This is a photo of Japanese-Americans assembling at a control station in San Francisco for evacuation to Santa Anita. Dorothea Lange is the one holding the camera in the background. This picture demonstrates that these things happen. There are times when American people are dependent on each other and thats the best time to take a picture because this moment of dependence should last.

Picture by Dorothea

Lange

By Kobe Harvey

"DressMakers" -Alessandra

Dorothea Lange was not the average, everyday women of the 1930's. She was unique, artistic, and strong-willed. I've inferred that she did not believe she needed a man to go through her life. I see two girls mending men's clothing. I think Dorothea wanted me to respond to this photograph by saying that these women seemed to have little to no choice to take care of these men, and that she, unlike others was independent in her life.

Where Children Sleep: Violent Environments [Image]By James Mollison I see a little kid who is obsessed with hunting. We think that he might not have been raised right because of the amount of guns that he owns. We don't think it is healthy for a child to live in such a violent environment. He killed his first deer at age seven which definitely says something about the parents. At age seven he must have had his mom or dad with him which means they were ok with the fact that he was hunting deer. Kids that age don't usually take an interest in hunting so that means his parents probably pushed him into hunting. This photo might inspire people to help get kids out of harmful environments and help them grow up to their full potential.

9/9/11

Dorothea Lange and Social Documentary Photography

Dorothea Lange was one of the first photographers whose work really showed me the power of photography.  Here is a picture of Lange from 1936.  What does this picture tell us about her?

Lange is considered by some to be the most accomplished social documentary photographer in American history.  According to Wikipedia, the definition of social documentary photography is:

 

a socially critical genre of photography dedicated to showing the life of underprivileged or disadvantaged people

If you want to learn more about social documentary photography today, SocialDocumentary.net has many thought-provoking examples.

Lange's most famous picture is probably this one, taken in California in 1936, called "Migrant Mother."

Years later when interviewed about this photo, Lange said:

"I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it." 
        From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960


You may work by yourself of with a partner:

Go to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalogue and search Dorothea Lange to access her work.  Take your time looking through the results.  After about 10 minutes, choose a photo that speaks to you.  Post a blog entry that includes the photo as well as your response.  Use the questions below to help you formulate your response.

• What do you see, feel, and think?
• What sort of response do you think Lange wanted you to have?
• What story is the photograph telling?
• What details in the photograph help to tell the story?
• What role does light vs. dark play in this photograph?

This is a picture of a 14 year old, pregnant, girl who lives and sleeps in the house that’s pictured. Until her later stages of pregnancy, she slept on the ground. The room has the basic necessity needed, but it is definitely not the quality that most Americans are used to. Since the caption didn’t describe much about her situation, we are inferring that she may have been raped. This picture speaks to us greatly because it’s about a girl as young as us that has a life so different. If other people were to see this picture, they may not take so many things for granted and hopefully change their perspective on life.

Photo by James Mollison

http:/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/where-children-sleep/

Where Children Sleep - Isabel and Tyler

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/where-children-sleep/

James Mollison

I see a little girls room that is cluttered with trophies, ribbons and prizes from pageants. Her room has a Cinderella theme. By the look of this photo I can guess this girl has a pretty good life and her parents are wealthy. This photo tells the story of a young girl who competes in beauty pageants. Jasmine, 4 has participated in many pageants and lives with her parents in a large house. This photo speaks to us because it shows someone that is very lucky to have such a good life. It also shows us that we have to remember the children on the other side of the world that are sleeping outside on a mattress. This photo could change the world by showing people how spoiled someone is. It might want to make people think more about the poor people all around the world.

This photo showed us how different people can be. I thought this picture was really neat because of how futuristic this boy's room is. His bed is really cool since there are steps leading to the bed. This boy probably takes his religion really serious because he lives in an orthodox community and by how formal he is dressed and how simple his room is. He does not have any technology in his room either.

Photographer: James Mollison