Margaret Bourke White, Photo Journalist, 1906-1971

This free script provided by
Dynamic Drive

"I feel that utter truth is essential," Bourke-White said of her work, "and to get that truth may take a lot of searching and long hours." In practice, this attitude resulted in pictures of starkness and simplicity, but ones that were infused with a sense of humanity.

A kind of golden hour one remembers for a life time... Everything was touched with magic. -Margaret Bourke White

The element of discovery is very important. I don't repeat myself well. I want and need that stimulus of walking forward from one new world to another. There is something demoralizing about going back to a place to retake pictures. You can no longer see your subjects in a fresh eye; you keep comparing them with the pictures you hold in your memory. [The] world was full of discoveries waiting to be made...(as a photographer) I could share the things I saw and learned...you would react to something all others might walk by. -"Portrait of Myself" by Margaret Bourke-White

["Life" wanted] faces that would express what we wanted to tell. Not just the unusual or striking face, but the face that would speak out the message from the printed page. I am always looking for some typical person or face that will tie the picture essay together in a human way. -"Portrait of Myself" by Margaret Bourke-White

Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand. -Margaret Bourke White

---

© 1999-2009 Smart Women Invest