We are in the final stretch of our World Photography Day 2024 contest and thought it was a great time to check in with our friends at the Flickr Foundation to get an introduction to some photographers who have contributed to the rich history of the world of photography over the years.

The Flickr Foundation was established in 2022 as a non-profit organization to safeguard Flickr and its extensive collection of photos, securing visibility for 100 years and preserving our shared visual commons for future generations. The foundation is dedicated to creating and maintaining an accessible social and technical framework to ensure the preservation of this invaluable collection. Today we are introducing you to some of the photographers who’s work is shared through the Flickr Commons.

Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870-1942)

In the Schlesinger Library collection

Jessie Tarbox Beals worked as an itinerant photographer in the early 1900s, taking photographs on assignment for newspapers and doing portrait photography. She went to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and took 3,500 photographs of the event creating a robust catalog of images that document the occasion. Thanks to her, we also have a wonderful record of women at work in Greenwich Village, NYC in the early 1900s. Beals, like many photographers, also loved cats and photographed them extensively. Check out more of her work in the Schlesinger Library collection!

Album of JTBs cat photos

Charlotte Powell, painter

Russell Lee (1903-1986)

In the National Archives (US), Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and Navy Medicine collections

Russell Lee worked for the US Federal government in the 1930s documenting the Great Depression, the drought and their effects on rural Americans. He worked with other photographers such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange but was uninterested in celebrity. He was a believer in the power of photography to create social change and documented difficult living conditions of people in America. He wanted to influence the viewer “to shape their attitude toward certain public facts.” Lee said, of his work with the Farm Security Administration, “I sort of felt that by means of these pictures, we were helping some. . . parts of the country understand what the other parts were like.” The US National Archives is showing his photographs now through Sunday, July 6, 2025 in the Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey exhibition. The National Archives were able to connect with descendants of people in his photographs and bring them together for the exhibition opening.

Tagged for evacuation, Salinas, California, May 1942 – note this is NOT a commons account but someone sharing a PD photo of Lee’s

Distributing surplus commodities, St. Johns, Ariz.

Orchestra at square dance in McIntosh County, Oklahoma

Eli Sanders, Tipple Worker, Loads Coal on Car Which Has Fallen off Cars enroute to Tipple

Explore this Flickr gallery of the Russell Lee exhibition opening. Because of Lee’s government work, his photos, and photos of his photos, are available in the collections of four of our Flickr Commons members [National Archives (US), Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and Navy Medicine].

Max Dupain (1911–1992)

In the State Library of NSW collection 

Max Dupain was a modernist, Australian photographer but his day job was capturing architectural and product photography. Dupain’s image, The Sunbaker, is one of the most recognizable Australian images. His hobby photographs include images of the ballet and his classic collection of camping photographs. Dupain’s entire photographic collection of over 28,000 images is held by the State Library of New South Wales, and many are shared via Flickr Commons.

The Sunbaker image by Dupain

Dupain Self-Portrait

AWA Building, 1938

Bodenwieser Ballet dancers, 1939

Visit the Flickr Commons for more!

Many, many more of our photographers are captured in photographs in Flickr Commons and the work of hundreds if not thousands more photographers live in the Flickr Commons, but sadly many of their identities are unknown. To get involved, we encourage you to visit Flickr Commons and browse through the albums. If you have any information to share on the history or origins of a photo, you are invited to leave comments on those photos to help in the continuing process of identifying and documenting these subjects and moments in time.

We are so lucky we get to enjoy the careful curation of our Flickr Commons members, and that the larger Flickr community helps to put names to faces and build knowledge about our world’s cultural heritage. To see the full gallery we’ve curated to honor some of these amazing photographers, visit the Flickr Foundation’s Flickr site!

Strandfotograaf / Beach Photographer

Group of photographers posing in a studio

Two photographers taking each others’ picture with hand-held cameras while perched on a roof

Continuing the work.

The Flickr Foundation wants to help the work of these photographers stay visible and accessible for 100 years and we’re doing the work to make that happen. Read about our Data Lifeboat project or dive into our Commons Explorer to see all of the great curated images from over 100 cultural heritage institutions around the world.

Join the first virtual Flickr Foundation Conversation
To learn even more about the Flickr Foundation join us for a discussion on the Flickr Foundation’s mission to preserve our shared visual heritage for future generations. This event will explore our innovative approaches to digital preservation, community engagement, and technological advancement.

• Register to attend the Meet The Foundation virtual event on September 26th

Author: Jessamyn, Flickr Commons Community Manager