Close Up: Photographer Suzanne Vlamis
Suzanne Vlamis was the AP’s first full-time female staff photographer. Hired in 1973, when women photographers were routinely channeled to “women’s stories,” Vlamis defied stereotypes and broke barriers.
She covered Super Bowls, Olympic Games and President Richard M. Nixon’s 1974 trip to the Soviet Union. In 1977, covering President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, she shot some of the first photos of the Carter family walking the inaugural route on Pennsylvania Avenue, the first time a president had ever done so.
In a demonstration organized by the Animal Preservation and Anti-Cruelty League, dog owners and their pets picket outside Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, March 1, 1974, in protest against importation of dogskin rugs. Friday's demonstration was aimed at obtaining laws against the importation of dogskin items. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Former Beatle Paul McCartney samples his young daughter Stella's cotton candy as the two sit on the sidelines at New York's Madison Square Garden, March 30, 1974, watching the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
““It’s ideas that make good pictures…Good photographers make—not just take—photographs.” (Suzanne Vlamis, 1986) ”
Czechoslovakia’s Martina Navratilova poses for the camera during a news conference at Forest Hills, N.Y. Sunday, Sept. 8, 1975. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
British pop singer Elton John makes a brief appearance at New York's Studio 54, Oct. 11, 1977. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Musician Dave Stewart, left, and singer Annie Lennox, better known as the Eurythmics, pose, Sept. 7, 1984. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Susannah Scranton, 6, left, and Morgan Phillips, 6, students at P.S. 41 in New York's Greenwich Village, stand before the locked gates to their school's playground, Sept. 11, 1975, which is closed along with the school because of the teachers' strike. The walkout, the largest in the nation, is in its third day. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Members of Monty Python's Flying Circus in New York, April 1976. From left to right: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. (AP Photo)
Romania's Nadia Comaneci, 14, performs her part of the balance beam routine Thursday July 23, 1976 in Olympic competition in Montreal. This multiple exposure study points out the grace of her movements, leading to a gold medal and a perfect score in the event. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd while walking with his wife, Rosalynn, and their daughter, Amy, along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House following his inauguration in Washington, Jan. 20, 1977. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
“…going to an arena and a stadium, which was a very male kind of an environment at that time, it really—I stood out.” (Vlamis in a 1998 oral history interview with Hal Buell. AP Corporate Archives.)”
Jubilant fan helps St. Bonaventure's Greg Sanders (53) to collect a trophy after the Bonnies won the National Invitation Tournament final game over Houston 94-91. Moments later, Sanders who had scored 40 points during the game was presented with the NIT most valuable player award. Game was played at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 21, 1977. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali works out on the punching bag at Gleason's Gym in New York on Saturday, Sept. 25, 1976. Ali was training for his title fight on Tuesday, September 28, against Ken Norton in New York's Yankee Stadium. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Former U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug addresses a rally in New York as thousands turn out to protest the repeal of a homosexual rights law in Dade County, Fla., June 8, 1977. Abzug, a candidate for mayor in New York, urged gay rights activists to undertake a public education program to gain their rights. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
This aerial view shows raging fires started by looters in Brooklyn during the electricity failure that blacked out New York, Wednesday, July 13, 1977. Police arrested an estimated 3,000 looting suspects, and firemen battled blazes set during the night and into the following day when power was restored. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
A father and daughter stroll past the four World War II memorial monuments in New York's Battery Park, May 29, 1977. The monuments list persons who died in the in coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean during the war. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Some of the more than 11,000 runners move across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the start of the New York City Marathon, Oct. 22, 1978. View is from bridge tower looking toward Staten Island, the starting point of the race. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
As a smoke bomb goes off at center, revelers welcome 1977 at New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Audience members raise their arms and sing during Jesus Day celebrations at Shea Stadium in New York, June 2, 1979. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Odilon Cerat, of Tupper Lake, N.Y., sprays high pressure water on the front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, July 26, 1979. The grime gets washed away after the water runs down the face of the cathedral for at least 24 hours. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Mick Jagger, left, and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones relax during a party at Danceteria in New York, June 27, 1980, celebrating the release of their new album "Emotional Rescue." (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Grete Waitz breaks the tape without a competitor in sight to win the Memorial Day L'Eggs mini-marathon, May 31, 1982. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gestures with her pen as she answers a reporter's question during a news conference at the United Nations, Wednesday, June 23, 1982. Thatcher met with the media after her speech to the UN disarmament conference. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Synchronized swimmers Tracie Ruiz, left, of Bothell, Wash., and Candy Costie, of Seattle, perform their duet routine in the synchronized swimming preliminaries at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Aug. 6, 1984. They placed first in the round. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor gets a new covering as scaffolding for the restoration work on the statue reaches to the torch, completely covering the statue, April 28, 1984. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes perform to the music of "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" in the annual Christmas Spectacular show in New York on Dec. 24, 1982. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
A New York City policeman speaks to protesters who parked themselves on Fifth Avenue blocking the Armed Forces Day Parade in New York, on Saturday, May 19, 1984. The demonstrators, who are anti-military, were later removed by the police. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Mary Lou Retton, of the United States, performs on the balance beam during the women's gymnastics individual all-around finals at the XXIII Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Aug. 3, 1984. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)