WOMEN AS PHOTOGRAPHERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16497, 6 August 1921, Page 10

WOMEN AS PHOTOGRAPHERS.

>\o fewer than 100 women photographcrs_ are tow directing their own studios in London and the provinces, said Mdme. Yevonde at tile professional photographers’ conference at the Royal Horticultural Hall, Westminster 'in May. It was the first occasion that a member of the sex has addressed the gathering. Mdme. Yevonde, who is a well-known portrait photographer, said there have been famous women photographers for 50 years. The business of one, a girl of 19. in the early eighties, prospered to such an extent that in time she had 60 assistants. The photographs of another Mrs Cameron, were used to illustrate the first edition of Tennyson’s poems; and she photographed, amongst eminent men, Tennyson, Browning, Carlvle and Darwin.

Lord Reading, sitting to Mdme. Yevonde before leaving for India, told her that he 1 ‘ preferred being photographed by a woman because she usually took less time than a man.” And, added Mrs Yevonde, in relating this incident, when she asked him which side of his face be desired t-o have photographed be immediately replied, “ The left.”

‘Vlt is well known among photographers that the left is inor© symmetrical than the right side of the face/ 7 she remarked. “This is, perhaps, due to the fact that children have always been made to sleep on the right side, and this affects the soft hones of the face.”

Photography is, she claimed, essentially a. yirofession for a woman. Her intuition and tact always place her at an advantage. She is quick to understand the temperament of her sitter, and she realises that it is infinitely more desirable to obtain a characteristic likethan an artificial pose.