Early 20th Century Photographers

Lee Miller

Lee Miller, born in 1907 in Poughskeepie, New York, began her career as a model and later became a famous fashion photographer. Best known for her surrealist images, Miller served as a photo-journalist during the 1940’s to cover the war. After the war, Miller returned to her roots as a fashion photographer, working for Vogue for two years.

This photograph is a self-portrait of Lee Miller. It is characteristic of her fashion photography of women which has a solemn, stoic tone.







This next photograph was taken by Miller during her coverage of World War II as a photo-journalist. In Miller's time, it was quite bold for a female photographer to produce such a graphic, vivid image of a dead soldier. Although one photograph highlights her career as a fashion photographer and the other as a photo-journalist, both images maintain a serious tone characteristic of all of Miller's work.

Frank Sadorous

Frank Sadorous, born in 1880 in Illinois, was a farmer who lived in a rural town. He considered himself an artist, however, and studied photography during the off season. Sadorous used a camera with plate glass negatives and focused upon light and exposure in his photography. Several of his portraits illustrated chiaroscuro lighting, which picks up the subtler darker tones of shadow. He also experimented with double exposures and unique angles.

This portrait taken by Frank Sadorous highlights his fascination with light that is characteristic of all of his photography. His experimentation with exposure in this photograph produced a dark image that highlights the contours of the subject and produces contrast with the bright background.