RUTH ORKIN By Kelly Reilly

BACKGROUND Ruth Orkin, born in Boston in 1921, grew up in Los Angeles. As stated in the article Ruth Orkin Photo Archive, “[Ruth’s mother] Mary Ruby, a silent-film actress, and Samuel Orkin, a manufacturer of toy boats…She grew up in Hollywood in the heyday of the 1920’s and 1930’s.” Ruth was ten years old when she received her first camera, taking photos mostly of friends and teachers. Meredith Fisher writes in International Center of Photography, “She attended Los Angeles City College briefly in 1940 before becoming the first female studio messenger ever hired at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the early 1940s; but with no hope for promotion, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, tempted by the promise (empty, as it turned out) that she would be taught cinematography”

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.orkinphoto.com/biography/

CAREER PATH In 1943, Orkin moved to New York City where she started working as a nightclub photographer and shot baby pictures during the day. Fisher wrote, “Orkin honed her skills in portraiture by spending the summer of 1946 documenting the Tanglewood Music Festival; later that year, LOOK published her first major photo essay, "Jimmy, the Storyteller." She sent the series to Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947, and he subsequently included her in every group photography show at the museum until his retirement, including the great 1955 exhibition, The Family of Man.” Orkin also worked at LIFE magazine where they sent her to Israel in 1951. After Orkin went to Italy, where in Florence she met Nina Lee Craig, an art student and fellow American. Fisher continues with, “Orkin's photography is a celebration of fearlessness and vitality. While she accepted specific assignments from The New York Times and various magazines, she also had the freedom to work independently, creating photo essays and photographing famous people with the knowledge that she would be able to sell the resulting work”

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/merce-cunningham-totem-ancestor

ERA During the time Orkin was a photojournalist it was still known as a mans job. Orkin did not care, she loved to take photographs. Orkin was a Katherine Brooks writes an article in The Huffington Post, stating, “Orkin worked steadily from the 1940s to the 1980s, shooting for publications like The New York Times and Life, co-directing an Oscar-nominated film, and showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before she died in New York City in 1985.” Orkin achieved a lot and she did not let anyone get in her way. Orkin married Morris Engel, also a photographer and filmmaker. Together they produced two feature films. They lived together above Central Park, where Ruth would take photos from outside her window, publishing a book in 1978, A World Outside My Window.

Photo by Ruth Orkin Image Source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/ruth-orkin/three-white-stoops-view-from-my-window-on-west-FWDkT3iQi4aFHAp1sO4JMg2

MOTIVATION Orkin’s passion and love is what motivated her. Also, her window above Central Park motivated her to publish her book A World Outside My Window. Her husband helped with her motivation because he loved the same thing as she did. They did it together. Ninalee Craig also helped with motivation with one of Orkin’s most popular images, “An American Girl in Italy”. Brooks writes, “Shot in 1951, is not staged. Rather, it shows Orkin’s friend Ninalee Craig walking along a Florence street amidst a crowd of Italian strangers all too eager to take notice of a lone woman (they were aware of a camera, but not instructed to gawk).”

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.orkinphoto.com/

TECHNOLOGY Orkin’s first ever camera was a 39 cent Univex. In Popular Photography, Lynn Jones states, “[Ruth] shot with 35mm Leicas RF’s and 6x6 Rollei TLR’s primarily.”

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.bulgergallery.com/dynamic/fr_artwork_display.asp?ArtworkID=2102

ETHICS Orkin was always honest with her images. She wanted to truth, such as the men in “An American Girl in Italy”, she didn’t want the men posed, she wanted their real reaction. Another ethic that was important to Orkin was family. She worked with her husband on many projects. Once she had children, Andy and Mary, that became her favorite thing to photograph. Engel writes, “While living in the West Village she photographed many of the neighborhood kids, and immortalized a brother and sister in two sequences “The Cardplayers” and “Jimmy The Storyteller.” When her own children Andy and Mary were born, she kept 500-watt lights in each room of the apartment so she wouldn’t miss any special moments.”Photo by Ruth Orkin

Image Source: http://www.orkinphoto.com/photographs/children/

BIAS Orkin took photographs of anything and anyone. She loved to travel so when she did, she took photos of all the different people. Ruth told her daughter how much she loved Europe, and encouraged her to go there. Engel writes, “I felt a tremendous connection with her while I was there. Even now, with memories of my own, when I think of Italy, I picture my mother’s photographs. She captured its essence, as she did with most things.” Orkin was not bias to anything, she took photos of what she though was beautiful, she wanted to capture the moment it was happening in.

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.today.com/id/44182286/ns/today-today_news/t/subject-american-girl-italy-photo-speaks-out/#.WHhgcEko5es

PHOTOGRAPHIC STYLERuth keeps this image simple. It is just an image of a women sitting on a stoop outside a building reading something that peers to make her smile. Ruth also has use of lines in this image. You see lines from the bricks, the door, wall and steps of the building. The use of shadows works perfect for this because you can see the women’s reflection in the glass door.

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/198299189812813974/ (Left)http://www.photography-now.com/institution/artist/michael-hoppen-gallery/ruth-orkin (Right)

Ruth uses the rule of thirds for this image. The contrast is appropriate, you have brightness in the sky, and in the reflection in the water on the street. The brightness of the people’s clothes and the darkness of wherever they came from. You can feel the texture of this photo. You can see and feel the water and is on the brick road.

PHOTOGRAPHIC STYLE CONTINUE

This image is in black and white. Having it black and white helps show the cold and darkness of winter with the tress that have no leafs. The city is in the background but it is not the focus. Ruth uses good depth of field by showing the city in the back. The background compliments this photo a lot. It helps make this photo.

This photo makes you feel as if it is hot outside, due to the two women standing near water in their bathing suits. The women’s expression looks relaxed, the little girl as well. The main subject is obvious. It is obvious the two women are the main subject.

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.orkinphoto.com/photographs/new-york/(Both Images)

IMPACT Ruth Orkin is one of the most popular female photojournalist. She has publisted three books, made may films, has received many awards, such as; 3rd Prize Winner, LIFE Magazine’s Young Photographer’s Contest, 1951, Voted one of Top Ten Women Photographers in the U.S., Professional Photographers of America, 1959. 1st Annual Manhattan Cultural Award, Photography, 1980. and Certificate of Merit, Municipal Art Society of New York, 1984. And she also became an Instructor. She impacted the society by showing women they can do whatever they want to do.

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.orkinphoto.com/orkin-sports-womenrunners-minimarathon/

MY MAJOR AT AIC My major is Liberal Studies, so a lot aspects of Ruth’s career can relate to my major. I have debated if I would be a good teacher or not, and should I continue to work towards my dream of always wanting to be a teacher. I have had many ups and downs during my journey of becoming a teacher, but Ruth did what she loved to do. She never gave up, and neither will I. Sometimes in life you have to start at the bottom to get to the top.

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/an-image-of-innocence-abroad-72281195/

VIEWPOINTS Ruth Orkin was respected by people. She won many awards for her photos and films and her photos continue to be seen in many different galleries today. People also respected her because she was good at what she did. She didn’t care if it was a mans job, she was going to do what she loved, and she was going to be good at it.

Photo by Ruth OrkinImage Source: http://www.vintag.es/2014/07/man-in-rain-new-york-city-1952.html