Dorothea Lange's Life During The Great Depression

She soon opened up her own portrait studio. She was very successful in her studio and she even established a group of friends for the first time in her life. In 1920, she married Maynard Dixon who was twenty years older then her. She became one of the most popular portrait photographers in San Francisco. When she went on a trip to Arizona, she took pictures outside of her studio for the first time. This was where she first encountered people who were swallowed in poverty, hopelessness, and humiliation. She soon came to a realization. Dorothea Lange said, "It suddenly came to me that what I had to do was take pictures and concentrate upon people – only people – all kinds of people, people who paid me and people who didn't" (Sufrin 78). In the late 1920's, she had two sons. It was hard for her to juggle being a mother, wife, and a photographer, so her children were often boarded out. As the Great Depression slowly approached, tensions grew in her marriage with Dixon.

To begin with, Lange helped perceive the poor living conditions of the 1900’s through her photo of the migrant mother and three children. For instance, Lange with her photo of the migrant mother helped raise awareness, for the federal government gave the pea pickers camp, where the migrant mother had been distinguished, “twenty thousand pounds of food”. (Starr 48) The photo of the unfortunate pea pickers helped people realize how hopeless they really were. This creating a willingness to help. Showing Lange's photography ability to create empathy through a simple photo. In addition, the mother was so desperate for help that when the picture was taking place, “there she sat in the lean-to-tent” motionless. (Starr 47) The migrant mother was so

Dorothea Lange became a well-known photographer with pictures of the Dust Bowl. According to Garland 2003 her photography obtained government relief for Dust Bowl migrants because she “visually demonstrated the hunger, poverty, hardship, and the plight of the migrants.”

Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is a photograph that documents a moment of distress within American history. The image works as a visual representation of suffering for those who were lucky enough not to live within the Dust Bowl region. To many it is uncertain if Lange’s image became an American Icon because of the struggle it presented or because of the eye capturing composition of it. However, with this image came forth the issue of a photos validity after photo manipulation, as Lange edited the image by removing the thumb of the mother who was a large subject. Despite the slight manipulation in Migrant Mother, the photograph still presents the situation truthfully, making the photograph function as both a work of art and a historical document.

Dorothea Dix’s journey started when she use to teach Sunday school in prisons. That’s when she realized how prisoners were being treated and she wanted to change that. She was dissappointed at how harshly and abusively the prisoners were being cared for. What she did not think was fair was that prisoners were actually mentally ill and were in prison and not in asylums. She pushed and pushed for improvements for getting them out of prison and placing them in hospitals. She ended up building hospitals for the ill in 32 out of all 50 states, which was a great amount. After spending many years improving the lives of the prisoners, she went to serve as a nurse in the Civil War. Once the war was finished, she went straight back to solving issues for the mentally ill. She contined to help her community until she passed away. Her passing was

The country was going through an ongoing rough depression that the previous President Hoover left in the road for his processor, President Roosevelt. Although not only President Hoover decisions and approval of laws added to the great depression, but the

Before starting this project, I knew very little about photography, photographers, or exactly how much impact photographical images have had on our society. I have never taken a photography class, or researched too in depth about specific pictures or photographers. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the world of photography in order to understand just how much influence pictures can have over society’s beliefs, emotions, and understandings’. I have have chosen two highly influential photographers, Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, who I have found to both resonate with me and perfectly capture human emotions in way that moves others.

Dorothea Lange was born May 26, 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey, was an American photojournalist and documentary photographer. Her most recognizable work was from the "Depression-era for the Farm Security Administration (FSA)" (Dorothea). With her photographs it brought an open eye to the nation about how bad the Great Depression really was. Her work in these areas of photography develop the way we see photojournalism today.

Taylor hired Lange because of her honesty she showed in her style of photos and because she felt passionate about her work, which is parallel to what Coles states: a document is done with the bias of the documentarian. Another source that strongly supports and illuminates Coles thoughts about Lange and human actuality is Louis Gawthrop’s article: “Her fears are our fears, her visions, our visions, her images, our images--of the homeless, the poor, the ever-growing, functionally illiterate underclass, the continuing fragmentation of the family, the evil of discrimination, and the steady erosion of the human capacity to love one's neighbor” (64). Lange feels very badly for the children, and wants to do whatever she can to portray the sadness and despair occurring during the dustbowl era. Lange snaps a photo at a specific angel, with optimal lighting, having the subjects pose to her command, to create a story that Lange imagines in her head when looking through the lenses. All of the latter are constructed with her own thoughts of what sadness, starvation, and desperation are. As I mentioned in the introduction, Coles says that human actuality is a clear product of the documentarian. Dorthea Lange and Walker Evans are both credited for their documentary work.

Helen Levitt was an incredibly influential street photographer starting in the late 1930’s and was active all the way until the 1990’s. She enjoyed much early success in her photography career photographing day-to-day happenings in the world around her, this set the stage for a long and very important career. Her photography can be described as objective because through her work she represented New York in a non bias way, photographing day to day happenings in her local life in Brooklyn, New York and the surrounding city such as children playing in the streets (Broken mirror), and adults going about their usual business gossiping, and simply their city life (Checkered Car). However, some may argue the point the Helen may have done an outstanding job at creating the illusion of objective work by photographing specific happenings around her world, and creating the illusion of a status quo. As seen in the photo Girl/Green Car all was not positive, uplifting, and graceful as many of her photos represent, the girl is seen

Through out the Great Depression there were many photographers, but one of the best was Dorothea Lange. Lange was born on the 25th of May in 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey as the first child of Joan and Henry Nutzhorn. She decided to become a photographer at the age of 18. She studied photography at Columbia University in New York. At the age of 20 she began to travel the world. Later in life she settled down in San Francisco, California, where she met her first husband, artist Maynard Dixon. She had had to children Daniel (1925) and John (1928). She died on the 11th of October in 1916. Even Though some people believe Dorothea Lange was not a great photographer, Dorothea was because she caused great inspiration of those going through the hard

Dorethea occurred many setbacks in her early life despite her fame in later years. Lange developed polio in her right leg at the tender age of 8 and her parents got divorced shortly after. Lange walked with a limp for the rest of her life. Still, Dorethea excelled at school, and despite being a woman, she managed to go to Columbia university studying the art form under the guidance of Clarence H. White, a founding member of the photo secession movement. Later, Lange got an apprenticeship with Arnold Genrhe, a leading portrait photographer who was one of the forefathers of autochrome. Arnold would greatly influence Dorethea as many of Arnolds photographs showed the human struggle, and many of his photos were taken of lower class people something

Lore Krüger is a German-Jewish photographer who rose to popularity after her 250 pictures captured from 1934 to 1944 were found in a luggage she carried across the world and were later exhibited to the world. The images Lore captured throughout her journeys document day to day life during World War 2 as well as the lives of socially marginalized peoples such as the Roma and Sinti also known as gypsies. As an exile following Hitler’s rise to power, Lore travelled to most notably Spain, France, and New York photographing scenes that most resonated with her. Her exile and isolation from her native country of Germany influenced her selection of subjects by drawing her towards groups who also faced persecution as she did.

Dorothea Lange is an experienced photographer, born on the 26th day of March 1895. Her works have been a source of insight for many people and this has proved very effective to contemporary photographers. There are many works that this woman did during her time and it is important to acknowledge them. Migrant Mother is one of these works and the applause that it has gotten from the viewers clearly portrays expertness at its best. The photo revolves around the life and family of one Florence Owens Williams and was taken in 1936 in California Florida. Going through the various elements of this photograph is effective in ensuring that one understands the deep concepts that revolve around it.

The reason I chose the popular image of Dorothea Lange is because with the stance of immigration in the 1900’s many immigrant families were forced to live in impoverishment due to the lack opportunities. The black and white photo shows no color and that reflects the mood of a rough time for the mother and her children in the photo. Their clothes seem to be grimy and dirty and so does their skin. The fact that the children seem to be turned away from the camera puts emphasis on that they are in devastation and are in need. The mother and children’s clothes have holes are slightly tattered as if they were working in a harsh, rough environment. The negative area of the photo seems to be a tent of some sort in the background and the material is worn out and slightly dirty. The dirt etched on their clothes, body, and background just emphasizes that the area that they’re living in isn’t a clean filtered place and that finding a way for necessities was difficult, especially in a time of need.