Powerful women shine in Susan Wood’s ‘Portraits’

Whether it’s wiry young Gloria Steinem at one of the first big gatherings of New York feminists, or a fresh-faced Martha Stewart carrying a basket of eggs on her Connecticut farm, Susan Wood’s images capture what her new book calls “achievers” and “trailblazers.”

But it was only recently that the American photographer and photojournalist saw a pattern emerge from her early career – many of her most arresting pictures starred women.

Susan Wood

Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg captured by Susan Wood. Scroll through the gallery for more portraits by the American photographer.

Susan Wood

President and CEO of Independent Women's Voice, Heather Richardson Higgins, poses with her pet snake.

Susan Wood

"We went up to Sonoma, where the goats were," Wood recalls, of her shoot with chef Alice Waters. "(The goats) produced the cheese in her farm to table menus. We got some very nice shots in one of the worst days ever for photography. It was pouring with rain."

Susan Wood

The fashion designer Betsey Johnson in a photograph shot in New York, 1966.

Susan Wood

"To me, it's all about getting them (the subjects) into their own activities," Wood explains. "This was before the Martha Stewart we know. She was a caterer... she had a beautiful house, she cared about the beauty of things."

Susan Wood

"With John and Yoko, we went around the house. They showed me things. We saw a bathtub, John got creative and got in. We got to the bedroom. There was a bed. I said, 'hop onto the bed.' So they got into the bed, and he (John) curled up. And after that we started doing bed shots and we made that very big," recalls Wood of the couple's cover shoot for Look magazine.

Susan Wood

In her book, Wood says writer Barbara Chase-Riboud, "who literally brought Thomas Jefferson's affair with Sally Hemings out of the closet," was one of her favorite subjects." Chase-Riboud wrote her first novel, "Sally Hemings," in 1979.

Susan Wood

Wood photographed Betty Rollin, then a television producer, in 1977.

Susan Wood

Janet Guthrie made history when she became the first woman to qualify and compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500. "The are just an amazing lot," Wood says, of the women she photographed.

Susan Wood

A model's jean jacket decorated with feminist buttons for a shoot in 1964.

Susan Wood

A shot of actress Jane Fonda in New York in 1971.

Susan Wood

A portrait of farm owner Marchesa Sieuwke Bisletifa stroking the neck of a cheetah in Kenya, Africa in 1961.

Susan Wood

Activist Gloria Steinem speaking with activist Barbara Seaman at a bra-burning event in East Hampton, New York.

Susan Wood

A young model poses for Wood in a 1971 birth control pill illustration.

Susan Wood

Wood captured this portrait of Monica Vitti in 1965. "I think that photography is a high moment whether its sadness, joy... (it's) a real moment."

Susan Wood

American author Mary McCarthy poses for Wood in 1979. "She has her hands crossed in front of the (founding) fathers of the country, looking just like them," Wood recalls. "Same outfit, white stockings, leather vest. And her arms are crossed."

Susan Wood

Actress Jayne Mansfield in New York, 1955.

Courtesy Susan Wood

"Women: Portraits 1960-2000," published by Pointed Leaf Press, is available now.

“I realized with an ‘a-ha’ as I looked through the archive,” she said in a phone interview. “I realized I was doing terrific work about women. I hadn’t thought about or deliberately gone out to do it.”

Instead, Wood said, she had simply been drawn to her subjects’ “terrific intelligence” and “openness.”

“There’s a can-do attitude about most of the women that I photographed,” she added.

With the benefit of hindsight, Wood is now showcasing the powerful and influential women she has captured in the book “Women Portraits: 1960-2000,” where Steinem and Stewart are joined by the likes of Diane von Furstenberg, Jayne Mansfield and Nora Ephron.

“The picture of Nora Ephron, I wasn’t even assigned,” said Wood, recalling that she had initially been sent to profile Ephron’s interior designer for House and Garden magazine.

“I came in and met (her) then,” Wood said of the serendipitous encounter. “I said, ‘Nora go sit on the couch.’ They became actors in this play. It was that kind of thing.

“I just responded because they were attractive and interesting, smart and stylish. The 1960s and 1970s – this period was so amazing, where women decided to go to work and do things that were significant.”

Wood’s photos started appearing in major publications such as Vogue, Life and New York Magazine in the 1970s and 1980s. Her assignments were varied, ranging from food photography to a cover story on John Lennon and Yoko Ono for Look magazine.

At the time, she too was breaking into a male-dominated profession, often assigned softer features rather than hard news or sport. Perhaps that shared experience – of breaking down gender barriers – created empathy and trust between the photographer and her subjects, allowing her to capture their private lives, unguarded.

The process wasn’t always easy, Wood explained, especially as she wanted to shoot her subjects doing something either natural or exciting.

“I tried not to let (the women) make me take photos with a bookcase behind them, showing how smart they are,” Wood recalled. “I tried to get them away. All of them are very vibrant women with strong personalities that they don’t hide.”

The compilation of the 86-year-old photographer’s works seem especially poignant in the age of #MeToo and the women’s marches taking place around the world.

“What we need is higher positions of power for women,” Wood said. “I just wonder how we get there.”

“Women: Portraits 1960-2000,” published by Pointed Leaf Press, is available now.