Jessie Tarbox Beals Self-Portrait

Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first woman to work as a news photographer, believed those in her profession needed to have “health and strength, a good news instinct that will tell what picture the editor will want, a fair photographic outfit,” and above all, “the ability to hustle.” This self-portrait gives us a good sense of Beals’s drive. She is pictured alongside her 8 x 10 large-format camera and her assistant “Pumpkin,” who is shown carrying a case of glass plate negatives.
When the photograph was made, Beals was working as a press photographer at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Her husband, acting as her assistant, produced prints of her work in his darkroom. She was the first woman to be given credentials to photograph the fair for major publications.