Leslie Sills writes about the arts with the understanding that personalities and challenges--both personal and artistic--can define a body of work. In this book, she documents the lives and the artistry of six women whose diverse styles as photographers helped to shape and further the art during the past 100-plus years. Sills also conveys an understanding of photography as an art form. In her introduction, she notes that “it is how and why ” an image is captured on film that can make a photograph art. “Cameras do copy what is in front of the lens,” she writes. Photographs are “simultaneously, however, creations of the artist’s intentions and unconscious mind.” The six women profiled are Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Carrie Mae Weems, Elsa Dorfman, and Cindy Sherman. An introduction to camera basics offers added appeal for budding photographers. (Ages 11-14)