Speaking for the Man

Kenneth Jarecke
3 min readFeb 19, 2017
A completely random image that may or may not have anything to do with this essay. Kenneth Jarecke/Contact Press Images ©2017

I should probably keep my mouth shut. It’s so much easier that way, but that’s not my way. If I could, I never would have picked up a camera in the first place. I’m writing to correct some (what I can only assume are) youth-based misconceptions that I just read on the New York Times Lens Blog.

You can read the original piece here.

Let me start out by giving you a list; Margaret Bourke White, Dorothea Lange, Lee Miller, Eve Arnold, Catherine Leroy, Fifi de Mulder, Susan Meiselas, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Carol Guzy, Alexandra Avakian, Alexandra Boulat, Lauren Greenfield and Yunghi Kim. Extraordinary photojournalists and extraordinary people, regardless of their private parts.

Here’s another list; Karen Mullarkey, Bobbie Baker Burrows, Barbara Sadick, Michele Stephenson, and MaryAnne Golon. These are extraordinary people who were extremely instrumental to me in my career, regardless of their private parts.

Both lists are far from complete. I apologize for any embarrassment I may cause through omitting or including your names.

To be sure, there have been far more men than women photojournalists and editors throughout the history of the medium, but there are no victims on my lists. These are world-class, groundbreaking, (occasionally) ball busting, professionals who have influenced the art of photojournalists to a…

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Kenneth Jarecke

I'm a husband, dad, photographer, a writer (sort of), an occasional rancher and the Founder of The Curious Society. https://www.curious-society.org