Weekly post Dorthea Lange by Alli

Dorthea Lange (1895 – 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist who was most known for her photograph Migrant Mother, which is the first image shown here. She worked during the depression era for the Farm Security Administration, formally known as Resettlement Administration, which was established to document the living conditions of thousands of farmworkers profoundly affected by the economic conditions of the times. Migrant Mother is a photograph composed of a woman and three children filling the entire frame. The woman is placed in the center of the frame looking off in the distance while holding a sleeping baby. Her face appears worried, there is a bit of a frown in her face, and with her right hand she is holding or possibly slightly pinching the side of her face. On either side of her are two little boys who are leaning on her shoulders with their backs turned to the camera and hiding their faces. Dorthea Lange had approached this woman while she was working on an assignment for FSA. She was traveling around central California photographing migrant workers. While driving one day she passed a sign that read “Pea Pickers Camp”. She was already completed with her assignment and although she was compelled to visit this site she did not want to. After driving 20 miles Lange decided to follow her instinct and turn around to visit the camp. When Lange arrived she immediately saw the woman and approached her. She did not approach this as she would traditionally. Instead, she was alone and she did not have a long conversation with the woman like she normally would with her subject. She spent 10 minutes photographing the woman and then left, not investigating any others that lived in this camp. She says that it was as if the woman had been waiting for her the entire time.