Eight Girls Taking Pictures by Whitney Otto
Reviewed by Consuelo
Although a work of fiction, Eight Girls Taking Pictures is inspired by a few true-life female photographers, mostly from the first half of the twentieth century. It is presented as a series of shorter stories, a set of character studies featuring each girl separately.
I was quickly drawn into this book. It explores a time when photography was being discovered as a profession and art form, and also when women were trampling all over what had been perceived as their societal role up to that point.
Otto manages to create eight distinct women and have their stories reflect one another. They each struggle to find the balance of the different aspects of their lives – artist, lover, wife, mother, photographer.
Eight Girls Taking Pictures spans the globe from Germany to California, England to Argentina, but it never feels disjointed. Each section is well-crafted and seamlessly transitions to the next. Otto has created a novel broad in scope and beautifully simple in its execution.
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