Women have made significant contributions to photography since its inception. Notable participants include:
Finland
Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959), conceptual photographer and video artist
Signe Brander (1869–1942), cityscapes of Helsinki
Nanna Hänninen (born 1973), chaotic objects, urban landscapes, and plants with repainting
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (born 1948), has photographed the Newcastle district of Byker and created a Coal Coast series on the beach between Seaham and Hartlepool
Susanna Majuri (born 1978), captures short narrative scenes as if film stills
Martine Barrat (date of birth unknown), based in New York, has photographed the black inhabitants of Harlem since the early 1980s
Claude Batho (1935–1981), remembered for the detailed images of her home and for her series on Claude Monet's garden at Giverny
Valérie Belin (born 1964), whose photographs have played with the distinction between illusion and reality
Alexandra Boulat (1962–2007), photojournalist and co-founder of the VII Photo Agency
Adeline Boutain (1862-1946), French photographer and publisher of postcards
Claude Cahun (1894–1954), photographer and artist, remembered for her self-portraits (1927–47)
Sophie Calle (born 1953), writer, photographer and installation artist, also photography professor
Dominique Darbois (born 1925), photojournalist who has concentrated on the victims of European colonialism
Françoise Demulder (1947–2008), war photographer
Geneviève Élisabeth Disdéri (c.1817–1878), early photographer, wife of André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
Claudine Doury (born 1959), photojournalist
Gisèle Freund (1908–2000), German-born, known for her documentary photography and portraits of writers and artists
Laure Albin Guillot (1879–1962), portraits of Paris celebrities, wide variety of other genres, several high-ranking administrative positions
Florence Henri (1893–1982), surrealist
Irina Ionesco (born 1935), erotic images of lavishly dressed women posing provocatively
Germaine Krull (1897–1985), photographically-illustrated books, photojournalism
Brigitte Lacombe (born 1950), photographer of film sets
Ergy Landau (1896-1967), see Hungary
Catherine Leroy (1945–2006), photojournalist, particularly known for her photography of the Vietnam war
Benedicte Van der Maar (born 1968), art photography,human photography
Dora Maar (1907–1997), both a commercial and a street photographer in the 1920s and 30s
Sarah Moon (born 1941), fashion photographer, now concentrating on gallery work
Janine Niépce (1921–2007), prolific photojournalist
Bettina Rheims (born 1952), strip-tease artists and acrobats, stuffed animals, also advertising, and photography of nude women making her a best-seller
Sophie Ristelhueber (born 1949), who has photographed the effects of war on landscape
Emmanuelle Riva (born 1927), primarily an actor but also a noted and published photographer
Lise Sarfati (born 1958), images of listless young people in Russia and the United States
Christine Spengler (born 1945), photojournalist who has concentrated on the victims of war
Agnès Varda (born 1928), film director and photographer, documentary realism, feminist issues
Véronique de Viguerie (born 1978), photojournalist, particularly known for her photography of the most recent Afghan war
Gertrud Arndt (1903–2000), created self-portraits from around 1930
Ellen Auerbach (1906–2004), see United States
Uta Barth (born 1958), art photography
Ingeborg de Beausacq (1910–2003), fashion and society photographer in Brazil
Hilla Becher (born 1934), together with her brother Bernd, produced typologies of industrial buildings and structures
Katharina Behrend (1888–1973), see Netherlands
Sibylle Bergemann (1941–2010), chronicler of social life in East Germany
Emilie Bieber (1810–1884), pioneer who opened a studio in Hamburg as early as 1852
Aenne Biermann (1898–1933), of the New Objectivity movement
Ilse Bing (1899–1998), versatile photographer (fashion, architecture, etc.) from the 1920s to the 1950s, often using remarkable compositions
Anna Blume (born 1937), staged photographs and installations, often depicting herself and her husband Bernhard
Dorothy Bohm (born 1924), see United Kingdom
Marianne Breslauer (1909–2001), active in the early 1930s
Frauke Eigen (born 1969), photographer of the aftermath of war in Kosovo
Gertrude Fehr (1895-1996), did solarisation photos
Gisèle Freund (1908–2000), see France
Marie Goslich (1859–1936), photographer of social issues, etc., for magazines
Liselotte Grschebina (1908–1994), see Israel
Roswitha Hecke (born 1944), photojournalist
Annemarie Heinrich (1912–2005), see Argentina
Lotte Herrlich (1883–1956), photographer of naturism during the 1920s
Hannah Höch (1889–1978), pioneer of photomontage, participated in the Dada movement
Candida Höfer (born 1944), highly precise large-format depictions of guest workers in Germany, interiors, zoos, capturing the psychology of social architecture
Lotte Jacobi (1896–1990), initially family photography, then shots of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, from 1935 studio in Manhattan, portraits of celebrities
Astrid Kirchherr (born 1938), photographed the Beatles before they became famous
Katrin Korfmann (born 1971), fine art photographer
Erna Lendvai-Dircksen (1883–1962), photographer of rural individuals, collected in books that sold well in the Nazi period
Esther Levine (born 1970), urban and street photography
Loretta Lux (born 1969), fine art photographer known for surreal portraits of young children
Rut Blees Luxemburg (born 1967), photographer of night scenes
Melanie Manchot (born 1966), specializes in photographs of people in public, sometimes inviting them to undress
Hansel Mieth (1909–1998), see United States
Lucia Moholy (1894–1989), see Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic
Hedda Morrison (1908–1991), early photographs of Peking, Hong Kong and Sarawak, later lived and exhibited in Australia
Anja Niedringhaus (1965–2014), photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize winner
Margret Nissen (born 1938), photographer of architecture
Anne-Katrin Purkiss (born 1959), portrait photographer
Katja Rahlwes (born 1967), photographer of fashion and butts
Ursula Richter (1886–1946), dance and theatre photography in Dresden
Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003), film director and dancer who also published photos of the Nuba tribes in Sudan and, later, marine life
Frieda Riess (1890–c. 1955), German portrait photographer in the 1920s with a studio in central Berlin
Thyra Schmidt (born 1974), art photography and new media artist
Stefanie Schneider (born 1968), photographer of the American west
Ursula Schulz-Dornburg (born 1938), photographer in black and white
Else Seifert (1879–1968), architectural photographer
Katharina Sieverding (born 1944), self-portraitist
Annegret Soltau (born 1946), stitched photomontages of the human body
Grete Stern (1904–1999), see Argentina
Gerda Taro (1910–1937), early female war photographer, remembered for her coverage of the Spanish Civil War, especially Valencia, published in Life and Illustrated London News
Ellen von Unwerth (born 1954), photographer of erotic femininity
Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann (1815–1901), Germany's first professional female photographer with a studio in Leipzig from 1843
Ianna Andreadis (born 1960), combines photography with her interest in archaeology, also landscapes from southern Africa
Nelly's (1899–1998), noted for her Greek temples, Berlin Olympics, later advertising, photo-reportages in the United States
Mary Paraskeva (1882–1951), possibly the first Greek woman to have left a large photographic legacy from the beginning of the 20th century
Athena Tacha (born 1936), conceptual photographer
María Cristina Orive (born 1931), photographer, reporter and photojournalist, co-founder of the La Azotea publishing the work of Latin American photographers
Wong Wo Bik (graduated 1977), architectural photographer
Vivienne Balla (born 1986), fashion and fine art
Eva Besnyö (1910–2002), see Netherlands
Ata Kandó (born 1913), see Netherlands
Ergy Landau (1896–1967), Hungarian-born photographer, worked in Vienna, Berlin and latterly in Paris
Sylvia Plachy (born 1943), see United States
Iceland
Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir (born 1978), whose work posted to Flickr led to employment in advertising campaigns
Pamella Bordes (born 1961), worked as an international photojournalist for Gamma Press Photos, exhibitions include notable images from India and Cambodia, also self-portraits
Indrani (born mid-1960s), fashion photographer in New York, also celebrity portraits of David Bowie, Iman and Beyoncé
Saadiya Kochar (born 1979), first worked with the human body, portraits and then documentary (Kashmir)
Rathika Ramasamy, India's first woman wildlife photographer, particularly of birds
Dayanita Singh (born 1961), first photojournalism, later portraits and documentary work including Goa
Sooni Taraporevala (born 1957), a screenwriter also working in photography, especially of India's Parsi Zoroastrian community
Homai Vyarawalla (1913–2012), India's first woman photojournalist, covered celebrities including Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and Indira Gandhi
Parisa Damandan (born 1967), has collected portrait photographs illustrating the history of Isfahan, continuing her work after the 2003 Bam earthquake
Shadi Ghadirian (born 1974), portraits of women dressed in traditional style, often juxtaposed with modern anomalies such as a mountain bike or cola can, now increasingly exhibited in the west
Zahra Kazemi (1948–2003), Iranian-Canadian freeland photojournalist who died following arrest in Iran after covering poverty, destitutions and oppression in the Middle East
Sanaz Mazinani (born 1978), Iranian-Canadian photographer and curator, installation based photography
Shirin Neshat (born 1957), photos of women confronted by Islamic fundamentalism, later working with multimedia and film
Shirana Shahbazi (born 1974), conceptual photography, installations
Mitra Tabrizian (born 1959), British-Iranian, professor of photography at the University of Westminster, photobook Correct Distance, a critique of corporate culture
[Hanna Noori]] (born 1986),Iranian documentary photographer, Fine art photographer
Newsha Tavakolian (born 1981), Iranian documentary photographer
Maryam Zandi (born 1947), founding board member of Iran's National Society of Photographers, has published many calendars of Iranian portraits
Halla Ayla (born 1957), photographer, painter
Ireland
Helen Sloan (active since 1994), still and film photographer, known for photographing the TV series Game of Thrones
Elinor Carucci (born 1971), see United States
Liselotte Grschebina (1908–1994), German-born, emigrated to Palestine, roots in New Vision
Tal Shochat (born 1974), fine arts photographer
Letizia Battaglia (born 1935), photojournalist in Sicily, specializing in coverage of the Mafia for the newspaper L'Ora
Vanessa Beecroft (born 1969), photographer and performance artist, now in Los Angeles
Yvonne De Rosa (born 1975), art photography
Tina Modotti (1896-1942), born in Italy, worked as a fine art photographer and documentarian, with Edward Weston, ran a studio in Mexico City
Dianora Niccolini (born 1936), pioneer of male nude photography
Virginia Oldoini (1837–1899), early proponent, estheticially interested in images of herself, large collection in Metropolitan Museum of Art
Floria Sigismondi (born 1965), fashion, installations, video
Esther Anderson (born 1946), portraits and documentary work
Renée Cox (born 1960), see United States
Mikiko Hara (born 1967), colour snapshots of people or things in everyday life, often causing feelings of levity or foreboding
Hiromix (born 1976), life from a teenager's perspective and photo books on identity, community, gender and the everyday
Hisae Imai (1931–2009), specialized in the photography of horses
Miyako Ishiuchi (born 1947), contrasty prints including close-ups of the very old
Rinko Kawauchi (born 1972), serene, poetic photography
Fusako Kodama (born 1945), depicted Japan as a nation of high technology, and life in Tokyo
Michiko Kon (born 1955), new approach to mainly black-and-white still lifes with images of everything from toothbrushes to timepieces and fish parts
Miyuki Matsuda (born 1961), an actor who has published photography of nudes
Michiko Matsumoto (born 1950), portraits of artists and dancers living in various countries
Yurie Nagashima (born 1973), portraits, including portraits of herself and her family in the nude, street photography, still lifes
Mika Ninagawa (born 1972), brightly coloured photographs of flowers, goldfish and landscapes, commercially successful in fashion and advertising
Rika Noguchi (born 1971), landscape photographer
Yoshino Ōishi (born 1944), widely travelled photojournalist
Yuki Onodera (born 1962), images of everyday objects such as old clothes, tin cans, birds, houses shining in the darkness, and human figures
Kei Orihara (born 1948), documentary and portrait photographer, has published books on life in New York, and books for children about the disabled
Tsuneko Sasamoto (born 1914), Japan's first female photojournalist, has photographed some of the country's greatest personalities and historic moments
Shima Ryū (1823–1899), earliest known Japanese woman photographer, photographed her husband in 1864, later opened a studio in Kiryū
Mieko Shiomi (1909–1984), abstraction and realism, known for her monochrome compositions
Kunié Sugiura (born 1942), creator of photograms
Cozue Takagi (born 1985), creator of montages
Toyoko Tokiwa (born 1930), best known for her depiction of the red-light district of post-occupation Yokohama, for a clientele of US servicemen
Eiko Yamazawa (1899–1995), portrait photographer and founder of a photography school
Miwa Yanagi (born 1967), staged events with women of various ages, frequently using the computer to alter the image in strange ways, several published series including Elevator Girls
Ruiko Yoshida (born 1938), has published several photobooks designed to fight against discrimination towards the poor and blacks, best known for Harlem Black Angels
Inta Ruka (born 1958), specializing in portraits of people in the areas where they live
Esther Shalev-Gerz (born 1957), installation artist who also exhibits her photography
Audronė Vaupšienė (born 1965), fashion photographer and collaborator in artworks
Marianne Majerus (born 1956), specializes in garden photography contributing widely to magazines and newspapers
Lola Álvarez Bravo (1907–1993), documentary images of village life, director of photography at the Mexican National Arts Institute
Ana Casas Broda (born 1965), known for Kinderwunsch photography series
Blanca Charolet (born 1953), photojournalist and portrait photographer
Flor Garduño (born 1957), especially documenting native peoples, portraits of women
Maya Goded (born 1967), especially documenting people from hidden or shunned communities
Lourdes Grobet (born 1940), has made a study of lucha libre
Graciela Iturbide (born 1942), shows everyday life, especially that of indigenous peoples
Teresa Margolles (born 1963), portrays death
Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier (born 1966), marine biologist and conservation photographer, founder International League of Conservation Photographers
Tina Modotti (1896–1942), see Italy
Dulce Pinzon (born 1974), Mexican and Latin immigrants in the United States, figures dressed as superheroes
Mariana Yampolsky (1925–2002), travel photography and documentary work on Mexico's rural areas
Netherlands
Emmy Andriesse (1914–1953), noted for her clandestine photography of the Netherlands under Nazi rule
Katharina Behrend (1888–1973), German-born Dutch amateur photographer, wide variety of genres including a nude self-portrait
Eva Besnyö (1910–2002), Dutch-Hungarian photographer active in the Dutch "New Photography" movement
Ania Bien (born 1946), see United States
Marrie Bot (born 1946), pilgrimages, mentally handicapped, multicultural funeral and mourning rituals
Rineke Dijkstra (born 1959), portraits of adolescents
Jacqueline Hassink (born 1966), visual artist, noted for her Table of Power projects related to the world economy; also lectures on photography
Ata Kandó (born 1913), noted for her "Dream in the Wood" fantasy photos, Hungarian refugee photos and Amazonian indigenous images
Inez van Lamsweerde (born 1963), fashion photographer
Dana Lixenberg (born 1964), portrait photographer
Alexandrine Tinné (1835–1869), first female photographer in the Netherlands, produced large images in The Hague
Ans Westra (born 1936), see New Zealand
New Zealand
Suzanna Clarke (born 1961), freelance photojournalist based in Australia, contributing to many international journals, also travel photography in Asia and Europe
Eileen Olive Deste (1908–1986), born in the UK, started a photography business in Dunedin in 1930, later in Wellington where she covered the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition
Amy Merania Harper (1900–1998), ran Auckland's Amy Harper Studios from 1928, notable bridal photography and portraits, founding member of the New Zealand Professional Photographers’ Association
Alyson Hunter (born 1948), now in London, developed a new etching technique for street scenes, later standard portraiture
Thelma Rene Kent (1899–1946), landscapes, especially South Island heights, also photographed animals and birds
Elizabeth Pulman (1836–1900), possibly New Zealand's first female photographer, studio in Auckland from the late 1860s, portraits and landscapes of historical interest
Jane Ussher (born 1953), portraits, New Zealand Listener's chief photographer, also photographed Scott's and Shackleton's Antarctic expedition huts
Ans Westra (born 1936), emigrated from the Netherlands in 1957, documentary photographer, known for her images of the Māori
Marti Friedlander, (19 February 1928 – 14 November 2016), emigrated from England to New Zealand in 1958, she photographed and documented New Zealand's people, places and events.
Catherine Cameron (born 1962), covers still life, street photography, landscape with a poetic approach always using black-and-white film
Anne Helene Gjelstad (born 1956), fashion and lifestyle photographer
Marie Høeg (1866-1949), photographer and suffragist
Elisabeth Meyer (1899–1968), photojournalist known for her work in Iran and India in the 1920s and 1930s including portraits of Mahatma Gandhi
Mimsy Møller (born 1955), press photographer working for Dagsavisen, active in the women's photo group Here
Hanneli Mustaparta (born 1982), fashion photographer contributing to Vogue
Karimeh Abbud (1896–1955), professional photographer in Nazareth in the 1930s, also producing postcards
Sama Raena Alshaibi (born 1973), Iraq-born Palestinian–US conceptual artist, using photography
Rula Halawani (born 1964), photographer, photojournalist, educator
Emily Jacir, artist in photography and other media, also an academic
Ahlam Shibli (born 1970), photographer of Bedouins of Palestinian descent
Poland
Lotte Beese
Ania Bien (born 1946), see United States
Margaret Michaelis-Sachs (1902–1985), Austrian-Australian photographer of Polish-Jewish origin, portraits, architecture of Barcelona, Jewish quarter in Cracow
Nata Piaskowski (1912–2004), Polish-born American photographer, portraits and landscapes, based in San Francisco
Faye Schulman, took photos during World War II
Alexandra Croitoru (born 1975), seeks to challenge accepted ideas of power sharing and gender in Romania
Lena Herzog (born 1970), see United States
Ida Kar (1908–1974), known for her portraits of artists and writers
Nina Leen (died 1995), see United States
Diana Markosian (born 1989), documentary photographer who has photographed the north Caucasus and central Asia
Zhang Jingna (born 1988), see China (People's Republic)
Jodi Bieber (born 1966), known for taking the photograph of Bibi Aisha, the Afghanistan woman whose nose and ears were mutilated by her husband and brother-in-law
Vera Elkan (1908–2008), remembered for her images of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War
Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914–2000), South African's first female World War II correspondent, also known for images of South Africa
Zanele Muholi (born 1972), has used photography in support of LGBTI issues, several solo and group exhibitions since 2004
Neo Ntsoma (born 1972), known for being the first woman recipient of the Mohamed Amin Award, the CNN African Journalist of the Year Prize Photography
Colla Swart (born 1930), photographs of people, landscapes and flowers in Namaqualand
Nontsikelelo Veleko (born 1977), depicts black identity
Gisèle Wulfsohn (1957–2011), covered the struggle against apartheid and HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives
Nikki S. Lee (born 1970), self-portraits posing in various ethnic and social groups such as punks, hip-hop musicians, male partners
Cristina García Rodero (born 1949), specializing in festivals and other rites
Cristina Martín Lara (born 1972), her photographs seek to trigger emotional responses to the environment in which we live
Ouka Leele (born 1957), involved in the Madrid Movement, widely published in Spanish journals
Isabel Muñoz (born 1951), black-and-white pictures of the human body, toreros and dancers
Cristina Otero (born 1995), self-portraits
Sofia Ahlbom (1803–1868), feminist, practiced as a photographer from the 1860s
Ingrid Falk (born 1960), installation artist
Marianne Greenwood (1916–2006), photographed Picasso and other artists in Antibes after the Second World War, later photographing the peoples of the Pacific islands and parts of Asia
Brita Sofia Hesselius (1801-1866), Sweden's first professional female photographer, opening a studio in Karlstad in 1845
Tuija Lindström (born 1950), noted for her black-and-white pictures of women in a black lake addressing feminist issues
Elisabeth Ohlson (born 1961), photographs sexual minorities, noted for her 1998 Ecce Homo portraying Jesus among homosexuals
Anna Riwkin-Brick (1908-1970), portrait and dance photography, photo-journalistic work
Hilda Sjölin (1835–1915), one of Sweden's first professional female photographers, opening a studio in Malmö in 1861
Bertha Valerius (1835–1915), official photographer of the Royal Swedish court
Switzerland
Hélène Binet (born 1959), first photographed in the Grand Théâtre de Genève before turning to architectural photography, now based in London
Lucienne Bloch (1909–1999), see United States
Henriette Grindat (1923–1986), an artistic photographer in the post-war period inspired by the surrealistic trends of the times
Ella Maillart (1903–1997), travel photography
Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908–1942), prolific writer and photographer, leaving some 50 photo reports documenting the rise of the Nazis in Germany and her travels to the Middle East and the United States
Semiha Es (1912–2012), Turkey's first female photojournalist, worked between 1950 and 1970s as a war photographer
Maryam Şahinyan (1911–1996), Turkey's first female photographer, managing a studio from 1937, archive of some 200,000 images
Naciye Suman (1881-1973), Turkey's first Muslim, female photographer, owning a studio from 1919-1930
Elena Filatova (born 1974), photographs of the Chernobyl area
Anya Teixeira (1913-1992), took up amateur photography in London when 47, often working with children and actors, also founded the Creative Photo Group
Sarah Angelina Acland (1849–1930), an amateur photographer who pioneered colour in Gibraltar in 1903 and 1904 and later in Madeira
Heather Angel (born 1941), British nature photographer
Anna Atkins (1799–1871), a botanist, the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images
Lisa Barnard (born 1967), documentary photographer, political artist, and senior lecturer on documentary photography at University of South Wales
Emma Barton (1872–1938), portrait photographer, autochromes, awarded the Royal Photographic Society Medal in 1903
Hélène Binet (born 1959), see Switzerland
Dorothy Bohm (born 1924), originally from Königsberg, initially portraits, later street photography, from 1985 in colour
Jane Bown (born 1925), notable portrait photographer, also worked for The Observer
Zana Briski (born 1966), documentary, especially insects
Christina Broom (1862–1939), said to be Britain's first female press photographer
Evelyn Cameron (1868–1928), see United States
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879), notable early work, closely cropped portraits of celebrities, 800 of her works owned by the Royal Photographic Society
Sue Darlow (1960–2011), Indian-born British photographer
Corinne Day (1962–2010), fashion and documentary photographer
Frances Sally Day (c1816–1892), first woman to photograph Queen Victoria
Susan Derges (born 1955), photographic artist, camera-less photography
Eileen Olive Deste (1908–1986), see New Zealand
Mary Dillwyn (1816–1906), the earliest female photographer in Wales
Olive Edis (1876–1955), portraits and early autochromes, diascope viewer
Laura El-Tantawy (1980), see Egypt
Candice Farmer (born c. 1970), underwater fashion photographer
Mary Georgina Filmer (1838–1903), early proponent of photomontage
Mary Fitzpatrick (born 1968), known for her work on spaces abandoned after conflict
Anna Fox (born 1961), office life in London, "Made in" series on Milton Keynes, Kansas, Gothenburg and Florence
Constance Fox Talbot (1811–1880), wife of Henry Fox Talbot, experimented with photography as early as 1839
Jill Furmanovsky (born 1953), see Zimbabwe
Paula Rae Gibson (born 1968), art photography
Fay Godwin (1931–2005), leading British landscape photographer of her day
Clementina Hawarden (1822–1865), notable portrait photographer in the 1860s, predating Julia Margaret Cameron
Alice Hughes (1857–1939), leading London portrait photographer specializing in images of fashionable women and children
Alyson Hunter (born 1948), see New Zealand
Elsbeth Juda (born 1911), fashion photographer
Roshini Kempadoo (born 1959), photographer, media artist, and lecturer
Etheldreda Laing (1872–1960), early autochrome photographs
Marianne Majerus (born 1956), see Luxembourg
Jessie Mann, studio assistant of the Scottish photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson; a strong candidate as the first Scottish woman photographer and one of the first women anywhere to be involved in photography
Mary McCartney (born 1969), ballet dancers, Spice Girls
Wendy McMurdo (born 1962), exploring the relationship between technology and identity
Lotte Meitner-Graf (1899–1973), portrait photographer in Vienna until 1937 when she came to London, Great Britain
Inge Morath (1923–2002), see Austria
Caroline Emily Nevill (1829–1827), early photographer and pioneering member of the Photographic Exchange Club
Laura Pannack (born 1985), social documentaries and portraits
Terri Quaye (born 1940), musician, ethnographic photographer
Suze Randall (born 1946), erotic photographer
Sophy Rickett (born 1970), installation artist and photographer
Grace Robertson (born 1930), photojournalist contributing to Picture Post and Life in the 1950s
Mary Rosse (1813–1885), began experimenting with photography in 1842
Jane Martha St. John (1801–1882), known for her 1856 calotypes of Rome and other towns in Italy, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pennie Smith (born c. 1949), black-and-white portraits, rock groups
Jo Spence (1934–1992), known for her self-portraits depicting her fight against cancer
Hannah Starkey (born 1971), staged settings of women in city environments
Clare Strand (born 1973), a conceptual photographer
Maud Sulter (1960–2008), fine artist, photographer, writer and curator
Mitra Tabrizian (born 1959), see Iran
Sam Taylor-Wood (born 1967), art photography, portraits
Anya Teixeira (1913–1992), see Ukraine
Tessa Traeger (1938), still life, food and portrait photography
Edith Tudor-Hart (1908–1973), see Austria
Agnes Warburg (1872–1953), influential early colour photographer
Gillian Wearing (born 1963), conceptual artist also working with photography, video and installations
Jane Wigley (1820–1883), early photographer opening studios in Newcastle and London in the mid-1840s
Val Wilmer (born 1941), writer-photographer specialising in jazz, gospel, blues, and British African-Caribbean music and culture
Vanessa Winship (born 1960), portraiture and landscapes, particularly in Turkey, Georgia and the US
Catherine Yass (born 1963), bright colour, images often a combination of the positive and negative, subjects ranging from toilets to empty cinemas and Bollywood stars
Madame Yevonde (1893–1975), pioneered colour in portrait photography, including a series of guests at a party dressed as Roman and Greek gods and goddesses
Kathryn Abbe (born 1919), worked for Vogue in the early 1940s, later freelance, subject include children, musicians and actors
Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), black-and-white photography of New York's architecture in the 1930s, part of the straight photography movement
Harriet Chalmers Adams (1875–1937), explorer whose expedition photographs were published in National Geographic
Marian Hooper Adams (1843–1885), early portrait photographer, also local landscapes
Lynsey Addario (born 1973), photojournalist often focusing on the role of women in traditional societies
Laura Aguilar (born 1959), strong feminist focus
Sama Raena Alshaibi (born 1973), see Palestine
Jane Fulton Alt (born 1951), documented Hurricane Katrina
Nancy Lee Andrews (born 1947), fashion, music covers
Eleanor Antin (born 1935), also works with video, film, performance and drawing
Amy Arbus (born 1954), a New York City–based photographer
Diane Arbus (1923–1971), black-and-white photographs of deviant and marginal people
Laura Adams Armer (1874–1963), portraiture in San Francisco, images of the Navajo
Eve Arnold (1913–2012), photojournalist with Magnum Photos
Kristen Ashburn (born 1973), photojournalist covering AIDS in southern Africa, tuberculosis and Hurricane Katrina
Jane Evelyn Atwood (born 1947), documentary photographer living in Paris
Ellen Auerbach (1906–2004), German-born Jewish immigrant, remembered for pre-war work in her Berlin studio
Alice Austen (1866–1952), from Staten Island, producing some 8,000 photographs from 1884
Elizabeth Axtman (born 1980), emphasis on race in American culture
Catharine Weed Barnes (1851–1913), early female editor of photographic journals, strong supporter of women photographers
Tina Barney (born 1945), large-scale portraits of family and friends
Martine Barrat (date of birth unknown), see France
Ruth-Marion Baruch (1922–1997), series on the Black Panthers and the San Francisco Bay area
Lillian Bassman (1917–2012), early fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar
Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942), born in Canada, first published female photojournalist in the United States
Carol Beckwith (born 1945), photographer of the indigenous tribal cultures of Africa
Vanessa Beecroft (born 1969), see Italy
Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869–1933), portraits of notable Americans at the turn of the 19th–20th century, portrait gallery in New York from 1897
Lynne Bentley-Kemp (born 1952), fine arts photographer, photography educator, and researcher
Berry Berenson (1948–2001), freelance photographer publishing in Life, Glamour, Vogue and Newsweek
Nina Berman (born 1960), documentary photographer, military focus
Ruth Bernhard (1905–2006), nude photography of women and commercial photography in Hollywood
Ania Bien (born 1946), Polish-American photographer now in Amsterdam, focus on discrimination and refugees
Joan E. Biren (born 1946), focus on lesbians and feminism
Nadine Blacklock (1953–1998), nature photographer around Lake Superior
Julie Blackmon (born 1966), children and family life
Andrea Blanch (born 1946), portraits of celebrities, especially Italian men
Lucienne Bloch (1909–1999), Swiss-born American artist and photographer, remembered for association with Diego Rivera
Gay Block (born 1942), portrait photographer of Jewish life in Texas, Miami Beach, and Christian Rescuers from WWII; has published several photobooks
Debra Bloomfield (born 1952), has worked in landscape since 1989; recent work has been described as "reflective activism"
Thérèse Bonney (1894–1978), photojournalist remembered for her images of the Russian-Finnish front in World War II
Alice Boughton (c.1867–1943), theatrical portraits, worked with Gertrude Käsebier, member of the Photo-Secession movement
Margaret Bourke-White (1906–1971), first foreigner to photograph Soviet industry, first female war correspondent and first woman photographer for Life
Louise Arner Boyd (1887–1972), explorer who took hundreds of photographs of the Arctic, detailed photographic documentation of Poland in 1934
Louise Boyle (1910–2005), documented African-American farm workers in Arkansas during the Great Depression
Marilyn Bridges (born 1948), ancient sites around the world
Sheila Pree Bright (born 1967), fine art photographer
Anne Brigman (1869–1950), one of the original members of the Photo-Secession movement, images of nude women (including self-portraits) from 1900 to 1920
Charlotte Brooks (born 1918), photojournalist, staff photographer for Look
Ellen Brooks (born 1946), pro-filmic approach, often photographing through screens
Kate Brooks (born 1977), photojournalist specializing in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan
Adrien Broom (born 1980), fashion and fine art photographer specializing in images of young women
Esther Bubley (1921–1998), expressive photos of ordinary people, later specializing in children in hospitals and other medical themes
Elizabeth Buehrmann (c. 1886–c. 1963), pioneer of home portraits
Shirley Burman (born 1934), women in railroad history
Eleanor Butler Alexander-Roosevelt (1888–1960), images of dignitaries, travel photos of Europe and Asia
Evelyn Cameron (1868–1928), British born photographer who moved to Terry, Montana where she documented everyday life in the Old West
Marion Carpenter (1920–2002), the first female national press photographer and the first woman to cover the White House
Elinor Carucci (born 1971), an Israeli-American who has exhibited widely since 1997 and now teaches photography in New York City
Dickey Chapelle (1919–1965), photojournalist known for her work as a war correspondent in World War II and the Vietnam War
Rose Clark (1852–1942), pictorialist photographer
Lynne Cohen (born 1944), large prints of domestic and institutional interiors, now lives in Montreal
Carolyn Cole (born 1961), staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times
Marjory Collins (1912–1985), photojournalist, covered the home front during World War II
Nancy Ford Cones (1869–1962), early photographer from Loveland, Ohio, where she documented country life
Lois Conner (born 1951), noted particularly for her platinum print landscapes that she produces with a 7" x 17" format banquet camera
Linda Connor (born 1944), spiritual locations
Marjorie Content (1895–1984), Native Americans
Martha Cooper (born 1940s), staff photographer from the New York Post in the 1970s
Kate Cordsen (born 1964), known for large format landscapes
Tee Corinne (born 1943), lesbian photographer
Marie Cosindas (born 1925), still life and color portraits, one of the first the exhibit color photographs at MoMA
Honey Lee Cottrell, lesbian photographer, known for her work in On Our Backs
Renée Cox (born 1960), Jamaican-born politically motivated photographer
Imogen Cunningham (1883–1976), known for her botanical photography, nudes and industrial landscapes
Louise Dahl-Wolfe (1895–1989), fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar
Judy Dater (born 1941), best known for her book Imogen and Twinka about the photographer Imogen Cunningham
Lynn Davis (born 1944), large-scale black-and-white photographs specializing in monumental landscapes and architecture
Mary Devens (1857–1920), prominent pictorial photographer of the early 20th century
Maggie Diaz (born 1925), see Australia
Jessica Dimmock (born 1978), documentary photographer, covered drug addicts in New York over eight years
Carolyn Drake (born 1971), documentary photographer, particularly of central Asia
Susan Eakins (1851–1938), artist and photographer, wife of Thomas Eakins, maintained her own studio using photography as a basis for her art
Melanie Einzig (born 1967) street photography, event photography.
Sandra Eisert (born 1952), first White House picture editor in 1974
Cynthia Elbaum (1966–1994), photojournalist killed while working in Chechnya
Jill Enfield (born 1954), hand coloring artist best known for her work in alternative photographic processes
Marion Ettlinger (born 1949), author portraits for book jackets
Emma Justine Farnsworth (1860–1952), photographer whose works were displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893) and the Paris Exposition (1900)
Deanne Fitzmaurice (born 1957), photojournalist, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2005
Trude Fleischmann (1895–1990), see Austria
Susan Ford (born 1957), photojournalist, daughter of President Gerald Ford
Mary Lou Foy (born 1944), picture editor at the Washington Post
Toni Frissell (1907–1988), fashion photography, World War II photographs
Eva Fuka (born 1927), a native of Prague, she is noted for her melancholic works and surreal effects
Helen K. Garber (born 1954), black and white city landscapes
Emme Gerhard (1872–1946), worked with her sister Mayme in St. Louis, images of Native Americans and other ethnic groups
Mayme Gerhard (1876–1955), worked with her sisiter Emme in St. Louis, images of Native Americans and other ethnic groups
Wilda Gerideau-Squires (born 1946), African-American fine art photographer
Paola Gianturco (born 1939), photojournalist covering women in difficulty
Laura Gilpin (1891–1979), Native Americans (Navajo) and Pueblo and Southwestern landscapes
Barbara Gluck (born 1938), photojournalism, especially Vietnam
Nan Goldin (born 1953), gay and transsexual communities, New York's hard-drug subculture, skylines
Suzy Gorman (born 1962), celebrity portraits
Karen Graffeo (born 1963), portraits, documentary
Katy Grannan (born 1969), portraits
Beth Green (born 1949), photojournalist
Jill Greenberg (born 1967), portraits, covers
Lauren Greenfield (born 1966), documentary photographer and filmmaker
Caroline Gurrey (1875–1927), portraitist in Hawaii at the beginning of the 20th century, remembered for her series on mixed-race Hawaiian children
Carol Guzy (born 1956), Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post photographer
Gail Albert Halaban (born 1970), staged portraits
Masumi Hayashi (1945-2006), photo-collage works on topics such as Japanese internment camps, abandoned prisons, city works
Alexandra Hedison (born 1969), abstract landscapes
Diana Mara Henry (born 1948), photojournalist
Lena Herzog (born 1970), Russian-born documentary and fine art photographer
Elizabeth Heyert (born 1951), experimental portraiture
Carol M. Highsmith (born 1946), architectural coverage throughout the United States
Martha Holmes (1923-2006), photojournalist, staff photographer and later freelancer for Life
Roni Horn (born 1955), explores the mutable nature of art combining photography with drawing, sculpture and installations, also notable photo books
Edith Irvine (1884–1949), documentary work including the San Francisco earthquake
Lotte Jacobi (1896–1990), see Germany
Marcey Jacobson (1911–2009), indigenous peoples of southern Mexico
Belle Johnson (1864–1945), portraiture, including character studies, and photographs of animals (especially cats)
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952), early photojournalist, first woman to have a studio in Washington D.C., portraits of celebrities for magazines
Sarah Louise Judd (1802–1886), early photographer in Minnesota taking daguerrotypes in 1848
Consuelo Kanaga (1894–1978), portraits including African-Americans
Gertrude Käsebier (1852–1934), very influential, strong supporter of women photographers, her work covered Native Americans, portraits, commercially very successful
Emy Kat (born 1959), fashion, advertising
Mary Morgan Keipp (1875–1961), art photography, African-Americans
Miru Kim (born 1981), art photography
Helen Johns Kirtland (1890–1979), photojournalist and war correspondent, coverage of World War I
Deborah Copaken Kogan (born 1966), photojournalist
Barbara Kruger (born 1945), conceptual black-and-white photography
Justine Kurland (born 1969), fine art photography
Sarah Ladd (1860–1927), early pictorial and landscape photographer
Kay Lahusen (born 1930), first openly gay photojournalist of the gay rights movement
Wendy Sue Lamm (born 1964), photojournalist noted for her images of Palestine
Dorothea Lange (1895–1965), documentary photographer and photojournalist, covered the Great Depression
Alma Lavenson (1897–1989), documented California's Gold Rush
Nina Leen (died 1995), Russian-born American photographer, avid contributor to Life, remembered above all for her photographs of animals
Adelaide Hanscom Leeson (1875–1931), early photo-illustrated books
Annie Leibovitz (born 1949), portrait photographer, worked for Rolling Stone magazine and later Vanity Fair
Zoe Leonard (born 1961), photography of New York City, photos of the fictional Fae Richards for the film The Watermelon Woman
Rebecca Lepkoff (born 1916), street scenes on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1940s
Sherrie Levine (born 1947), appropriation photography
Helen Levitt (1907–2009), street photography around New York City
Jacqueline Livingston (born 1943), women's role, sexual intimacy
Ruth Harriet Louise (1903–1940), first woman photographer active in Hollywood, running Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's portrait studio from 1925 to 1930
Elizabeth Gill Lui (born 1951), abstract collage
Vivian Maier (1926–2009), unknown during her lifetime, her street photographs of Chicago were first published in 2011
Sally Mann (born 1951), large black-and-white photographs of young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death
Malerie Marder (born 1971), human intimacy
Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015), known for photojournalism, portraits and advertising photography, also covered homelessness, drug addiction and prostitution
Diana Markosian (born 1989), see United States
Margrethe Mather (1886–1952), collaborated with Edward Weston
Rebecca Matlock (born 1928), images from Moscow and Czechoslovakia
Kate Matthews (1870–1956), photographed scenes of everyday life in Pewee Valley, Kentucky, also as illustrations for Annie Fellows Johnston's The Little Colonel books
Dona Ann McAdams (born 1954), performance photography
Linda McCartney (1942–1998), photographed pop stars in the 1960s
Melodie McDaniel (born 1967), celebrity portraits, fashion, advertising
Laura McPhee (born 1958), art photography
Susan Meiselas (born 1948), documentary photographer working for Magnum Photos, covering human rights issues in Latin America and the Nicaraguan Revolution
Florence Meyer (1911–1962), celebrity portrait photographer
Hansel Mieth (1909–1998), born in Germany, joined Life magazine in 1937 until the early 1950s, photographing the Japanese at internment camps during World War II
Lee Miller (1907–1977), fashion photographer in Paris, war correspondent for Vogue covering the London blitz and the liberation of Paris
Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier (born 1966), see Mexico
Lisette Model (1906–1983), born in Austria, first photographed the upper classes in Nice in 1934, later worked for PM magazine in New York, also publishing in Harper's Bazaar
Andrea Modica (born 1960), photography professor
Jeannette Montgomery Barron (born 1956), portraits
Barbara Morgan (1900–1992), photographed modern dancers, co-founder of Aperture
Lida Moser (born 1920), photojournalism, documentaries and street photography, contributed to Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and Esquire
Helen Messinger Murdoch (1862–1956), pioneered the use of autochromes in travel photography
Nelly's (1899–1998), see Greece
Bea Nettles (born 1948), alternative techniques
Liz Nielsen (active since 2002), traditional analogue photographer
Anne Noggle (1922–2005), a photographer after a career as an aviator, depicted the ageing process of women and as curator introduced other women photographers to the public
Dorothy Norman (1905–1997), amateur portrait photographer
Catherine Opie (born 1961), addresses documentary photography, professor of photography at UCLA
Kei Orihara (born 1948), see Japan
Ruth Orkin (1921–1985), photojournalist contributing to Life, Look and Ladies' Home Journal, later teaching photography in New York City
Marvin Breckinridge Patterson (1905–2002), photojournalist, published world travel photographs in Vogue, National Geographic, Look, Life, Town & Country, and Harper's Bazaar
Stacy Pearsall (born 1980), military photographer, twice winner of the NPPA Military Photographer of the Year award
Nata Piaskowski (1912–2004), see Poland
Dulce Pinzon (born 1974), see Mexico
Sylvia Plachy (born 1943), born in Hungary, has published photo essays and portraits in The New York Times Magazine, The Village Voice and The New Yorker, also personal coverage of Central Europe
Anita Pollitzer (1894–1975), associated with Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz
Greta Pratt (born 1955), known for documenting staged American history
Melanie Pullen (born 1975), specializes in large prints (from four to ten feet) of crime scenes, specially set up using models and crew
Jane Reece (1868–1961), pictorial photographer, portraits, autochromes
Nancy Rexroth (born 1946), plastic camera work
Cherie Roberts (born 1978), nude models
Ruth Robertson (1905–1998), photojournalist remembered for her work on the Angel Falls in Venezuela, establishing them as the tallest in the world
Ann Rosener (1914–2012), photographed home front activities for the Farm Security Administration in 1942–43
Barbara Rosenthal (born 1948), avant-garde artist, using photography along with video, installation and digital media to achieve surreal photography
Louise Rosskam (1910–2003), documented life during the Great Depression
Marissa Roth (born 1958), photojournalist who was part of the team who won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
Eva Rubinstein (born 1933), intimate views of people and (often empty) interiors
Julia Ann Rudolph (c. 1820–c. 1890), studio photographer active in New York and California for over 40 years
Liza Ryan (born 1965), film and photography installations
Virginia Schau, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, in 1954
Stefanie Schneider (born 1968), see Germany
Collier Schorr (born 1963), portraits of young men and women
Sarah Choate Sears (1858–1935), portraits and still lifes from the 1890s
Cindy Sherman (born 1954), conceptual portraits, staged photographs of herself
Marilyn Silverstone (1929–1999), photojournalist who came to specialize in India and the Himalayas
Taryn Simon (born 1975), creator of projects involving large numbers of photographs
Lorna Simpson (born 1960), documentary street photographer who moved into ethnic divisions and racism in the 1980s
Sandy Skoglund (born 1946), surrealist photographer creating tableaux based on her own sets
Polly Smith (1908–1980), photographed life in Texas in the 1930s
Rosalind Solomon (born 1940), New York based photographer of the world, most notably Peru, in square monochrome
Melissa Springer (born 1956), photojournalist
Maggie Steber, documentary photographer for National Geographic
Ellen Stagg (born 1978), advertising, fashion
Susan Hacker Stang (born 1949), alternative cameras, also academic
Sally Stapleton (born 1957), executive photo editor at Associated Press until 2003
Amy Stein (born 1970), staged views, frequently with animals
Nellie Stockbridge (c. 1868–1965), early Idaho mining district photographer
Zoe Strauss (born 1970), shuttered buildings, empty parking lots and vacant meeting halls in South Philadelphia
Nancy M. Stuart, portrait photographer; photography educator and administrator
Rachel Sussman (born 1975), living organisms at least 2,000 years old
Maggie Taylor (born 1961), artistic digital imaging
Joyce Tenneson (born 1945), fine art photographer, often of nude or semi-nude women, with cover images on a range of periodicals including Time, Life and Entertainment Weekly
Beatrice Tonnesen (1871–1958), early views of live models for advertising
Barbara Traub, street photography, landscapes, portraits
Mellon Tytell (born 1945), award-winning fashion and editorial photographer, did documentary series on Haiti and portraits of figures from the Beat Generation
Doris Ulmann (1884–1934), known for her portraits of craftsmen and musicians from Appalachia
Penelope Umbrico (born 1957), known for her abstract photographs of commonplace objects
Raissa Venables (born 1977), surreal interiors
Ami Vitale (born 1971), photojournalist and documentary work, National Geographic photographer
Elizabeth Flint Wade (1849–1915), pictorial work exhibited jointly with Rose Clark
Eva Watson-Schütze (1867–1935), pictorial-style portraits, founding member of Photo-Secession
Carrie Mae Weems (born 1953), concerned with the problems of African Americans, often staging sets for her images
Alisa Wells (1927–1987), experimental photography
Annie Wells (born 1954), Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist
Eudora Welty (1909–2001), documentary work on the rural poor in Mississippi from the early 1930s and the effects of the Great Depression
Myra Albert Wiggins (1869–1956), pictorial work, member of the Photo-Secession movement
Hannah Wilke (1940–1993), performance artist and photographer
Laura Wilson (born 1939), photographic essayist
Sharon Wohlmuth (born 1946), photojournalist and best-seller author
Marion Post Wolcott (1910–1990), worked for Farm Security Administration documenting poverty during the Great Depression
Linda Wolf (born 1950), early work on French covers village life, later bus benches in the United States and multicultural portraits for Los Angeles billboards
Penny Wolin (born 1953), portraiture, visual anthropology, concerned with documenting American Jewish culture
Francesca Woodman (1958–1981), black-and-white photographs of herself and nude female models
Yelena Yemchuk (born 1970), fashion, advertising and album photography, also videos
Umida Akhmedova (born 1955), photojournalist working in Central Asia, arrested in 2010 for her images of the Uzbek people
Jill Furmanovsky (born 1953), rock photographer now based in London
List of women photographers Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
