Ruth Orkin(1921-1985)

Ruth Orkin (1921-1985) was an award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker whose life embodied adventure and independence. The daughter of silent-film actress Mary Ruby, Orkin grew up in Hollywood's golden age and received her first camera at ten. At seventeen, she bicycled alone across the U.S. to the 1939 World's Fair, photographing her journey. After moving to New York in 1943, she worked for major magazines and photographed renowned musicians at Tanglewood, including Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. In 1951, while on assignment in Europe, she met Nina Lee Craig in Florence and created her iconic photograph *American Girl in Italy*, part of the series *Don't Be Afraid to Travel Alone*. Orkin later married filmmaker Morris Engel, with whom she made the Oscar-nominated *Little Fugitive*. From her Central Park apartment, she documented New York life in her acclaimed books *A World Through My Window* and *More Pictures From My Window*.