Vintage Cameras & Mid-Century Female Photographers

I own a white Beacon II camera which once belonged to my mother. The Beacon II, made by Whitehouse Products Inc. of Brooklyn, NY, was manufactured between 1947 and 1955. Compact and user-friendly, it was designed to make photography accessible to a broader audience during the mid-20th century. Previously, photography had been a professionals’ game.

The Vintage Beacon II Camera: Design and Features

My vintage camera and matching case

My vintage camera is made from Bakelite, a durable early synthetic plastic. The Beacon II features a built-in viewfinder and a collapsible lens panel, which protected the lens and prevented accidental exposures. It came in a few colors, including black, white, turquoise and red. Mine also has a matching case. Fancy.

The camera was priced at just under $10 (roughly $130 today) plus $5 (about $65) for the flash unit, making the Beacon II an affordable option for amateur photographers. I assume this was part of how it ended up in the hands of my own family, none of whom are professional photographers or big fans of spending m0ney.

With its straightforward design and low price point, the Beacon II helped democratize photography in the post-war era. This time period laid the foundation for modern photography as both an art form and a popular hobby.

Technological Advancements and Popular Cameras

The 1950s saw a wave of innovation that made cameras more reliable and smaller, encouraging amateur photography. The Beacon II, like other affordable cameras, helped bring photography into more homes. The ‘50s marked a shift in photography towards an everyday activity, especially in middle-class households like my family’s. 

With this shift, more families started to document their vacations, holidays and special occasions. Kodak’s marketing both mirrored and accelerated this trend with its iconic “Kodak moments” slogan, encouraging people to record life’s milestones.

Photojournalism & the Rise of an Art

In the 1950s, photojournalism began to flourish as a form of storytelling. Newspapers and magazines (Life, Look and Time), relied on photographers to capture social issues, wars and everyday life. This allowed people, including many women who couldn’t travel, to gain glimpses into the rest of the world.

During this time, photography also began to gain recognition as a legitimate art form. Exhibitions in galleries and museums became common. Some artists began to explore abstraction in photography by playing with elements of light, shadows and composition in their work. Others focused on fashion and portraiture, blending editorial styles with artistic flair.

The Women Who Defined Mid-Century Photography

Photography in the 1950s was a time of rapid change, driven by technology and a shift toward everyday documentation that has evolved into today, where everyone insists on a photo shoot with their food before eating. But before cameras were literally in our pockets, there were pioneering women who used photography as a way to unpack the world around them. 

Diane Arbus (1923–1971)

Diane Arbus is perhaps one of the most well-known and groundbreaking photographers of the 1950s, although I must admit I didn’t know much about her beyond a vague recognition of the name. In the ‘50s, she worked as a fashion photographer for magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, but it was her later work in the ‘60s that truly defined her legacy. 

Arbus is best known for personal, raw and often controversial photographs of marginalized people, from those with disabilities to female impersonators (early drag queens) to circus performers and other outsiders.

Why She Matters: Arbus pushed boundaries by featuring people who were excluded from the mainstream. Her work helped shift the conversation on the role of a photographer and the ethics of featuring unconventional or vulnerable subjects.

Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971)

Margaret Bourke-White was one of the first female photojournalists to achieve international fame. In the 1950s, she was the first female photographer at Life, which is pretty cool. Her work, which showcased life in industrial America, war-torn Europe and India during its 1947 partition, cemented her legacy as a pioneer of photojournalism.

Why She Matters: Bourke-White set a new standard, especially for female photographers. Her striking images of social issues, life in rural America, war and the industrial complex were not just revolutionary but also showed that women could thrive in fields that had been dominated by men.

Helen Levitt (1913–2009)

Helen Levitt was a documentary photographer best known for capturing street scenes in New York, particularly in the ‘40s and ‘50s. She focused on children at play and capturing the vibrancy of urban life. Levitt’s photographs, often black-and-white, show candid moments of life, capturing both the joy and the hardship.

Why She Matters: She was part of a group of photographers, including Diane Arbus, who helped redefine what photography could be in terms of raw, unposed moments.

Vivian Maier (1926–2009)

Like many artists, Vivian Maier wasn’t widely recognized during her lifetime; her collection of street photography came to light only after her death. Maier worked as a nanny, yet with her camera, she captured poignant moments of people on the streets of Chicago and New York in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Her work often focused on the working class and led to an impactful archive of mid-century urban life.

Why She Matters: Maier is significant not just for her artistic eye but also because she was completely self-taught. That she could perfectly capture fleeting moments with depth and empathy demonstrates the power of street photography.

Louise Dahl-Wolfe (1895–1989)

Louise Dahl-Wolfe was a pioneer who helped define mid-20th-century fashion photography. While at Harper’s Bazaar in the ‘40s and ‘50s, she was recognized for her use of natural light and outdoor settings, distinguishing her from peers who relied on studios. Her photographs convey movement and liveliness, and she was known for putting her models at ease and achieving natural expressions.

Why She Matters: Dahl-Wolfe’s work in fashion photography was crucial in helping the genre shift from staged, highly artificial studio shots to natural, candid ones that reflected the dynamic nature of the fashion world.

Breaking Barriers and Redefining the World of Photography

These women and their peers were trailblazers, and their work continues to influence photographers today. They challenged conventional norms, redefining everything from street photography to photojournalism to fashion.

This is what I love about collecting antiques and vintage items. The camera that sparked this article, which for years sat atop the vintage Telefunken in my front living room just looking cool, led me down a path of discovery I never expected.

When I discussed this article with a friend, she pointed out that it’s meta: I’m using a feminist lens to look at a vintage camera and discover a set of women who themselves used cameras to look at the world through their own lens of feminism, social justice and art. And that’s pretty cool.