WIPI's History continued Starting 1981

Thea Litsios
Polaroid's by Orah Moore 1982 - 1983
Orah Moore
Linda Wolf
Bonnie Flamer - Board Photo 1985
Deborah Rountree
City of Los Angeles
Advisory Board - 1989
Photography Today 1989 - 1990 - Cable TV
1985-1987 Catalog covers
Remembering the Newsletter
20th Anniversary - Tea Time
25th Anniversary - Turning Silver
Exhibitions 1992 - 2007
Distinguished Photographers

WIP HISTORY 1981 - 1991 (originally Women In Photography, Inc.)

Subject: Re: The Who's Who of WIP Past.- 1981-1991

To the special women who have made WIPI great over the years, the founders and strong "hands on" contributors from...1981-1991, the early years when visibility for women photographer’s was somewhere in the back of a station wagon, and women had to work diligently to be in the driver seat of their own careers. These fine women who had the vision to create an outreach organization to promote women and their work is the stable and strong base from which we have been able to hold our place in the world today. WIPI is one of the leading women's organization for women photographers internationally. We will continue to add to this history, so send along your WIP History statement or pictures!

(from left to right) myself-Thea Litsios, Orah Moore, Carrie Weems and Mary McNally.
In the front row far left, a woman named Faith (year, 1981)
photo taken at Orah Moore's studio - group self-portrait

THEA LITSIOS

Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 6:10 PM

Dear WIPI,
I know it is probably too late to respond in time for the newsletter. I apologize. A very busy summer/fall & a car accident have made my to do list longer than ever.

I am not one that has a great memory, but I do remember early meetings of WIP in the Women's Building in Los Angeles. I was responsible for getting the group their non-profit status. I had met Mary McNally when we were both doing photography on Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" Mary was the chief photographer when I arrived, to join the photo staff for the last few months. It was through Mary and a few others that the idea of Women in Photography was born. (The Dinner Party was originally shown in San Francisco at their museum of Modern Art, in 1978. I don't remember when the WIP board photo was taken. I would imagine it was in the first year or so. I moved away from LA in late 1982 - so it was before that

It was an exciting time - the power of women was being acknowledged in many ways & this small group of photographers wished to have a ripple effect in our arena of photography. It's very rewarding that the group is still in existence.

I am still a photographer. I have a portrait Studio at the moment in Denver, Colorado. I freelanced for the LA Times from 1987 - 94, while getting my MFA in fine arts photography at Cal State Fullerton with Eileen Cowan.

I have attached a photo of an early board meeting (at one of our goofier moments). This photo was taken at a board meeting at Orah Moore's. I am sorry to say that I can't remember everyone's name, but I can say that the back row includes (from left to right) myself-Thea Litsios, Orah Moore, Carrie Weems and Mary McNally. In the front row I can only remember that the woman at the left is named Faith (last name?) and can't remember the other two women.

I see that Orah also gave you Deborah Roundtree's e-mail. You might want to also get in touch with Carrie Weems, one of our early members, who has really made a name for herself in the fine arts photography realm, last I heard she was living in Syracuse , NY and was represented by galleries in NY.

Thanks for continuing the work.
Warmly,

Thea Litsios
thealits@earthlink.net

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ORAH MOORE - In a message dated 9/27/01 11:11:24 AM September 27, 2001

Good day,
So, yes, I am the Orah Moore you are looking for. Hard to believe it has been 20 years since we first formed Women In Photography in Mary McNally's living room. And true to form I am still a woman doing photography. I moved from Los angeles in 1987 just as you were taking over as a director. At that time I was finishing up, hastily, my Master's in photography with Eileen Cowin and Daryl Curran at Cal State Fullerton and moved my then young family to Northern Vermont.

I started my own publishing company: Haymaker Press, greeting cards, posters, blank journals, and magnets as a wholesale company. I also do wedding photography, and a myriad of other commercial type photo things. I have from time to time taught photography at the community college or for low key workshops. I don't go for the high profile stuff --I have settled into accessible art. Last year I moved my several businesses out of my funky 100+ house and into a commercial location in the town and opened a card and gift shop along side the wholesale part of the business. The best part my my work is going out with my kayak early in the morn to photograph loons or mist rising...or in the winter to snowshoe into a meadow or a pass and capture the way winter has settled in for the season.

Take a look at my new web site: www.haymakerpress.com I am updating it but even as it is now it will give you some look into what keeps me busy. The latest project I was involved with was a great project with the Vermont Arts Council to do 8 photo murals for a new building at Vermont Technical College: My art team partner and I put images of technology juxtapositioned with image of nature on corrugated stainless steel. Hopefully that will be on my web site soon too. Enough about me.


ORAH MOORE In a message dated 9/4/02 5:59:28 AM, orahm@together.net writes:

My recollections of the history of WIPI are sort of sketchy...it's been 20 years! One thing I recall is that I moved to the Los Angeles area from the Bay Area in about 1980 and looked around for photography things to get involved in. I found an organization called CAMERVISION that I joined (Did they disband?) I also put an ad in Art News? (is that still around?) asking if any women would like to start up an informal monthly Brit group. About 6 of us met regularly...I think it included Thea Litsios and Carrie Mae Weems. Somewhere along there ,maybe through Carrie or Thea I became aware of a larger Women's group--WIP--just getting started. I recall meeting Margaret Grundstein Los Angeles, she also has a family camp on a northern Vermont lake near where I now live and we see each other when ever she visits...like last month! She runs a very successful day care business in the LA area and is not doing much with photography) and Mary McNally (no idea where she is). The meeting was at Mary's apartment. I was very pregnant with my first son. I remember the WIP group threw a baby shower for me and I may have some photos somewhere from that day if you want early member photos.

I was pretty active as a board member for a couple years then probably stepped back as motherhood and running my own photography studio in Los angeles got to be pretty busy. I was on board for the event when we brought Eve Arnold to town to speak. I think Deb rounder had a lot to do with that event.

Thanks for all you and others have done to keep WIPI going. It is gratifying to see that a fledgling organization that I was involved getting started is still going strong with a whole new group of amazing women photographers!!! (And I don't even know who any of you are... thanks, again.)
Orah Moore

www.haymakerpress.com
orahm@together.net

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8/17/02 LINDA WOLF

My memories of the first WIP meetings are that we knew what we were starting was very important, and I think we each felt very special to be part of it. We imagined it might grow into something, maybe last a few years, but I don’t think we ever imagined it would grow into one of the most important groups of its kind in the world: a place where women could expose their whole selves and not be censored or crimped or feel they had to shrink back in order not to offend.

I remember how much I wanted one of my photos to be chosen for the first brochure and was so happy when it was. I felt recognized and honored, something that I needed very much at that time.

I’d already been doing professional photography since 1970, and knew how hard it was to be taken seriously as a female photographer. I’d been on the Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour as one of two women tour photographers; lived in Europe for five years as a documentary photographer; and worked with SPARC and the Los Angeles Citywide Mural Project, among other things. I’d been exhibited, my work purchased by museums, etc. but it was a time when guy photographers were most often given the jobs. I don’t know how much has changed since the early 80s - I suspect not so much. In fact, I think there has been a regression. When you read in TV Guide that the definition of America’s sweetheart, Meg Ryan, is “nice, but can’t be a pushover; smart, but can’t be too brainy; beautiful, but not too sexy; and must be certain about the transforming power of love,” you have to stop and wonder how much has changed.

Being part of Women In Photography in the early years was like being in a safe space. Each of us supported the other and rooted for the other to succeed. We could see where each of us differed and where one of us had strengths the other needed, we’d help each other. I remember joint photo sessions in EK Waller’s studio or having Alexandra Milovanovich teach me about portrait lighting. I remember gatherings in Hollywood, where we’d network with other women photographers and have wine and cheese, and talk and share pictures.

I also remember that we were young women, grappling with relationships, sexuality, self-esteem issues, confusion as to how to make money doing what we loved, interpersonal issues; we had some amount of idealism, mixed with self-aggrandizement,, a small amount of competition, and a lot of hope for our futures. We had that precious sense of having all the time in the world in front of us.

As time went on, WIP was like a desert flower; shrinking or growing depending upon resources. I remember Nancy Clendaniel (WIP director doing the lions share of the work when there was not much money in the organization.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve morphed myself as a photographer a number of times, in order to be able to keep doing it and support myself and my family. I still do about 7 weddings a year to supplement my income as the director of a non-profit I founded for teenage girls (www.duaghters-sisters.org). I do a lot of photography with the organization to this day, and in fact Epson America has donated all our digital cameras, scanners, printers, etc. so that we can control of our materials. I developed this role as director after the success of my first book, Daughters of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun, which contains over 100 photos.

Books became a way to continue to express myself both in photography and journalism, which I’ve always loved. With the success of my second book, Global Uprising. I feel like I’ve completed something I needed to do, which not only gave me some credibility (it’s still hard to be a woman, let alone a woman artist, in this world), but allowed me to be a holographic social change agent (i.e. having what I do in the world mirror my personal growth and values, and the other way around).

I am very excited to be connected with WIP again, and so grateful to Jean Ferro for all the work she and others have done to create a sustainable, vital organization. I look forward to hearing from other women I know and don’t know, who are using photography both as a means of personal growth and self-expression.

Linda Wolf
e-mail: lwp@lindawolf.net

Lindawolf.net
Youthactivism.org
Globaluprising.net
Teentalkingcircles.org

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"Photography Today" TV series 1989-1990

In the summer of 1989, Women in Photography Director, Nancy Clendaniel, was encouraged by WIP Treasurer & artist, Sylvia White and her LAPC associate, John Fox,III, to host a three-part television program for LA's public access station. With a theme song provided by guitarist Laurence Juber (formerly of Paul McCartney & Wings), "Photography Today" was produced in three separate segments, and aired from December 1989, through February 1990. Meant to showcase photographers and people working in the photo arts in Los Angeles, this program provided an educational forum & open dialogue about the business of photography, including work and individual experiences from three of LA's top photographers. The programs were presented as follows:

PROGRAM #1 Date recorded: December 4, 1989 Host: Nancy Clendaniel
Artists: Jean Ferro (PhotoArtist) & Steve Wilzbach (Fine Art & Documentary Photographer)
Title: "Photography in Los Angeles"

PROGRAM #2 Date Recorded: January 10, 1990 Host: Nancy Clendaniel,
Artist: Michael Jacobs, Photojournalist Title: "Photojournalism" Program

#3 Date Recorded: February 14, 1990 Host: Nancy Clendaniel Guest:
Maria Piscopo, Marketing & Promotions Expert Title: "The Business of Photography"
All segments were 30 minutes long, in color, and filmed at a studio in Hollywood, CA.

Women Photographers in America 1985
cover image: Judy Mandolf
( women lying on counter...Elizabeth Opalenik )
exhibition organized by E.K. Waller
Exhibition Artists

Women Photographers in America 1987
cover image E.K. Waller
exhibition organized by, E.K. Waller
Exhibition Artists

1989 Exhibition
Women In Photography Celebrates Freedom 1992
juried by Val Williams
ZOOM Magazine Showcase, Exhibititor List

WIPI Newsletters and workshop flyer
top left, F2 Winter 1992 issue, image: Judy Dater;
top right, F2 Vol 1, Winter 1991 issue, image: Joyce Tenneson
bottom left, WIP 1985 Workshop series flyer, coordinated by Linda Wolf
bottom right, F2 Fall, Vol. 2 Number 3 issue, image: Mary Ellen Mark

20th Anniversary Exhbiition



Linda McCartney "T-Pot" 1987



| Images from Tea Time and Exhibition List
|
Images from HOPA Reception |
Jurors Bio's & Statements
|| Press|
Forward Excerpts : Is Anatomy destiny ?
Exhibition Stats |
Lecture Series 2001 |
Buy CD-Rom and Poster |
Credits & Thank You's

  Slide Show    25th Anniversary - Juror 100 & Honorable Mention   Jurors

sponsored in part by Kodak,  Epson, The Photo Review, Fresh Lists,
Sharpics, CHBPhoto, FotoQuote, ShowIt Web, ProSoft
and with the support of The Hollywood Arts Council

WIPI thanks Kodak.com for the generous support of the "Turning Silver"
limited edition book. List of receipients of th book

WIPI Distinguished Photographers Awardees:

Eve Arnold, 1983
Ruth Bernhard, 1984
Judy Dater, 1985
Marion Post Wolcott, 1986
Linda McCartney, 1987
Mary Ellen Mark, 1988
Ruth Orkin, 1989
Joyce Tenneson, 1990
Berenice Abbott, 1991
Grace Robertson, 1992
Annie Leibovitz, 2003 (presented in collaboration w/Lucie Awards
Sylvia Plachy, 2004 (presented in collaboration w/Lucie Awards
Carrie Mae Weems, 2005, Sept. 15, 2005
100 Distinguished Photographers announcement March 2008

We will continue to add to this history piece. There are several people who are so busy with current projects and want to contribute, (i.e, Nancy Clendaniel NanClenDan@Yahoo.com and others) so check back for updates.

If you have any information or pictures of past Women In Photography events from 1981 thru 1991, please send to the Attention of, Jean Ferro, President, Women In Photography International Members@WomenInPhotography.org

JOIN WIPI

Member Link and Photo Profiles

Membership Application, Payment and Survey

MEMBER Submission Guidelines

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