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‘Migrant Mother’ by Dorothea Lange

Sometimes a photograph can stop you in your tracks – you’re almost spellbound and its power deeply moves you. That’s how I felt the very first time I saw ‘Migrant Mother’ by Dorothea Lange. I hadn’t seen this photograph until well into adulthood, so perhaps its impact and meaning were amplified with more mature eyes and life perspective.

‘Migrant Mother’ by Dorothea Lange, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-9058-C

Impoverished, destitute and homeless, I could only imagine what suffering this family was experiencing. The look on the mother’s face embodied so many emotions; deep concern and worry, apprehension about the future, a wistful longing. Despair. Yet there was something more, a glimmer of hope and determination, a quiet dignity and stoic resilience, a heroic fortitude of the human spirit.

I knew the photograph was taken in America during the Great Depression, but I was determined to learn more and began to look into the background and context of this compelling image.

Dorothea Lange

The author, Dorothea Lange (1895 – 1965) was a professional photographer contracted by the US Government’s Farm Security Administration to drive around California, documenting and raising awareness of the struggles of rural life and impoverished farmers. In early 1936, Lange came across the pea fields of Nipomo. The pea crop had failed and migrant labour camps were full of unemployed field workers whose livelihoods were destroyed.

Lange recounts: “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 32. 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 the 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.”

Lange, Dorothea, “The Assignment I’ll Never Forget: Migrant Mother” Popular Photography, February 1960

Other photographs in Dorothea Lange's sequence of images

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USZ62-58355

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-9095

The now famous mother in the photograph was Florence Owens Thompson (1903 – 1983). Interestingly, Thompson’s identity was not revealed until many years after their encounter.
Although ‘Migrant Mother’ became the most well known and widely publicised image from this series, the other shots also convey the stark, desperate and unforgiving conditions in which Thompson and her family were forced to eke out a meagre existence.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-9097-C

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs DivisionFSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-T01-009093-C

In her biography of Lange, Linda Gordon describes Lange’s process: “Lange asked the mother and children to move into several different positions. She began with a mid-distance shot. Then she backed up for one shot, then came closer for others. She moved aside a pile of dirty clothes (she would never embarrass her subjects). She then moved closer yet, focusing on three younger children and sidelining the teenage daughter out of the later pictures altogether.”

Linda Gordon, ‘Dorothea Lange: A Life beyond Limits’, 2009, pub. W. W. Norton & Company

Upon finishing her assignment, Lange approached the editor of a San Francisco newspaper. After presenting two of her images, one of which was ‘Migrant Mother’, the paper published an article featuring Lange’s photographs and the editor alerted federal authorities. As a result, the government dispensed 20,000 pounds of food to the families in desperate need.

This iconic image immediately became a symbol of the plight and desperation of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. In fact, the then Director of the Farm Security Administration, Roy Stryker, supported and advanced the collection of more than 270,000 images which were commissioned from numerous photographers throughout the country. The intention behind their collection and publication was to draw attention to, and increase public awareness of the adversity and hardship endured by displaced farming families and migrant workers.

* * *

Having explored the history and context of this photograph, my appreciation has only grown; not only for its power as an individual image, but its power as a force and instigator for social change. I can’t help but feel now is also a critical time in our history when we need more Dorothea Langes and ‘Migrant Mothers’ to shock, motivate and inspire us all.

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted Reality

Jane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

Exposed #16: Back in the Fold

Spoiler Alert! In my 'Exposed' series of articles I reveal some of the secrets behind how I created my images. If you don't want to know how I made 'Back in the Fold' stop reading now!

With today’s abundance of technology and amazing gadgets, it’s easy to forget about the humble piece of paper! Despite having a cell phone, I still use a good, old-fashioned diary to write down all of my daily tasks and appointments; I still write little reminder notes to myself and leave them on the kitchen table if there’s a small, miscellaneous thing I need to do. Thank goodness we don’t yet live in a paperless society – if we did, I’d never have had the pleasure of creating ‘Back in the Fold’.

Ever Versatile Card and Paper

Anything and everything are fair game for my photography and pieces of card and paper are no exception.

Flower wrapping paper

This multi-coloured paper was originally wrapped around some beautiful flowers which my husband bought for me. Once the flowers were spent, I kept the paper, thinking it might come in handy for a photo shoot one day. What attracted me the most was the interplay of green and pink – I liked how the colours complemented each other.

This must have been stewing in my subconscious for a while because after a few weeks I remembered I had some green card which was the same colour as the green side of the paper. I grabbed it and decided I would combine this with the paper’s pink side. Now, having two flat pieces of card and paper is not very exciting. So, I got creative, cutting and folding sections of the card to make it more three-dimensional.

Folded card

So far so good. Taking advantage of a beautiful sunny and windless day, I ventured outside and placed my props on top of our picnic table. Of course, shadows now came into play with the bright sunlight. That was perfect. I had great fun experimenting by placing the card on subtly different angles to see what effect that would have with the shadow lines.

Original image

After reviewing my images from the shoot, I finally selected this one. With a few tweaks to improve the colours and contrast, the final version became ‘Runaway Construction’.

‘Runaway Construction’

A Triptych Touch

For a few years, that’s how the image remained. But I can’t resist keeping my triptych fingers off my images for long. With its strong geometric shapes and interplay of lines, ‘Runaway Construction’ fitted the bill perfectly for some additional triptych tinkering.

The first crop was pretty straightforward. I’d need something solid for the bottom panel.

Bottom Panel

For the top panel I wanted to include as much of the intricate shadow effects as possible.

Top Panel

As it turned out, there was a degree of overlap within the panels. I’m definitely not averse to doing this if it’s employed for sound compositional reasons.

Panel overlap

However, two panels do not a triptych make! There was really only one viable choice – to create a mirror image of the top section using a ‘T cut’ construction.

‘Back in the Fold’

I must confess, I was a little dubious as to whether this would work as there was the potential for the triptych to be unbalanced. There’d be nothing supporting the bottom of the top right panel. However, when I saw the final result, I was thrilled. With daredevil, gravity-defying poise and balance, the whole image seems to remain ‘standing’. To this day, I haven’t been able to work out why! But sometimes, a little mystery in life’s a good thing…

‘Back in the Fold’ is not my only triptych using paper as the source material. If you’d like to see another example, please visit ‘Exposed #8’ on ‘Astral Plane and ‘Mystique’.

An Evolutionary Viewpoint – How Ideas Grow and Develop

Creativity is a wonderful thing. Never static, your mind can be subconsciously mulling over ideas which suddenly burst forth when you least expect them. Inspiration drawn from previous experience or a tangential flight of fancy will coalesce, and a new plan form from untapped possibilities and unexplored connections.

I know – I’m getting a little carried away, but it’s a topic which is close to my heart and one which I find really exciting! This blog post is all about how ideas can grow and develop, and how one shot can stimulate another idea which extends and expands upon your original concept.

I’m going to follow two sequences through, revealing my thought processes and how working on one shot directly lead to the creation of another.

Curtain & Clotheshorse

‘Curtain Call’

I took this quirky little shot called ‘Curtain Call’ many years ago as part of a ‘Lines & Curves’ Study. I thought the idea had potential as I found the recurring curves to be quite pleasing. It was almost wave-like and I could imagine gentle undulations moving back and forth.

I created ‘Curtain Call’ by pulling the curtains across the blinds, allowing the sun to stream in from behind. Seeing how well the strong backlighting worked with the shadows on the fabric, I decided to try another shot using these elements. I kept a linear aspect but this time, introduced more colour into the equation. I liked ‘Curtain Call’, but was hankering after something with a brighter ‘pop’, so I hunted out the most colourful scarf I possessed and decided to drape it over my clotheshorse.

The resulting image on the right, ‘Horse and Scarf Perspective’ was more along the lines of what I wanted.

Still not completely satisfied, I started to make the connection back to the blinds in the lounge. While the clotheshorse made an interesting design, it was rather sparse and I wanted more drama in the shot. The repetition of the narrow blinds would give me far more scope with which to play around. So, out came the pegs and up went the scarf!

‘Colour Contours’

‘Colour Contours’ was the result. If you’d like to delve a little deeper into how I created this image, please visit its Exposed post where I go behind the scenes in more detail.

I definitely had fun working my way through the process of creating these images. Building upon what I had previously achieved, it was very much a case of embracing the learning curve as things began to percolate in my mind.

Stripy Bag & Shiny Stuff

This next sequence outlines how I used one particular item or prop, in combination with several other objects. In my experience, once you’ve found a favourite item with much potential, you start using it a lot to discover all of the things you can come up with. One of my ‘favourite items’ was, and still is, a very groovy, multi-coloured stripy bag.

Here, I’ve used the stripy bag in conjunction with a large torch. I was thinking about how the bag’s many colours would be reflected in the metallic surface.

‘Torchlight’

This is what I came up with – ‘Torchlight’. You can see the effect of the torch’s smaller rectangular sections which add an element of texture and particular distinction of colour. It’s a soft image, which to me, has a sense of circularity and an almost 3D effect with the bulb coming out at you.

I liked the idea of reflecting the bag in metallic surfaces and was pleased with how well the torch worked. So next, I decided to go for something smaller – some crinkly tinfoil. As you can see, the colours began to spill out over the foil. I knew I’d have to get in very close, so used a macro lens with a very narrow depth of field.

‘Air Guitar’

‘Air Guitar’ is the end result. Perhaps it’s the musician in me, but I see a misshapen and impressionistic-looking guitar rising from the ground. Imagination running amuck, I also envisage a strange mysterious landscape, the ‘guitar’ some ancient, stony monolith.

The final instalment in the stripy bag adventure was a date with a teapot! You can see the wonderfully distorted, misshapen lines and curves, and the dance of colour on the surface of the metal.

‘Splay of Colour’ & ‘Psychedelic Brew’

I enjoyed this particular photoshoot very much and several images resulted, two of which are above – the triptych ‘Splay of Colour’ and ‘Psychedelic Brew’.

You can check out ‘Splay of Colour’s’ Exposed blog post if you’d like to find out more about this particular image.

A Stimulating Process

I hope this selection of images has given you an appreciation of how ideas can form, and then inform and influence subsequent photo shoots and projects. It can be a very stimulating process. While the journey’s not always apparent from the beginning, it’s definitely fun to look back and review the pathways you took to get there.