Esther Bubley

Esther Bubley (February 16, 1921 – March 16, 1998) was an American photographer who specialized in expressive photos of ordinary people in everyday lives. She worked for several agencies of the American government and her work also featured in several news and photographic magazines.

Life and career Esther Bubley was born in Phillips, Wisconsin, the fourth of five children of Russian Jewish immigrants Louis and Ida Bubley. In 1936, while Esther was a senior at Central High School in Superior, Wisconsin, the photo magazine Life first hit the newsstands. Inspired by the magazine, and particularly by the pictures of the Great Depression produced by the Farm Security Administration, she developed a passion for photojournalism and documentary photography. As editor-in-chief of the yearbook, she sought to emulate the style of Life. After high school, Bubley spent two years at Superior State Teachers College (now the University of Wisconsin–Superior) before enrolling in the one-year photography program at the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design).

After college in 1941, Bubley moved to Washington, D.C. seeking work as a photographer. Failing to find a job in Washington, Bubley moved to New York City. During the 1941 Christmas season, she landed a position at Vogue in New York, but she did not like the work. Early in 1942, she returned to Washington when she was offered a job as a microfilmer for the National Archives and Records Administration.

In the fall of 1942, Roy Stryker hired her as a darkroom assistant at the Office of War Information (OWI), With the encouragement of Stryker, and some of the more senior photographers, she moved to taking pictures for the OWI historical section, documenting life on the home front during the war.

Awards Distinctive Merit, Art Directors Club, 1943. First awards from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1948 and 1949. Third Prize, Life magazine contest for young photographers, 1951. First Prize, Photography Magazine, International Contest, 1954. First Award, Art Directors Club, 1958. Honorary doctorate, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 1991.

Monographs Zoo pals: Big cats, great apes—a look at zoo life, January 1, 1960 How Puppies Grow, 1971, Millicent E. Selsam (Author), Esther Bubley (Illustrator), How Kittens Grow, 1973, Millicent E. Selsam, A Mysterious Presence: Macrophotography of Plants, text by Percy Knauth, July 1979, Esther Bubley's World of Children in Photographs, June 1982, Charlie Parker, November 1995, Hank O'Neal (Text), Esther Bubley (Photographer), Esther Bubley: On Assignment, April 2005, Bonnie Yochelson, Fields of Vision: The Photographs of Esther Bubley, March 2010, Amy Pastan (series editor),