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National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Joanna Sturm
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.81.137
Exhibition Label
Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first woman to work as a news photographer, believed those in her profession needed to have “health and strength, a good news instinct that will tell what picture the editor will want, a fair photographic outfit,” and above all, “the ability to hustle.” This self-portrait gives us a good sense of Beals’s drive. She is pictured alongside her 8 x 10 large-format camera and her assistant “Pumpkin,” who is shown carrying a case of glass plate negatives. When the photograph was made, Beals was working as a press photographer at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Her husband, acting as her assistant, produced prints of her work in his darkroom. She was the first woman to be given credentials to photograph the fair for major publications.
Jessie Tarbox Beals, primera mujer que trabajó como fotoperiodista, pensaba que su profesión requería “salud y fortaleza, un buen instinto para la noticia que nos diga qué foto quiere el editor, un equipo fotográfico bueno” y sobre todo “diligencia, dinamismo”. Este autorretrato nos da una buena idea de la energía de Beals. Aquí aparece junto a su cámara de gran formato (8 x 10) y su asistente “Pumpkin”, que lleva una caja de negativos en placa de vidrio. Cuando se tomó esta foto, Beals trabajaba como fotógrafa de prensa en la Exposición Universal de St. Louis de 1904. Su esposo la asistía revelando las fotografías en su cuarto oscuro. Beals fue la primera mujer que obtuvo credenciales para fotografiar la feria por encargo de publicaciones importantes.