Category — In the Spotlight

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As Sara Krulwich walked toward the first row of students to show how close we should get to our subjects when taking photos, I could tell that she had a very outgoing and fearless personality.  She wasn’t concerned about getting close, and about doing something outside of the norm.  She was also able to connect with the class and create a comfortable environment, as she treated us photographers, and even complimented some of our works. Never in my life have I ever been complimented for my artwork, so when Sarah Krulwich, a renowned photographer for the New York Times complemented some of my photography I was both happy and surprised.  It is this personality that allowed Sara Krulwich to have a successful career as a photographer, as she took huge strides for women in what was at the time, a prominently male field.

During her classroom visit she showed us many of her photographs that she had taken or had been take of her.  One of the photos that stuck out to me was of her at the Michigan football game, where she is the lone woman on the field.  She was trying to take photos for the college paper, and in order to do so, she had disregarded the rules, which stated that women weren’t allowed on the football field.  This photo exhibited her as both brave and progressive. What I found most interesting about her was her ability to make the most of her opportunities.  When she first started off as a photographer, she was assigned to photograph sporting events.  She talked about the difficulties she dealt with in photographing sports, which included the lack of sports knowledge, and the criticality of timing.  If you are early or late, even by a split second, you will not be able to capture the moment you are looking for.  Although it was tough, she learned the ins and outs of photographing the fast paced action of sports.  Later in her career, she was able to bring this same style to theatrical photography, which has resulted in some fantastic, action-packed photographs.

I didn’t do it on purpose.  In class, when mentioned that I forgot to give the link to a photograph, my heart dropped, especially when I heard that the photographer would be coming to speak to us.  So my apologies to Sara Krulwich for not double-checking that I did not credit the photograph.  Ms. Krulwich appeared to have a masked anger when addressing this, saying only that people shouldn’t steal photographs.  I was slightly miffed by this, as I did not copy it with intent.

However, I understand this sentiment to be due to the pride Krulwich takes in her work.  She broke barriers in photography for women at the University of Michigan, and her bold personality remains today.  Her passion for photography was clear and that is respectable.

Most memorable is her advice to “not be afraid” and to “get close.”  To really capture something you have to get close.  Her personality and tenaciousness lead to her post at the New York Times.  It is interesting that she takes so many images a day at the performances she attends, only to have one or two picked.  Having to capture moments that are already crafted seems irrelevant to her advice about getting close.  But as her photograph of Richard Price (in my Price blog post) shows, she follows her own advice.

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During Sara Krulwich’s visit, she talked about many things in her life and how they shaped what she became today. From her experience on the Michigan Wolverine football field until today, photography and the way she approached it has been a key factor in her success throughout her career. Towards the end of her talk in our class, she started giving out advice on how to shoot pictures well and how it is most affective. One point she really seemed to emphasize on was to not be afraid to get close to our subject. When you get up close and personal to what you are trying to shoot, the overall quality and meaning of the photo comes to life. Every step closer to the subject makes a difference, and that was what her career thrived on.

Sara Krulwich was never worried about getting too close or too personal with what she wanted to capture. She didn’t conform to the “rules” or the “norm” of society. She did what she wanted to do, in a non-arrogant way though. She simply wanted what was fair and she stood up for that. In 1968, she became the first woman photographer for “The Michigan Daily.” Her freshmen year, while working for the paper, she did the unthinkable. She went on to a man’s ground! She stepped foot on to a football field!! She did what only men….and dogs were allowed to do and it was controversial. She was there to take picture of the game for the paper but security was refusing to let her remain on the field. But since Krulwich is very courageous and determined person, she matched the security guards relentlessness. She refused to get off the field ans said they would have to physically remove her. That moment changed her life. She ended up being able to stay, take picture, and change the face of photography forever. It was that moment where she realized she wanted to be a photojournalist.

Sara Krulwich was never shaken by the animosity she faced being a female photographer. Her fearlessness is what got her into photography and helped her remain there. “Don’t be afraid to get close” is what really stuck with me from her talk to us because you can tell how real that statement was and how she is saying that out of experience. It is that dedication that makes her one of the top female photographers of her field, and our time.

Sarah Krulwich’s career is a great example of how, even through adversity, one can achieve something remarkably significant and completely unexpected. After picking up a book on how to develop photographs, Sarah Krulwich became the first female photographer on her college newspaper. She was not particularly interested in photography, but she had a camera, and they needed a photographer.

By her second year on the newspaper she gained enough seniority to have calim an exclusive pass that let her photograph on the actual sidelines of the football field. The problem was that it was also against school policy to allow women on the football field. After a tense encounter with the men on the field she skyrocketed to fame for refusing to back down.

From then on her life has revolved around photojournalism and a handful of moments where she was the first female photographer to do something. She started off taking photographs of sporting events and eventually gained enough recognition to take photos of the New York Times. Even though she says she did not know anything about the sports themselves she was able to learn on the job by timing her shots split seconds before things happened, firing off as many shots as she could. In this way she was able to get the shots she needed and solidify her place in the world of photojournalism. She also explains how she was able to get quirky, or interesting photographs because of the fact that she did not know how the sports were played and therefore was positioned to take certain photographs that other sport photographers missed. This made her photographs stand out from the rest of the crowd. She explained how most people around her treated her poorly because she was a woman taking photographs of sporting events, but this did not deter her from advancing her career.

She eventually went from the first woman photographer in her college newspaper to one of the first photographers ever to gain inside access on a consistent basis to New York’s theater, opera, and dance. Her experience as a sports photographer allowed her to get the shots that no one else could. She would take pictures of active and energetic moments during performances; instead of the happy still shots that were usually sent out to newspapers before a production opened.

Sometimes the smallest things, like a little book on photography, can change someone’s entire life.

Spotted: Sara Krulwich, New York Times photographer, guest of honor at Baruch.  In her classroom visit, she outlined the progression of women’s rights through the lens of a female photographer. In an exceptionally well-delivered performance, she moved swiftly through various stages of her development. She showed us that what began as a passionate hobby as a college newspaper photographer ended up being a full-time job. Now a much sought-after photographer for the New York Times, her gender is hardly an obstacle.

Krulwich delivers a certain comic relief to the sad reality of the male chauvinism that existed in the 1960s. She says of her alma mater, University of Michigan, “No women, children or dogs allowed on the field.” It sounds like a joke, but it is far from comical. In fact, “there were no women in the marching band; no women cheerleaders; no women security guards.”

I know Sara Krulwich is coveted photographer, but her storytelling skills are also pretty impressive. She describes the fate from which she was saved when she was a novice photographer in college.  In her sophomore year, with a certain measure of defiance, she stepped on to the football field, camera in tow, ready to cover the game. The male security guards were about to physically remove her from the field, but decided not to make a huge commotion once the game was in session. That she remained on the football field was a direct lead for her to become a star in the photojournalism field. By doing so, her civil disobedience made a huge statement in women’s “power” in the workforce.

The other side of her presentation was more technical, discussing how she managed to buy camera equipment for very cheap in second-hand shops. Sara Krulwich struck me as exceptionally real person, a hard worker. She knew her limits and she fought them to get what she wanted. She had a goal and she was determined to reach it. Neither financial concerns nor sexual discrimination stopped her. She proved that nothing could stand in the way of motivation. Her presentation left us empowered. Krulwich shouts YES-WE-CAN! to women in every field.

The first photograph Sara Krulwich showed us was one of herself as a college student, standing on a football field with a huge camera in hand. In the background she is surrounded by the amused grins of the men in the marching band. Krulwich is on the football field of the University of Michigan, a place which at that time was forbidden to women and dogs. This moment marked the start of Krulwich’s struggle as a photographer. She is now one of the foremost photographers for the theatre section of the New York Times, but her struggle is not over. Photographing performances, such as Broadway and operas, seems like a relatively easy task however Sara is constantly fighting for the rights to photograph these shows. The producers want to convey a certain image with the pictures they release and are therefore very cautious about having anyone from outside their control photographing performances.

One thing Sara Krulwich constantly emphasized was the importance of getting close to one’s subject when photographing. She mentioned our street photography projects and how they could have been strengthened with the inclusion of close-ups on people. She also acknowledged that getting close is one of the major difficulties in being a photographer. I personally experienced this during my street photography project, as it felt extremely awkward to take pictures of people. I was afraid of angering them or simply looking like a creep. Sara Krulwich’s presentation made me realize that there is so much more to photography than just taking pictures and it gave me an even greater appreciation for this art form.

“No women, children or dogs allowed on the field,” read the press passes for the University of Michigan in 1968. A year later, dogs are permitted onto the field, but what about women? Sara Krulwich takes a risk as the first woman photographer in the photo department at The Michigan Daily and steps foot onto the football field. Threatened to be dragged off the field, she stands her ground, becoming the first woman to stay on the field during a football game at the University of Michigan.

Sara Krulwich has truly changed the protocol at the University of Michigan after her public display as a woman photographer on the football field. Ten years later, she visits the university and sees that there are “women cheerleaders, women in the band, women in the security force, women physical therapists and a woman photographer who happened to be the photo editor at The Michigan Daily” (NY Times).

Krulwich faced hardships finding jobs at local newspapers, but she landed a position at the New York Times as the first female photographer working there. Thirty years later, she has found her niche in working for the New York Times as a photographer for the theater department. Taking unique photographs that in the past were prohibited from being displayed to the public, Krulwich has opened another door to the possibilities for photographers, male or female. For three years she struggled to obtain permission to take photographs at operas and theaters due to the fact that these photographs could not be seen until publication; however, she managed to pull through and now is one of the main photographers capturing the essence of so many works on Broadway.

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A text message pops up on my phone: “Hurry up and get to class, the professor needs you!” I assume it’s a technical issue, and my suspicions are confirmed as soon as I walk through the door. I see this photograph on the screen:
Professor Bernstein and the guest speaker, Sara Krulwich, ask me to fix the projector, and after fiddling around with the brightness and contrast controls, this comes into view:

The Michigan Daily – Jay Cassidy

I take a moment to understand what I am looking at: A crowd exclusively of men, and one female news reporter wearing an enormous hat. What an extraordinary way to stand out!

Standing out was something Sara Krulwich has been doing in her entire life, and she is rather successful at it. A combination of courage, skill, and determination propel her to take pictures of people 10 inches away from their face, force her way into a men-only football stadium, and perform the many other difficult tasks that a photographer encounters on a daily basis. Clearly, this woman had a passion for her art, and it vibrated throughout the room intensely as she spoke about her life and career as a photographer.

Sara Krulwich currently works for the New York Times as a theatrical photographer, and we were lucky to have her as a guest speaker in our class. Her photography and stories captivated our class and she did not cease to astound us with big numbers: Number of years as a photographer, number of pictures taken per performance, and ratio of men to women in that football stadium. However, the most valuable piece of knowledge that Krulwich conveyed to us about had nothing to do with her alone, but rather with us. This message was not spoken, but rather conveyed emotionally through her presentation: do what you love, and. in turn, people will love whatever it is that you are doing.

The Michigan Daily - Jay Cassidy

It is 1969. Sara Krulwich is about to push down the social boundaries built by the sexist society of her time. School officials remove the ban against dogs on the football field for the team mascot, but refuse to make an exception for any woman. The men insist, “The sign says no women on the field,” but Sara has a job to do. She must get to her subject, capture the action and document the event. She gets on the field, ignores the protests, and accomplishes much more than photographing the game. Ultimately, she makes her dent on history.

Nowadays, Sara photographs scenes that are of a much deeper interest to her: theater and opera. The road to this position, however was not easy either. Like her early years as a photographer, there were obstacles keeping her from a close view of the action. Of course, she did not allow these hurdles to stop her. For three years, she worked towards getting permission to photograph the performers on stage. Through her unrelenting efforts, she now has countless photographs published in the New York Times.

Although Sara Krulwich’s main feats show her success as a photographer, I find her to be a bit more than just a woman behind the camera. She is a go-getter. She is a mother. She is an activist. She is a learner. She is driven. Through her short time speaking, she showed that having focus and determination could be enough to cut through red tape and incite change. Perhaps her intended message to the class was to get close to the subject when taking photographs, but the ways she has been able to get to her subjects demonstrates a much larger lesson.

As we all take our seats, I look around the room to see familiar faces. I see my classmates from IDC, a few friends from high school, and Professor Bernstein talking to a main in jeans and a yellow button-down. He looked like Richard Price, but I knew that this could not be the case, because Price would have to be really dressed up. I kept looking for the author of Lush Life, but gave up after a few moments of no success.

It came as a great surprise to me when Richard Price was asked to come to the stage, and that man in the yellow button-down came up. In an atmosphere where everyone tried so hard to look nice, the most important man in the room was wearing casual clothes. It became quite clear to me very quickly that this man tries hard to impress no one with his looks. I greatly admired that his values rested in impressing his audience with his rhetoric, and not his presentation. Momentarily, he started his reading of a chapter from Lush Life. We read this same chapter in class, so the ending was spoiled in a sense, but Price still managed to hold my attention. He was a very good reader, and I noticed some key differences between the way he read his story, and the way I read it for the first time. Following the reading of the excerpt from Lush Life, Price read an excerpt from his latest work, which featured the repetition of the word “God” at the end of every sentence. It started off as a humorous piece, but quickly became too repetitive and predictive.

Then came the questions. There were only two types of questions asked. The majority of them focused on how Price writes, and it was obvious that he was getting annoyed at these questions. “Write about what you know” seemed to be the answer to most of the questions in this category. The other questions were about the police encounters and how he knew so much about them. Admitting that he had some connections to the police departments in the tri-state, Price answered them all with a hint of pride.

Pride seems like a characteristic that many people take too far nowadays, turning it into arrogance. Price, being modest about his achievements, appealed to me greatly, and I admired his excellent writing skills. “Tell me another one” was not just a sentence that his niece kept telling him, but a line that stuck with me for a long time, serving as my goal when writing captivating stories. Of course, I cannot capture an audience’s attention as well as a renown author, but by adopting his style and techniques, I might come close one day.