People always say that photographs can help keep important moments in their lives alive, or that every image has a story. In our history books, photos show and tell a story of the past. In 1936, at a camp for seasonal farm workers in Los Angeles, Dorothea Lange, a well-known Depression-era American documentary photographer and photojournalist, took the world by storm when she took a photo of Florence Owens; the infamous woman in the famous photo called "Migrant Woman". Although Owens never gave Lange permission to use the image of her and her children, Lange promised Owens that the hundreds of photos he had taken of her and her children would never be published. Without momentum, the next day, Lange's photos were published on the front page of every newspaper along with an article about the starvation of Americans working in the fields for little, if any, pay. This iconic photo soon became an icon of the Great Depression era in 1936 and showed the hardships of the American people of the time and the passionate love between a mother and her children. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Looking at the photo, the things that highlight in this photograph would be the sharp structure of Florence's face, the facial expression which shows that she is extremely exhausted. The roughness of her hair, the dirt under her nails show that she is dirty and unfortunately poor. Owens wears a T-shirt covered in dirt and a jacket that hangs loosely on his left arm. In the background, Owen's children hide their faces slightly behind their mothers' shoulders. The little boy on the left side is wearing a dirty, tattered jacket that doesn't fit him, while the other boy is wearing a worn-out t-shirt. The last child is barely noticeable but it is visible, a newborn is in the mother's arms, the child is obviously worn out and is covered by a dirty blanket. Although the photo does not say words, it shows that I am currently in some kind of emotional distress. In this image, Owen's face is the only visible face that viewers can see, so it makes it more compelling. From the way he looks, we can understand more about what he is going through. She seems very exhausted and uneasy about her and her family's future and well-being. Owen is currently unable to find a job after her husband died due to illness; this is why the photo is famously titled Migrant Mother. The way Owen's children lean on their mother's shoulder it seems like they are distressed, tired and as if they are hoping for any kind of miracle. Lange took this photo at the perfect angle, so that Florence appears clear and exciting, the absence of colors is what makes this famous photo so powerful. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get Custom EssayPhotography reminds us and opens our eyes to how devastating the Great Depression was. The Great Depression lasted from nineteen twenty-nine to the early 1940s. At the time, the American economy collapsed. It has been called the longest and most severe depression the United States has ever experienced. Works Cited Evans, W., & Agee, J. (2002). Let us now praise famous men. Mariner Books.Hine, L.W. (2007). Lewis Hine: Photographs of Child Labor in the New South. University of Tennessee Press. Lange, D., & Taylor, P. (2008). Dorothea Lange: The Life of a Photographer. Aperture.Lott, J. W. (2018). Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. Oxford University Press. Meltzer, M. (2003). Dorothea Lange: A Photographer's Journey. Dutton.
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