Imogen: The Mother of Modernism and Three Boys

Imogen Cunningham is one of America’s greatest 20th-century photographers. With a small group of photographers that included Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, Cunningham pioneered the renewal of photography on the West Coast November 12 is “Imogen Cunningham Day” in San Francisco. Imogen’s family didn’t have much, and life was hard atop the wild hill they called home. But when Imogen declared she wanted to be a photographer, her father built the young artist her very own darkroom. Flash forward! Imogen is a photographer and a mother. She has her hands full! How does she do it all? She turns the garden into a wonderland for her three growing boys and a workshop for herself. While she works, her boys play, and Imogen photographs them. Click. Click. Click. Photographing her sons leads Imogen to focus on plants and flowers — most notably her signature magnolia blossoms — for which she will become best known.

“With only a few dollars in her pocket, she opened a portrait studio in the city. She gave flowers to her subjects and told them to think about the nicest thing they knew.”
— from the book