Alice Austen, Gianna Bintas

Alice Austen was a famous female photographer in America who lived from 1866 to 1952, introducing not only a female lens to the world of photography, but her background as a lesbian woman. She built on that further by breaking away from traditional standards of the Victorian era, and continued to pursue her career nonetheless. In regards to the types of things or sites she photographed, it’s best explained by her title as a “documentary photographer”, where she mostly captures people and the environment in their natural, candid, and unposed state. Through this method of photography, she would capture the working class of New York, such as street sweepers, messenger boys, and newsboys, as well as her own friends and family, some of which included more intimate photos of her own female friends. She also photographed places and landscapes throughout New York including photographs of the Alice Austen House–a subject already still relevant to 2026, among others. Beyond her own house, which has since then become a landmark and symbol for LGBTQ+ history, the subjects in her photography are significant to 2026 because they show the seemingly ordinary life of ordinary people in New York, yet these are immigrants and the working class which the city is built upon, an idea that still holds great importance today. The “Pretzel Vendor and Emigrant” photo stands out to me, since these are two types of people that are still largely present in New York City today, and it captures how from what could be entirely different backgrounds the people in the photo are still talking and being cordial with each other.