Pamela Booth (1914–1981): One of Fifty Women
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2026 2:12 PM
Description
In 1994, The Royal Photographic Society exhibited 50 Women, 50 Prints selected from the RPS Collection. Each photograph was chosen for the quality of the print and the process. Photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Gertrude Käsebier, and Dorothy Wilding, were very well documented, but they were the exception. Little information was available on the majority, despite their work being considered outstanding and the best of its type. So, on this day of celebration I have chosen the work of Pamela Booth (1914–1981), one of those women who I feel is greatly underappreciated. How she studied, worked and exhibited before and during the Second World War informs our understanding of how women came to the fore and created successful careers. A student of the Regent Street Polytechnic she studied under Professor Rudolf Koppitz (1884–1936) the Austrian Photo-Secessionist who greatly influenced the way she approached her own work. Her portrait of Frau Anna Koppitz is a distinctive daylight portrait contact printed on Gevaluxe paper, and was taken between September 1933–March 1934. Her portraiture style is distinctive, the study of the author Daphne du Maurier published in The Bystander on August 10, 1938, was taken in the year the novel “Rebecca” was published, and reflects the mood of the novel. Her work was considered fine enough to be used in an advert for Kodak Super Sensitive Panchromatic Film, and her portraiture filled the pages of The Bystander and The Queen, and was in marked contrast to her more personal nude studies. With the appointment of a Project Manager for the digitisation of the Royal Photographic Society Collection by the V&A, this seems the perfect time to carry out further research on the 50 Women in the RPS Collection.
Deborah Ireland is a writer, curator, and researcher on the history of photography with a special interest in travel photography. She has worked with both The Royal Geographic Society and Royal Photographic Society with her most recent exhibition, Space Steps at the RPS in 2019, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. In October 2025 she led a tour to China following in the steps of John Thomson and Isabella Bird. Her publications include Isabella Bird: A Photographic Journal of Travels through China 1894–1896, in association with The Royal Geographical Society in 2015; Hasselblad and the Moon Landing, 2018. Ireland also judges Travel Photographer of The Year for the British Guild of Travel Writers’ annual awards.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Ireland, Deborah, "Pamela Booth (1914–1981): One of Fifty Women" (2026). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day. 33.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2026/schedule/33
Pamela Booth (1914–1981): One of Fifty Women
In 1994, The Royal Photographic Society exhibited 50 Women, 50 Prints selected from the RPS Collection. Each photograph was chosen for the quality of the print and the process. Photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Gertrude Käsebier, and Dorothy Wilding, were very well documented, but they were the exception. Little information was available on the majority, despite their work being considered outstanding and the best of its type. So, on this day of celebration I have chosen the work of Pamela Booth (1914–1981), one of those women who I feel is greatly underappreciated. How she studied, worked and exhibited before and during the Second World War informs our understanding of how women came to the fore and created successful careers. A student of the Regent Street Polytechnic she studied under Professor Rudolf Koppitz (1884–1936) the Austrian Photo-Secessionist who greatly influenced the way she approached her own work. Her portrait of Frau Anna Koppitz is a distinctive daylight portrait contact printed on Gevaluxe paper, and was taken between September 1933–March 1934. Her portraiture style is distinctive, the study of the author Daphne du Maurier published in The Bystander on August 10, 1938, was taken in the year the novel “Rebecca” was published, and reflects the mood of the novel. Her work was considered fine enough to be used in an advert for Kodak Super Sensitive Panchromatic Film, and her portraiture filled the pages of The Bystander and The Queen, and was in marked contrast to her more personal nude studies. With the appointment of a Project Manager for the digitisation of the Royal Photographic Society Collection by the V&A, this seems the perfect time to carry out further research on the 50 Women in the RPS Collection.
Deborah Ireland is a writer, curator, and researcher on the history of photography with a special interest in travel photography. She has worked with both The Royal Geographic Society and Royal Photographic Society with her most recent exhibition, Space Steps at the RPS in 2019, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. In October 2025 she led a tour to China following in the steps of John Thomson and Isabella Bird. Her publications include Isabella Bird: A Photographic Journal of Travels through China 1894–1896, in association with The Royal Geographical Society in 2015; Hasselblad and the Moon Landing, 2018. Ireland also judges Travel Photographer of The Year for the British Guild of Travel Writers’ annual awards.