Dorothea Lange: Journal Entry

I really appreciate her photographs that she takes. her most recognizable and influential photographs of all time, is called the "Migrant Mother". The picture was taken February of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Its of the migrant mother and her children that were suffering along side her. You can see that they have dirty and old clothes on. They don't look like they have showered and they just look sad and depressed they truly look "suffering" . She took pictures in the great depression time and it really allowed people to see how it affected most people during that time. It brought to their attention how others were suffering.  


Dorothea had gone through a rough life growing up. She was diagnosed with polio when she was 7 and she started to get weaker and she grew older. It was very hard for her around the age of 12 because her father abandoned her and her mother and left them fighting for themselves. I think that is why i really appreciate her work, is because she had a rough life with ups and downs, but got through it and became a well known photographer. She didn't let those bumps in her life hold her back. 


When the Great Depression started  to impact peoples lives, she realized that the importance of capturing and recording the problems that people were facing was really a big deal. She didn't want to take pictures indoor because those pictures are not where you see the most suffering the most dramatic suffering was on the streets, so she went out and started to take pictures. She began observing and recorded all the people that were struggling and how they were trying to survive and that is when she really reached out and wanted to take pictures and document the poverty, so that later on people could look back and not only see the pain, but also feel the pain they were living in. It allowed the public to become aware of what others were going through.


As people started to see these photos, they began to show compassion for those who were suffering and really wanted to reach out and help them. As public started to help change the government started to see it and they all worked together to help one another survive and develop a better life and environment. 


She is still credited with having some of the most influential photographs of all time. She passed away at the age of 70 in 1965 because she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.