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Dorothea Lange's Photography Essay

471 Words2 Pages

Her gaze is not towards us, her empty and cold gaze towards something else, maybe towards the endless fields, maybe towards some hope, it did not meet the camera lance. Her portrait depicts a moment of her own uncertainty, it does not require her name, silently expresses the agitation for her children. Dirty, seedy clothes and blank posture signify the hard work and limitations of the laboring class. As well as the involuntary gesture of her right arm, which reaching up to touch her chin also communicates the tension of her. Physical strength and limitless worry, a capable hand of productive labor and motionless absent-mindedness illustrate the futility. Somber gray tone and the bodies of the two standing children who have turned inward …show more content…

Lange captured this image as part of her assignment for the Farm Securities Administration (FSA) during the great depression years. FSA 's intention was to document the living condition of thousand of farmworkers and how their life is affected by this large-scale unemployment. Dorothea Lange told the story about this photograph couple of years later, "the decision to stop at the pea picker 's camp was fortuitous. She was driving home after a month in the field when she happened upon a sign identifying the camp. She tried to ignore the sign and drive on, but after twenty miles she was compelled to return to the camp, 'following the instinct, not reason '. She shot six photographs of the woman and members of her family in a very short period of time, starting at a distance and working her way closer and closer after the fashion of portrait photographer" (Hariman and Lucaites, 2007, p-53). This photo was first published on March 10, 1936, in the San Francisco News. It was circulated there as a part of the feature demanding relief for the starving pea pickers. The feature was successful to organize relief for them, there was no record of death for starvation. Still today this is one of the most reproduced images in the history of

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