitions. After all, for actions to become customs, they require a group. How girls move together, dress together, wear make-up together: there’s a magic to be found in all this repetition, in the experience of girlhood as a collective.

It’s no accident, too, that ​ “ custom” has the same etymological root as ​ “ costume”; the idea of shared practices long-established and accepted by a particular group – like those of teenage girls – is closely tied up with ideas of how we dress. Think of the kind of dressing up that happens when there’s nowhere to go: the mix of accepted items with what is individual, the mix of whatever you can get your hands on with what you have actually chosen, and desire. Trends come and go; lip gloss, visible neon bra straps, elastic hair bands and Rimmel kohl eyeliner are forever. Costuming as they do unruly, unreliable bodies, the clothes don’t quite make sense yet, and the girls who wear them have not yet been consolidated to what is adult.

“ The suburbs are full of in-between areas that high culture doesn’t value,” wrote Daisy Alioto in a recent edition of a newsletter called Dirt. ​ “ Have you ever paused to consider the beauty of a highway median or a springy drainage pipe?” It’s true that certain locales within the town limits become gathering spaces of almost spiritual significance: a concrete slab in a field becomes its own kind of stone circle, a fountain outside a Costa Coffee becomes an altar. But the suburbs that Alioto writes about are defined by their sprawl – they have a certain endlessness. Instead, for a few years, British girls are queens of their circumscribed world; their little O. Their cul-de-sac. Here, any sense of infinity can only be found in the sky – or the internet.

The territories might be small, but no group of girls is too large: packs of ten, 12, 15 are encouraged, perhaps necessary (in adulthood, you trim things down). Girls have always moved together, but with the internet, they’re together all the time. The desire to be documented – remembered – chimes with the use of devices that give the gift of self-documentation. Polaroids have become film cameras have become disposables have become camera phones have become an extra limb, an extension of the self with connecting tissue so fine as to be invisible.

Elspeth (front) wears hoodie LA DETRESSE and trousers CASABLANCA. Mars (behind, left) wears hoodie DSQUARED2. Lola (behind, right) wears jacket THE MIGHTY COMPANY

Lola wears jacket ARIES, dress THE MIGHTY COMPANY and charm CAVE THINGS

Eventually, the girls can put down their phones and take the wheel. One girl passes her test and becomes instantly legendary; soon, more join her on the A‑roads and roundabouts. Driving is freedom – that much we share with our American Rodrigo-heads, at least. In the city, buses come every few minutes; in a suburb on the edge of the wilderness, public transport means hours spent waiting for the crest of a bus to come into view (more space, and more time, that you didn’t ask for). And once more and more girls are driving, they are inevitably accompanied by more and more stories of girls’ accidents. Driving in the American suburbs speaks of forward motion along wide roads; the British roadscape is filled with twists and turns, danger and dead-ends.

To experience your girlhood in the British suburbs is to have an awareness of the sensation of limits; it’s also the attempt to test those limits, of your surroundings and yourself. There are the traditional rites of passage: first cigarette, first kiss, first lie to a parent. But there are also the more peculiar ones, the ones that occur in their own sphere, separate to parental rules. Within the girl world, there’s a claustrophobic intimacy – a devouringness – that produces strange, coven-like behaviours. It feels somehow necessary to ride in a supermarket trolley through a retail park. To speak in secret languages peppered with words either made-up completely or existing at the farthest reaches of the acceptable: deploying the worst swear words you can imagine, the most insulting, the challenge being to throw them out as casually as possible, in combination with streams of delirious giggles. And, in the most severe contrast of the mundane with the magical, to share a bottle of straight vodka in a church graveyard at night. And if these behaviours aren’t their own kind of tradition, after all, then why do they pass down like a contagion?

Of course, if nostalgia for cultural customs is something invoked to resist modernity, then nostalgia for the customs of girlhood might be something we invoke to resist adulthood. This is a cultural trend maligned by writer Jo Livingstone in a recent essay: speaking of adult women who obsess over artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Carly Rae Jepson, she writes that they are ​ “ in a sense obsessing over a version of themselves that does not have to live as a cog in capitalism and does not (in this fantasy) have to contend with reproductive choices,” adding that ​ “ the utopian purity that we see in the hearts and minds of teenagers – and in the prom tunes of Carly Rae Jepsen – is never the experience of teenagers themselves”. But while she talks about a kind of American high school-ified girlhood obsessed over through pop music and television, I don’t think it’s true to say that British suburban girlhoods are mirrored – or rather, refracted and distorted – by present-day visual culture in the same way on our phones, laptops and television screens (just think of Sex Education , ostensibly set in Wales but resembling Dawson’s Creek put through a saturation filter). What British girls do and how their behaviour repeats itself through time feels rooted in something else – something shared in common, though something secret, too.

CLAIRE MARIE HEALY

In his 2019 work, Under Under In , artist Mark Leckey projects a memory out of the British suburbia of his mind – a period of his youth where, as he describes in the catalogue text accompanying the Tate show, O’ Magic Power of Bleakness , ​ “ there was my sister, there was the local Spar, there were power cuts, there was a fairy man.” An audio-visual play following a group of five teenage boys who discover a fairy path under a motorway bridge, the installation produces a kind of haunting out of the artist’s feeling of being haunted by his past – by the fact of its unresolvedness – and how the aura of technology, and its continual cycles of obsolescence, approach something supernatural. The fact that they are boys is unimportant; in fact, Leckey describes how he drew inspiration from historical ideas of contagion in the project’s depiction of youths overtaken by the supernatural, such as epidemics of mass hysteria, 90 per cent of which are concentrated on females.

This contradictory link between youth and ancientness is something other artists have explored. In 2012, Leckey’s contemporary Jeremy Deller gave us a chance to jump around on an inflatable Stonehenge, and his 2005 Folk Archive book (a collaboration with Alan Kane) explicitly situated girls binge-drinking in town centres as part of a lineage with performances of traditional British customs going back centuries. Elsewhere, Bill Henson has combined his spooky images of floating adolescents alongside crumbling, ancient Greek sites. And Justine Kurland’s photographs of gangs of young women locate teenage girl utopia at the point where urban decay and vast wilderness overlap in abandoned cars and under railway bridges.

Elaine Constantine, meanwhile, is a photographer who has always offered a unique lens to the rituals of British girlhood – certainly more than any other photographer who has had the same degree of success in Western fashion. This is because her lens captures how they move and live and jump and shout – it exists among them. It’s a talent for kinetic energy she demonstrated to sublime effect in her stills for her feature film Northern Sou l , which brings to mind Leckey’s own Fiorucci Made Me Hardcor e.

Left to right: Priya wears tracksuit POLLY BANKS. Elspeth wears hoodie LACOSTE

Her oeuvre is like a bank of all the material traces of British girlhood that we share: giggles, clothing, make-up, hair that flies around and in your face. Her ability to also photograph fashion campaigns should surprise no-one, because what is more desirable in fashion than preserved youth? Only, it seems, that uncaring, unkempt, unmanufactured kind of youth, an energy that is spirited out of nothingness, like a spell cast in an old folk story that the adults don’t tell any more. Recently I went to Stonehenge for the first time. Arriving in the car park, we were presented by a monstrously modern structure, as erected by English Heritage to convince unknowing tourists that the ancient site has a front door and that, to venture through it, £25 is a reasonable sum. Luckily, there’s a wilder, Trojan horse route to the site, a side road that leads to a public footpath favoured by bikers and caravan-owners. Once there, an attendant in an umbrella told us that the path currently trodden by ticket-holding visitors was once an A‑road, and, until it was shuttered in 2013, cars could simply drive just metres past the prehistoric stones. That miraculous proximity – of mundanity to magic, the accessible with the occult – feels like a road that teenage girls in this country have always taken, or at least kept in their rear-view mirror.

HAIR Chi Wong at M+A World Group MAKE-UP Pep Gay at M+A World Group SET DESIGNER Nicola Bell ACTING COACH Paul Sadot at Industry Art CASTING Lisa Dymph Megens at Industry Art TALENT Elspeth at Milk Model Management, Lola Gentry at Contact Agency, Mars Goundry at Select and Pirya Jain at Storm Models LOCATION MANAGER Robert Hamilton PRODUCTION Sophie Walsh and Jordan Groves at Industry Art RETOUCHING Art Post PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANTS Rob Baker Ashton, Simon Wellington and Okus Milsom STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Juno Jones HAIR ASSISTANT Essi Karjalainen SET DESIGNER’S ASSISTANT Martin Perrin

• Elaine Constantine
• Photography
• Vol 4 Issue 008
• 5 Years of The Face

The Face Newsletter

More like this.

The best of THE FACE. Straight to your inbox. 

Photographer Bio Examples to Upgrade Your “About” Page

Are you looking for photographer bio examples and ideas for your “About” page? Then, you are in for a treat because in this article, we will be helping you create an amazing bio.

One of the hardest things to do is selling yourself. Writing about yourself feels awkward and sometimes really cringey. The problem lies in balancing modesty while also presenting your competency and talent. And because of this, some, if not most, freelancers are really having a difficult time writing about themselves.

While showcasing your works through portfolios and online pages is perhaps easier in marketing your service, clients will still look for your personal and professional profile. Of course, they want to know who they will be working with. So, it is still advisable and very much recommended that you include information about yourself on your website, social media pages, and other platforms.

Perks of A Bio

You might think that as a photographer, clients will only be interested in looking at your work. After all, your photographs may seem like the best (and only) way to represent your talent and skills. But you see, with photography being a project that involves close interaction, clients will want to get to know you. There needs to be a face behind the name. Some clients will find it more endearing if they get to know your story or experiences. It adds a personal touch to your business.

You’d be surprised, but sometimes, it is what’s written in the bio that makes a client choose which photographer to hire. Remember, you are competing with thousands of freelance photographers ( U.S. statistics for freelance Photographers ). And while clients may not easily distinguish the differences between your works with others, your bio can be the key to getting the gig.

What’s in a Bio?

If you check on other photographer bio examples, you will notice that there are different ways to present yourself. Some have lengthy bios that tell their life stories, while others have short, bulleted bios. So what should you put in your bio?

Ah, here’s another hard decision to make. There are so many options on which photo to place in your bio.

• The Portrait. The most often used photo is that of your own headshot. It is simple and gives the client a glimpse of who they will be working with. A good portrait to use is one where you are looking straight at the camera. It would have a feeling that you are looking and communicating directly with your client. It’s like you are already having a connection with them.
• Candid Shot. You may want to present yourself as a fun and easy-to-work-with photographer. So, you can use a candid photo of yourself. Or maybe, you can edit your portrait and add some filters, elements, and designs to make it more creative. This works well if you are offering post-processing services as well. This way, clients will have an idea of how artistic you are.
• Action Shot. You can also opt to choose a photo showing you at work. A photo showing you on the job means you are serious about your craft. If you have your own studio, this is a good way to showcase it too.

Your introduction is the obvious and smart way to begin your bio. Just think of this as how you would introduce yourself to a client personally. “Hi. I am Carl, and I am a Travel Photographer.” Simple, right? It is best that you use the name you prefer your client to call you. By doing so, you are already building a friendly relationship.

In your introduction, you should already establish what type of photographer you are. You can also include your general address (city, state, or province), so clients will know if it is feasible to hire you—location-wise. Your intro should not be lengthy to give more space for your story.

You may write about why you chose photography as your profession. Or, establish your competency by writing about your experiences and credentials. It would be nice if you had any awards or citations to mention.

You may also include some other personal details about yourself, like hobbies or other interesting talents. This will soften your bio and help make the tone more friendly. Clients will want to work with photographers who they know they can easily talk and discuss ideas with.

Pro tip: Be careful about typos, spelling and grammatical errors, and cultural nuances. If you really feel uneasy, you can write your bio in the third person point of view (imagine a friend introducing you to the client).

Photographer Bio Examples

Here are some photographer bio examples to give you inspiration and ideas in creating your own. But remember, your bio should reflect your personality, so there are really no rules to follow except to keep it professional.

Free Photography Business Management

The Ultimate Sidekick for Photographers 📸

Spend less time on admin tasks and more time on coffee breaks. Kosmo helps you manage clients, create invoices, e-sign contracts and much more.

Get Started Today 🚀

No credit card required., short but sweet.

It is definitely okay if you wish to have a simple and short bio. To make this work for you, remember to highlight the important stuff, like the type of photography you do, your location, personal achievements, and other noteworthy information. Remember, your bio should speak to your potential client. Your bio will help them decide if they will consider hiring you.

If you are just starting and have few experiences to note, you can be creative in writing your bio. You can focus on why you love photography. You can also give an insight into your feelings toward the type of photography you chose. For example, you can say that growing up in a big family made you want to be a family portrait photographer.

Here are some simple short photographer bio examples:

TAMIA BAKER

Tamia | Portrait Photographer

Austin, Texas

• XYZ School of Photography graduate
• 4 years experience as a freelance professional photographer
• Photo Contributor at ABC Publishing
• 2021 ACME Best Portrait Photographer
• 2020 ACME Most Promising Photographer Award

I’m a full-time freelance photographer who loves lattes and corgis.

Hi! I’m Carl.

My name’s Carl, and I am a wedding photographer in New York. I have been doing wedding photography for over three years now.

I’ve covered many weddings in NYC, and still think weddings are absolutely magical.

Long and Engaging

Having a lengthy bio is not a bad idea. After all, if you will be publishing your bio on your website, it is good that you establish your personality and your business on it. It gives you a sense of real ownership of the site. Also, this is your chance to really let your potential clients know you more.

Here are some samples of a lengthy bio:

Ryan is a professional photographer who grew up in Vancouver, Canada. As a child, Ryan loved spending his days outdoors, playing and exploring. On rainy days, he would draw pictures of mountains and rivers. During his teen years, he discovered photography. He immediately fell in love with nature photography, and now, it is his passion.

Ryan loves adventure. He likes capturing images that would make his audience want to discover more about nature. He travels around the world with his favorite camera and brings home memories immortalized in his amazing photographs.

This young photographer has contributed photos in major magazines and online sites. He was awarded “Best Nature Photographer” by ACME in 2020 and 2021. Ryan teaches photography to young teens when he is not traveling. He believes that alongside teaching the art of photography, his students will also develop a deeper love and respect for nature.

Hi! I am Aaliyah.

Over the last fifteen years of my career, I earned a sense of creativity. I want to show the beauty of life in a chaotic world.

In my first year as a photographer, I thought the photos I took needed more spark. So I enrolled in a graphic design class. I combined my photographs with visual arts and finally saw what I was looking for. The spark!

Check out my portfolio and see how I transform normal photos into enchanting ones!

Bio for Social Media

Most photographers take advantage of social media platforms. For one, it is easier to upload photos and images. Also, your photos on social media will absolutely get more views. Instagram, for one, is a photographer’s haven. With millions of users, your photo will definitely reach a wider audience. This means you’ll have more chances to get leads or potential customers.

Writing a bio for your social media pages is trickier. Unlike your website, social media platforms have limited space for you to tell your story. So, how do you write a good bio on these platforms?

• Be Concise. There’s no need (and space) for lengthy sentences. Make sort but impactful sentences.
• Use Your Adjectives. It is also acceptable to simply use words that describe you. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a sentence, for instance: “Events Photographer” or “Passion for Art.”
• Location is a Must. Because social media is a global platform, you must indicate your location.
• Add Your Links. Add your website and other social media links. This way, potential clients can have more ways to look into your projects.
• Emojis. Yes, use your emojis and icons. This will give space for more characters.

Your Time to Shine

Your bio is basically your opportunity to shine and stand out. Remember, potential clients will read your bio even before calling you to inquire. So, your bio is like a quick pitch to the gig. It is an introduction to who they will be working with.

Do not be overwhelmed and panic in writing your bio. Be yourself and just write about yourself. Plus, you can always check out photographer bio examples for inspiration.

Related posts:

• Tips on How to Win Work as a Consultant
• Should I Put Freelance Work on LinkedIn?
• Creative Freelance Marketing Tips You Should Try
• Freelance Writer Bio Examples to Wow Your Next Client
• How to Create a Winning Freelance Resume

Get Organized & Win More Clients

Kosmo has everything you need to run your freelancing business.

The leading authority in photography and camera gear.

Become a better photographer.

12.9 Million

Annual Readers

Newsletter Subscribers

Featured Photographers

Photography Guides & Gear Reviews

How to Create a Photographer Bio (+ Samples to Copy)

Master the art of crafting an engaging photographer bio with our comprehensive guide, complete with easy-to-follow steps and sample bios for inspiration.

Business Guides | Learn | By Stephan Jukic

Shotkit may earn a commission on affiliate links. Learn more.

This guide to photographer bio writing will help you create an impactful bio that showcases your talent, expresses your personality, and resonates with your audience.

Whether it’s your profile on Instagram or your page on Facebook, a bio is an essential tool for any professional photographer looking to intrigue a potential client base on social media platforms.

The thing is, as photographers, we’re usually way better at communicating when a camera is involved!

If you can relate, then like me, you probably need all the help you can get to come up with the right words!

I’m here today to share all the tips, ideas, and tools I’ve gathered throughout my research to support you in building a compelling bio for photographers, no matter where you want to post it.

Table of Contents

Photographer Bio Tips for Instagram

Although the process of writing photographer bios shares many similarities on different social media outlets, the only way to ensure your bio’s influence on your followers is to optimize it for that particular platform.

This starts with Instagram.

Nowadays, there’s no such thing as a professional photographer without an Instagram profile.

You could be a wedding photographer, a travel photographer, a portrait photographer, or do any type of photography out there — if you want to make a career of it, an Instagram profile is a must.

That’s because Instagram is the ultimate visual platform among social media websites for photographers .

Thanks to its unique picture-oriented format, it’s the perfect environment to display your work.

And what do people see as soon as they enter your Instagram profile?

You guessed it, your bio. It shows right at the top of your Instagram profile, below the profile picture and profile name.

Consider the following tips for an effective Instagram photographer bio:

Pick the Right Picture and Name

Yes, your profile picture and name aren’t technically part of the bio.

But they’re the very first thing visitors lock their eyes with on your Instagram page, and even before that when they look you up in the search bar.

The profile name, also known as a ‘handle’, has to be as short, recognizable, and representative of your work as possible.

Pair your name or brand name with your niche and/or the word “photo.” Avoid special characters (unless they’re part of your brand name), periods, and underscores.

• Remember, there’s a 30-character limit for Instagram handles.

As for the profile picture, it serves as a reflection of your general style. It gives your profile viewers an instant idea of the type of photography you offer.

Consider merging your photography style with a portrait to add personality to your page. People respond better to businesses that establish a human connection.

For example, if you do a lot of back-and-whites, a closeup of your face in black-and-white would be a great move.

How Much Do You REALLY Know About Photography?! 🤔

Test your photography knowledge with this quick quiz!

See how much you really know about photography...

Your answer:

Correct answer:

SHARE YOUR RESULTS

Your Answers

Know When to Stop and How to Maximize

An Instagram bio isn’t a rant about your love of photography, work experience, past projects, and so on.

You only have 150 characters to tell the Instagram audience what they need to know about you as a photographer to follow or hire you and not someone else.

You’re probably thinking, “That’s too short!” but it’s actually within the industry standard for social media bios. It’s tailored to accommodate the short attention span of audiences of such platforms.

That said, you can still create the desired impact with your 150-character bio if you apply the following pointers:

• Instead of long sentences, stick to keywords optimized for your target audience.
• Add emojis to give the bio a casual touch, break out the text, quickly convey messages, and increase visual interest.
• Use bullet points for better organization and easier reading.
• Add the most pressing contact information to help a potential client reach you faster. This can be an email or a number.

Also, make sure you’re using the correct size images for social media .

Prioritize Your Strongest Points

Since you don’t have much room to write everything about your photographer self, you need to be smart about the information to include.

Here are a few tips to consider:

• Instead of a list of credentials, pick one or two you think are most significant or you’re particularly proud of.
• Stick to one or two of your major projects rather than a dozen.
• Mention some of the most in-demand skills in your domain, not a random blurb of skill keywords.

Don’t Forget Your Niche and Location

If you didn’t include your photography genre (if you have one) in your profile handle, be sure to add it to your bio.

Additionally, you should note adding your location(s) to let potential clients quickly know if they can contact you about local projects.

• Pro tip: if your name or brand name is already in your profile name/handle, write your niche in the Name box to save some character count in the bio.

Include a High-value Link

Instagram allows you to add a single clickable link to your bio, so make it count.

A tried and tested approach is simply including a link to your website.

Occasionally, you can update this link to direct visitors to a special season sale, a major project you’re working on, etc.

Photographer Bio Tips for Twitter

If I could assign one word to describe Twitter (I know it’s X now, but it’ll always be Twitter to me!), I’d choose “trendy”.

Being on Twitter means you’re always up-to-date on what’s currently happening in the world generally and in your industry specifically.

Twitter is casual, honest, and to the point.

Audiences on Twitter are looking for brief shots of information that keep them updated on whatever topics they care about.

As such, to get people interested in your Twitter presence, your bio should be tailored to what the audience needs and expects from the platform.

To that end, keep the following pointers in mind:

Take Advantage of the Cover Photo

Once again, I know that pictures aren’t technically a part of the bio.

But they affect how people perceive the bio and the profile so much that we must think of them as an integral element of the bio.

Besides a profile picture, Twitter allows you to include a cover photo for your profile.

This is a big deal because the cover picture is much larger than the profile picture, giving you the perfect chance to leave an impression on your profile visitors immediately.

So, choose a cover image that best reflects your brand and style. Update it regularly to highlight changes and progress in your techniques.

As for your Twitter profile picture, apply the tips we discussed in the Instagram section or use your logo.

Use an Impactful Theme Color

You can pick a theme color for your Twitter photographer profile. Take advantage of this option and apply a color palette that matches your brand .

This boosts people’s recognition of your work, especially if you use the same colors across all your social media accounts.

Keep Your Text Short

Twitter is known for the characteristic short length of its posts (aka tweets). The character limit for its bio is no exception.

On Twitter, your bio can’t exceed 160 characters. This means you need to keep it concise and as informative as possible.

The type of “info” you want to share depends on the vibe you want the audience to get from your profile.

For a business-oriented Twitter account, stick to a professional tone. If you want your profile to provide insight into your personality, use a casual tone with some humor.

Don’t Be Afraid of Showing Personality

Speaking of which, don’t shy away from sharing your funny or sarcastic side in your bio.

The Twitter audience is all about embracing the real side of people and brands. So, adding a personal touch to your bio is perfectly acceptable.

Photographer Bio Tips for LinkedIn

The especially professional tone of LinkedIn sets it apart from any other social media platform.

As the biggest online hub for professional networking, it takes a special approach to create an awesome photographer bio on LinkedIn.

Here, you need an exceptional presentation of your brand to market your work to other professionals in the industry effectively.

LinkedIn is a place to land potential business opportunities on a larger, more serious scale. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind:

Pick Suitable Pictures

On your LinkedIn profile, you can set up two types of pictures: a profile picture and a background/cover photo.

People won’t look down to read your bio if they don’t like what they see, so choose these wisely.

What’s different about choosing these images on LinkedIn compared to other social media platforms is that they should be as professional-looking as possible.

For the profile picture, this means no selfies or funny/silly images.

Instead, go with a high-quality professional picture of yourself. For example, a portrait that highlights your photography style.

This shows the audience your seriousness about work and gives them a taste of what they can expect from hiring you.

As for the background photo, it’s a chance for you to make a swift yet lasting impression on the audience.

Like Twitter, the background picture takes up a big chunk of the top of your profile. So it’s an immediate eye-catcher for visitors.

As such, choose a photo that represents your strongest skills and reflects your portfolio, one that’d get people positively judging your work.

Consider the Headline as Part of the Bio

The headline on your LinkedIn profile can double as a very brief intro to your bio.

Normally, people write their job titles in that space. You can do the same but maximize its effect by also including keywords of your specific genre, location, and main service.

Don’t Keep It Short

Unlike every other social media platform where I recommend a concise bio, your artist bio on LinkedIn should be the opposite.

Now, I’m not telling you to write a book. But I do encourage you to take full advantage of the 2,600-character limit of LinkedIn’s bio section.

Get into details about your experience, past/current projects, and credentials.

Let people know about your style, skills, and achievements, preferably in a story-like tone to keep them engaged.

Write about your goals and what inspires you to keep going.

Once you’re done, wait until the next day before posting. This way you can review the bio with a clear head and make adjustments if needed.

Ensure you keep a professional tone and check for grammatical and/or spelling mistakes.

Photographer Bio Tips for Facebook

Your Facebook page is like a middle ground between LinkedIn’s professionalism, Twitter’s interaction, and Instagram’s visuals.

Here, you’ll be working with four elements to create an effective bio:

• Profile picture
• Cover photo

You’ll do the same with your Facebook profile and cover images as you did with LinkedIn. This means keeping them sophisticated and reflective of your photography style.

Moving to the bio portion, you’ll use both the intro and about to get your message across. Here are some pointers to guide you through your writing:

Write for Clients

Accessing a page’s About section takes a certain level of interest.

As such, the people who’ll invest the time to go past your Intro and check out your About are likely considering doing business.

For this reason, it’s wise to formulate your Facebook bio with clients’ perspectives in consideration.

This isn’t an invitation to sound too “sales-y”, but to include all the necessary information that a potential client or partner would seek in your bio.

Include Relevant Details

Building on the previous tip, try to mention all the important details in your bio.

Your Intro should cover your photography genre and location, whereas your About should expand on that along with other details such as:

• Education and skills
• Credentials
• Major projects
• A personal insight

Aim for Moderate Length

For your Intro, your maximum limit is 101 characters. This is more than enough to include the type of photographer you are and where you’re willing to work.

For the About, Facebook doesn’t currently disclose a character limit. But it seems you’re good for a few thousand characters.

Even with such freedom, I recommend sticking to a moderate length of around 2,000 characters. This helps keep readers engaged for the entire text.

Don’t Be Too Serious

Your Facebook bio tone should be semi-professional. That means injecting personality with a relevant, fun fact or an amusing anecdote.

Photographer Bio Tips for YouTube

If you have a YouTube channel, drafting a bio for this platform as a photographer can be tricky.

That’s because it’s mainly visual, so not many people are actually interested or willing to go look for a bio and read it.

Still, an effective bio can help you get more exposure, subscribers, and channel performance.

The traditional goal of the About section in a YouTube channel is to describe the content the channel offers.

You will use this space to describe your photography style, location, and services.

Then, use the rest of the 1,000-character limit to shed light on your experience, projects, and the type of videos your viewers can expect—for example, tutorials, behind-the-scenes reviews, and so on.

Here are some extra tips to consider:

• The tone is up to you: You can be as casual or as professional as your YouTube presence dictates.
• Capture interest within the first few sentences: Not only to engage the audience to read further but also to intrigue those who see your channel’s hover-card.
• Use relevant keywords : Add them naturally as you write.
• Address your target audience: It helps people quickly realize if they’re interested.

Photography Bio Examples to Copy and Paste

Now that you’re familiar with the best practices to apply when creating a photographer bio, I’ve put together the following examples for inspiration (copy and paste permission granted!)

Photographer Bio Examples to Copy and Paste on Instagram

1) Wedding Photographer in Los Angele s

Capturing memories for life

Freelance | Engagements | Couples | Save the Date

Portfolio and prices in the link ⬇️

2) [Name] Travel Photographer

Based in NYC, Will fly anywhere

Finding beauty in everyday life

Check availability and contact information below

3) Private Photographer California

Experiencing life through pictures

Photographing any special occasion

Send a message for prices and booking ⬇️

Photographer Bio Examples to Copy and Paste on Twitter

• Telling visual stories of your priceless life moments.
• Saving adventures through clicks.
• Forever chasing the perfect frame, one shot at a time.
• Are you even a photographer if you’re not always after the golden hour?
• Making art with a camera in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
• Transforming ordinary scenes into extraordinary memories.
• Exploring the globe, one click at a time.
• I’m addicted: photographs are my drug and cameras are my dealers.
• Capturing joy, laughter, and love.
• A camera and a curious soul, name a better duo.
• Showing you the beauty of the world through my lens.
• Immortalizing amazing moments.

Photographer Bio Ideas to Copy and Paste on LinkedIn

Portrait Photographer and Videographer

San Francisco, CA

Based in San Francisco, California, I’ve always been fascinated with the vast diversity of people and the different stories each face can tell.

I found my calling in photography, but it wasn’t until I shot my first portrait that I stumbled upon my true passion.

Today, I’m proud to say I–and my lens–have had the pleasure of capturing the beauty of human expression by working with more than 200 clients.

I’ve collaborated with over 20 brands and completed 30+ projects, showing the same level of dedication with every frame. I’m especially fond of [name a few projects that best showcase your skills].

My photography journey is a long way from ending, as the world and its residents offer ever-changing stories waiting to be immortalized.

Every photo is unique, and I hope our paths cross so we can make an impact and forge a connection that keeps on living within each person who catches a look.

Contact me at: [include your number, email, website, and other social media pages].

Photographer Bio Examples to Copy and Paste on Facebook

John Smith is a self-discovered, university-taught, and life-trained portrait photographer who gets paid doing what he loves.

When he was 11, he took his first portrait of his first client and sponsor, his Grandma.

Since then, he has worked with over 200 clients, capturing the mesmerizing beauty of humanity one frame at a time. He completed 30+ projects and collaborated with 15+ brands in 10 different countries.

Based in San Francisco, California, John believes that every face is art waiting to be revealed.

Photographer Bio Ideas to Copy and Paste on Youtube

I’m a passionate portrait photographer, based in San, based in San Francisco, California.

If you’re as enthusiastic as me about capturing the magical beauty of human expressions, you’re in the right place!

Join me as I share my experience taking pictures of faces worldwide. I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes preparation, tutorials, and more – so stay tuned!

Adding a Quote to Your Photographer Bio

You can often use a meaningful quote from a figure you hold special to convey a message that’d otherwise require hundreds of words to relay.

Inspiring Photographer Bio Quotes

• “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” – Dorothea Lange
• “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
• “Photography is the art of making memories tangible.” – Destin Spark

Using a Photographer Bio Generator

Creating effective bios for photographers may not go as smoothly for everyone.

To save time and effort, you can seek the help of online generators. Here are some of my favorites:

Check out these 8 essential tools to help you succeed as a professional photographer.

Includes limited-time discounts.

Stephan Jukic is a technology and photography journalist and experimental photographer who spends his time living in both Canada and Mexico. He loves cross-cultural street photo exploration and creating fine art photo compositions.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

👋 WELCOME TO SHOTKIT!

🔥 Popular NOW:

Unlock the EXACT blueprint to capture breathtaking iPhone photos!

How to Make and Edit a Bio Photo for Any Website

Your bio photo may be the first place your professional contacts see you, so it’s important to make a good impression. I'll help with everything from your photoshoot to your finishing touches.

Your bio photo may be the first place your professional contacts see you, so it’s important to make a good impression.

You probably want these to have the highest quality of all your online pictures – you might dress up for them, or make them black & white for an extra polished look. But you don’t need to schedule a shoot with a professional photographer to get a professional-looking bio photo! I’ll show you how to format and arrange the perfect bio picture for free and online, using Kapwing. Here’s what you should know:

• DIY photoshoot setup
• Formatting your bio photo
• Making it black & white
• Blurring the background

1. DIY Photoshoot Setup

You don’t want to take a selfie for your bio photo, but you don’t need a phenomenal camera or your own tripod either. There are some simple solutions to any problem you run into. Here are my main tips:

• I definitely recommend getting a friend to take your photos for you , if possible. This gives you flexibility in setting up your picture, and will save tons of time.
• You’ll want to take pictures in a light environment– windows that don’t face the sun are good sources of indirect light for portraits.
• You want an uncluttered background that gives your photo some depth of field. Backdrops like bookshelves or textured walls are perfect for your portrait’s background, as long as you’re standing at least a few feet in front of them .
• For portrait-style photos, you want your camera to be close to face level . 10 degrees or so above or below your face is fine – just see what angle you like best.

For more in-depth knowhow and tips for higher-level portraiture photographers, read through this excellent overview of how to take bio photos .

2. Formatting Your Bio Photo

I’m not sure where your bio photo is going, and what its dimensions need to be. Some websites are able to format photos with any aspect ratio, some use taller rectangles, others need square photos, and often websites even crop bio photos to a circle. Before you start editing your picture, you should make sure you know how it’s going to look in its final form. Check out the existing bio photos posted by your company or group, and edit your own accordingly.

I recommend using Kapwing to make whatever formatting adjustments your bio photo needs. Just go to the Studio and drag your image onto the canvas to get started. Here’s a basic rundown of how you should format you picture for different types of bio photo:

No requirements : If your photo destination can handle photos with any aspect ratio, you should still format your bio picture as well as possible. Crop out unnecessary parts and zoom in as much as you need to draw attention to your face. Make sure your face is mostly centered or a bit higher than the center of the frame.

Square : The most common aspect ratio for a bio photo is probably square. In the Kapwing Studio, select your photo layer, choose the Crop tool, and select Square (1:1). Drag the crop area and its corners to frame the photo the way you want. Make sure your face is the focal point of the frame, and center it left to right.

Circle : If your bio photo is going to be formatted as a circle in its final location, you can mostly treat it like you would treat a square. In the Kapwing Studio, crop it so the focus is on your face, then return to the Studio and move the Rounded Corners slider all the way to the right. Make your images background transparent in the Background Color options, and your bio photo will be cropped to a circle .

3. Making It Black & White

This step is completely optional, but it’s a common stylistic choice for professional bio photos. When you’re done formatting your picture in the Kapwing Studio, select the Adjust tool and slide Saturation all the way down. Your photo will be black & white , but its contrast may not be high enough, so while you’re in the adjustments window, you can drag the contrast button a bit to the right.

4. Blurring the Background

If you’re familiar with Portrait Mode on iPhones, or the Bokeh effect seen in more professional photography, you know that a blurred background gives photos a pleasant depth-of-field effect. This is achieved naturally with certain camera lenses, but you can also blur your photo’s background digitally to give it a higher quality appearance.

When your photo is uploaded to the Kapwing Studio, copy & paste the photo and select the Erase tool . Here, you can use the adjustable, single-click Magic Wand tool to erase areas of similar color in combination with the Eraser tool, which lets you remove precise parts of your photo’s background, down to just a few pixels at a time. Back in the Studio, select your original background layer, click “Adjust,” and move the Blur slider to the right until your background looks just right. For the perfect effect, you might want to very slightly enlarge the top, transparent photo layer and re-center it on the blurred background.

I hope this article helps you craft the perfect professional photo for your company bio. For more content on photo and video editing, check out our YouTube channel Kapwing App . And while you’re here, read through some related articles on image editing and photography:

• How to Add a "God Rays" Effect to a Photo Online • How to Make a Pure White Background in a Photo • How to Add a Lens Flare Effect to Photos • How to Design a Custom Tattoo Online

Celebrate Pride: How to Add a Rainbow Filter to a Photo

How to Make a Minecraft Server Icon

10 discord christmas profile picture ideas.

More From Forbes

The most popular biographies of women, according to goodreads members.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

The Radium Girls, Hidden Figures, The Five and Notorious RBG are among the top 20 most popular ... [+] biographies and histories of women of the last 10 years, according to Goodreads members.

Goodreads has released a list of the 20 most popular biographies and histories of women, according to their members, published over the last 10 years. Danny Feekes, Managing Editor, Goodreads, said in an interview, “To compile this collection, we looked at how many of our members have read, rated, and added these books to their want-to-read shelves.” They all appear, along with 44 other books, on a list of Goodreads’ top nonfiction books for Women’s History Month .

The 20 most popular women’s biographies and histories are The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold, Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport, The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacey Schiff, The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan, The Women They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore, Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy Batalion, All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser, A Black Women’s History of the United States, by Daina Ramey and Kali Nicole Gross, 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam and Caroline Moorehead, Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynee Olson, Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire, by Julia Baird, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery and Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben Macintyre.

Of the popular titles, Feekes said there were two main trends driving them. “The interest in learning more about the heroic—and often historically ignored—stories of women during WWII continues to be strong...The second trend is the increased interest in books about Black women; we saw a spike of interest in 2020 and readers continue to seek to learn about and honor their achievements which have also been historically overlooked.”

According to Feekes, Goodreads members are interested in both new and backlist titles. Of the most popular books in this category, Feekes said, “There’s something about those books that have achieved pinnacle popularity that propels people to want to be a part of the conversation. A perfect example of this is The Five , which tells the tale of the five women murdered by Jack the Ripper in 1888. Our members loved this book so much that they voted it the Best History & Biography book in the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards.”

Of the qualities readers are looking for from biographies and histories of women, Feekes says storytelling is “key” and that “First and foremost readers want a good story.” Feekes elaborated on the appeal, saying, “If the narrative doesn’t grab you from the first page then it won’t work out. Readers want to learn about someone they didn’t know about or they want to learn more about someone they did. Notorious RBG , for example, allowed readers to discover even more about someone they likely already knew, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

Best Tax Software Of 2022

Best tax software for the self-employed of 2022, income tax calculator: estimate your taxes.

Asked how histories of women fare against memoir, Feekes said that both categories have wide readerships, but memoir seems to be more popular in recent years. Feekes noted that “bestsellers are not always by well-known people.” Among the notable memoirs that “have been read so widely that they’ve been nearly impossible to miss” are titles such as Educated by Tara Westover, Becoming by Michelle Obama, and Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which “have become part of the cultural zeitgeist in a way that few biographies have,” said Feekes.

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

• Discussions
• Reading Challenge
• Kindle Notes & Highlights
• Favorite genres
• Friends’ recommendations
• Account settings

100 Best Female Biographies and Autobiographies

A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.

People Who Voted On This List (67)

Post a comment » Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

Related News

• Create New List
• Lists I Created
• Lists I've Voted On
• Lists I've Liked

Anyone can add books to this list.

Saving My Votes

Friends votes, how to vote.

To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.

To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.

Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.

25 Wonderful Picture Book Biographies for Readers of All Ages

by AuthorAmy

Picture book biographies are one of my favorite genres. They chronicle the life and times of some of the most famous people in the world, including the people behind beloved inventions. They are accessible to all levels of students – even high schoolers! Readers get a broad overview in picture book form, and then authors generously include ample back matter for further research and reading.

Take a look through this list of my top 25 favorite picture book biographies. You will find the stories behind the invention of the super soaker, the fascinating life of the first Black ballerina to dance for the American Ballet Theatre, the man behind ramen noodles, and so much more.

Just so you know, we may get a small share of the sales made through affiliate links on this page.

1. The Brilliant Deep : The Story of Ken Nedimeyer and the Coral Restoration Foundation

By Kate Messner

Environmental scientist Ken Nedimeyer is working to rebuild coral reefs by hand. The efforts are surprising, involving gluing grafted corals to barren sea floors and tending them. It is an education in the importance of coral reefs to our planet’s seas and also a treatise to human hope for a brighter, greener future.

2. Queen of Physics , How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom  

By Teresa Robeson

At a time when girls were not routinely educated in China, Wu Chien Shiung’s parents encouraged her love of science. She became an accomplished physicist and the first female instructor at Princeton University, among many other accolades.

3. Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando  

Written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Kana Urbanowicz

This is the story of the invention of ramen, one of the world’s most famous foods, after Momofuku Ando saw long crowds in food lines after World War II.

4. The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons  

Written by Natascha Biebow and illustrated by Steven Salerno

The Crayon Man tells the story of Edwin Binney, the inventor of Crayola Crayons. Binney wished to bring the magic of nature’s vibrant colors into the lives of children, succeeding with his famous box of crayons that originally sold for five cents.

5. Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles

Written by Patricia Valdez and illustrated by Felicita Sala

Joan Proctor was the Curator of Reptiles at the British Museum and the designer of London Zoo’s famous Reptile House. She grew up hosting tea parties for her favorite reptiles, a tradition she continued in the Reptile House, where she hosted children’s tea parties complete with a Komodo dragon guest.

6. Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist  

Written by Jess Keating and illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens

Eugenie Clark earned herself the nickname “Shark Lady” after devoting her life to them. She faced the dual challenges of people who feared and hated sharks and people who didn’t think women should be scientists.

7. Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré 

Written by Aneka Aldamuy Denise and illustrated by Paola Escobar

Pura Belpré, New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian, immigrated to America in 1921. She began her library career as a bilingual library assistant, where her Spanish retellings of stories were wildly popular. Her distinguished career still influences readers today, and the Amerian Library Association named an award after her given annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator “whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.”

8. Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade  

By Melissa Sweet

Puppeteer Tony Sarg is the inventor of the famous parade balloons that are part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This is a great STEM title that goes into detail about the mechanics of the balloons as well as delving into the joy they bring to millions each year.

9. It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way

Written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Julie Morstad

During WWII, Gyo Fujikawa’s family was taken to a Japanese internment camp while she worked as an illustrator in New York City. Watching the nation’s prejudice tear apart her family, she wanted to find a way to include diverse children in her illustrations. She wrote and illustrated the book Babies , which was initially rejected but once published sold nearly 2 million copies. She was a trailblazer in children’s literature in an era when we are still striving for inclusive texts.

10. Mae Among the Stars  

Written by Roda Ahmed and illustrated by Stasia Burrington

Mae Jemison was the first Black woman to travel in space. Mae Among the Stars encourages children to follow their dreams no matter what detractors may say.

11. Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery

Written by Sandra Neil Wallace and illustrated by Bryan Collier

Ernie Barnes grew up in the segregated South. While he was recruited to play football for an all-black university and eventually played in the NFL for the Colts, his true passion was in creating art. He got his opportunity after leaving the NFL when he was hired as the first official artist for the American Football League.

12. The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin  

Written by Julia Finley Mosca and illustrated by Daniel Rieley

Temple Grandin, who was diagnosed with autism as a young child, has a unique and powerful connection with animals. She has used this connection and the unique way her mind works to improve the lives of farm animals all over the world.

13. Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George

Written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James E. Ransome

Joseph Boulogne was the child of a Black slave and her white slaveowner. He was able to study music in Paris, where he became a master violinist and eventually composed operas. The illustrations in this book are exquisite.

14. What Miss Mitchell Saw

Written by Hayley Barrett and illustrated by Diana Sudyka

The subject of this picture book biography, Maria Mitchell, will be an inspiration to girls everywhere. Mitchell was the first American scientist to discover a comet, which was named after her. She used her acclaim to advocate for science and math education for girls.

15. Just Being Audrey  

Written by Margaret Cardillo and illustrated by Julia Denos

Audrey Hepburn was America’s sweetheart and a film icon, but she did much beyond acting. Growing up in Nazi Germany inspired in her a lifelong desire to spread kindness, and she used her fame to do humanitarian work through UNICEF.

16. Ron’s Big Mission

Written by Rose Blue and Corinne Naden and illustrated by Don Tate

This is the story of Ron McNair, a young boy who grew up to be an astronaut on the Challenger mission. As a young boy in the segregated South, Ron found himself unable to check out books from the public library. His was able to obtain a library card through peaceful resistance, which in turn fed his love of flight.

17. The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand New Colors  

Written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tony Persiani

Joe and Bob Switzer invented fluorescent colors, which didn’t exist prior to 1935. Like many great inventions, their brand-new colors were invented by accident when the brothers were experimenting for a magic act. Their colors went on to be used in WWII, street signs, advertisements, and more the world over. The book itself cleverly reflects the story, as it is largely black and white until the end culminates in color.

18. Buzzing with Questions

Written by Janice N. Harrington and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

Charles Henry Turner is notable as the first Black entomologist. His lifelong fascination with bugs, animals, plants, and all things science is chronicled in this fun book. The author includes extensive back matter for further reading.

19. John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J.R.R. Tolkien  

Written by Caroline McAlister and illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

The man we known as J.R.R. Tolkien is John Ronald in this delightful and surprising picture book about the boy who grew into the man behind the most famous fantasy series of all time. As a child, John Ronald loved dragons and imagined them everywhere he went. As an adult, his imagination only grew stronger, and he used his early love of dragons to create The Hobbit .

20. Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions

Written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Don Tate

Just like the invention of fluorescent colors, the invention of the iconic toy called the Super Soaker happened by accident. Engineer Lonnie Johnson was working on cooling mechanisms when he inadvertently created what has become one of the top twenty toys of all time.

21. On a Beam of Light: A Story About Albert Einstein

Written by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky

On a Beam of Light is the story of the child who grew up to be Albert Einstein. As a child, Einstein didn’t really fit in with the other children. His wild imagination made him endlessly curious about the world around him. This is a great picture book to encourage children to use their imaginations and embrace who they are inside.

22. She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein  

Written by Lynn Fulton and illustrated by Felicita Sala

On a dark and stormy night, a young girl drifts off to sleep dreaming of a monster. She is determined to beat Lord Byron in their competition to see who can write the best ghost story. She eventually goes on to write one of the great gothic novels of our time, Frankenstein .

23. Firebird

Written by Misty Copeland and illustrated by Christopher Myers

Misty Copeland was the first African-American dancer to be promoted to principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre. In her picture book debut, she imagines a conversation between herself and an aspiring ballerina who struggles with self-confidence. The resulting book is a positive and empowering story for children everywhere.

24. Just Like Rube Goldberg: The Incredible True Story of the Man Behind the Machines

Written by Sarah Aronson and illustrated by Robert Neubecker

Rube Goldberg’s father encouraged him to find a career more practical than art, so Goldberg became an engineer. After college, he decided that his passion for art could not be denied and took a job as a newspaper cartoonist. He became famous for his elaborate machines which performed simple tasks in complicated fashion.

25. The Polio Pioneer:   Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine  

Written by Linda Elovitz Marshall and illustrated by Lisa Anchin

This picture book biography feels particularly appropriate to read during the Covid-19 pandemic. It chronicles the life of Dr. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine. Dr. Salk’s legacy lives on at the medical research facility, the Salk Institute.

Other Amy’s Book Lists You’ll Love:

• 30 Books About Voting And Elections For Kids of All Ages
• 42 Books Featuring Black Protagonists to Read Immediately
• 30 Banned Books You Should Totally Read
• 30 Most Anticipated 2021 Books For Students of All Ages
• Children’s Literature Book Awards and Their 2020 Winners!

TREAT YO' INBOX!

All the trending teacher stories, resources, videos, memes, podcasts, deals, and the laughter you need in your life!

• 60TH ANNIVERSARY
• SI LIFESTYLE
• SI SPORTSBOOK
• GIFT GUIDES
• SWIM SEARCH
• BUY THE ISSUE

University of Houston Diver Alexa Massari Is Inspired to Pursue Modeling After SI Swimsuit Photo Shoot

Martha zaytoun | jun 27, 2024.

Alexa Massari has been diving for much of her life. It’s a passion that she developed and cultivated as a kid growing up in Huntington Beach, Calif. It’s a skill that brought her to the University of Houston, where she currently competes as a Division I diver.

Though an important part of her life—and one that will continue to be as she takes her remaining two years of eligibility at the University of Houston—diving is far from her only passion. In the classroom, she is a dedicated communications major with a minor in marketing. Following graduation, she hopes to use her degree in service of a broadcasting or public relations career.

And posing for the 2024 SI Swimsuit Issue helped Massari discover another passion: modeling. It wasn’t something that she had considered prior to her brand feature in Belize . But her experience posing on the white sand beaches inspired her to seek further opportunities in front of the camera.

“I want to continue something [like] this,” she tells us during the 2024 issue launch party in Hollywood, Fla. It was her experience during launch weekend that really drove home her desire to pursue other modeling gigs. “This [weekend] has been really inspiring, and the women I’ve been talking to have made me feel confident. They’re like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it.’ They have this love and appreciation for what they’re doing, and they want to share it.”

Massari plans to take that encouragement and try to find an agency to help with her newfound passion. Ultimately, “I would love to do a corporate job as well as a little side modeling,” the athlete explains.

Check out Massari’s full 2024 SI Swimsuit Issue gallery in Belize .

MARTHA ZAYTOUN

Martha Zaytoun is a Lifestyle & Trending News writer for SI Swimsuit. Before joining the team, Martha worked on the editorial board of the University of Notre Dame’s student magazine and on the editorial team at Chapel Hill, Durham and Chatham Magazines in North Carolina. When not working, Martha loves to watercolor and oil paint, run or water ski. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a huge Fighting Irish fan.

Peggy Lipton

(1946-2019)

Who Was Peggy Lipton?

Actress Peggy Lipton started out as a model in New York in the 1960s. She soon moved on to acting roles, appearing in such TV series as Bewitched and The John Forsythe Show . In 1968, Lipton became an overnight sensation in the TV crime drama The Mod Squad . She took a break from acting during much of the 1970s and 1980s, but she returned to series television in 1990 in David Lynch's Twin Peaks . Her recent projects included roles on Alias and Crash .

Early Life and Career

Actress Peggy Lipton was born on August 30, 1946, in New York City. She was originally named Peggy Ann, but her mother later changed it to Margaret Ann, Lipton wrote in her memoir Breathing Out . Lipton grew up as the middle child in an upper middle class Jewish family. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was an artist.

While she had many advantages growing up, Lipton also faced some difficult challenges. She developed a stutter around the age of 7. Lipton wrote in her memoir that the condition was likely connected to being sexually abused by a relative around this time.

Lipton started modeling at 15, signing with Eileen Ford's agency. In her later teens, Lipton moved with her family to California. There her acting career began to take off. One of her first television appearances was a guest spot on Bewitched . Lipton then landed a role on the short-lived series The John Forsythe Show , which ran from 1965 to 1966. In 1968, she appeared with her brother Robert in the 1968 western Blue starring Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet and Karl Malden.

'The Mod Squad'

Lipton became an instant celebrity in 1968 with the debut of The Mod Squad . She, Michael Cole and Clarence Williams III played a trio of young people recruited to work undercover for the police after running into trouble with the law. The show proved to be a huge hit with viewers, and Lipton quickly became a popular celebrity. She even tried to launch a singing career, releasing an album in 1968.

Lipton went on to win a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Julie Barnes on The Mod Squad . She also received four Emmy Award nominations. Despite her success, Lipton struggled emotionally. She told the Philadelphia Inquirer that "when I started the series, I had no confidence. I was 18 and insecure."

Later Career and Death

Lipton returned to acting after her split from Jones, appearing in the 1988 TV movie Addicted to His Love . She then landed the role of Norma Jennings on David Lynch's offbeat drama Twin Peaks , which aired from 1990 to 1991. In 1992, Lipton played Norma Jennings in the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me . She also appeared in 1997's The Postman starring Kevin Costner .

Lipton also had recurring roles on such shows as Popular , Alias and Crash . She also reunited with her ex-husband Quincy Jones to play the parents of their real-life daughter Rashida on the TV series Angie Tribeca .

Lipton died after a battle with cancer on May 11, 2019, at the age of 72.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Peggy Lipton
• Birth Year: 1946
• Birth date: August 30, 1946
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: New York
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Peggy Lipton rose to fame as Julie Barnes on the hit TV show 'The Mod Squad' in the late 1960s.
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
• Nacionalities
• Death Year: 2019
• Death date: May 11, 2019

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Peggy Lipton Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/peggy-lipton
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: July 13, 2020
• Original Published Date: June 5, 2015

Watch Next .css-16toot1:after{background-color:#262626;color:#fff;margin-left:1.8rem;margin-top:1.25rem;width:1.5rem;height:0.063rem;content:'';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;}

Famous Actors

Jeremy Allen White

Ayo Edebiri

Kristen Stewart

Ellen DeGeneres

Dakota Johnson

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Laverne Cox

Donald Sutherland

Elliot Page

Kiefer Sutherland