Migrant Mother

I was familiar enough with this photograph to know that this article on "Migrant Mother" was missing key details about the series of events that led up to and followed its creation and publishing. Migrant Mother was one of a series of six photographs Lange took as she approached the family and at least three of them appear to have been posed in part by Lange (at least, shifts in position and gaze seem indicative of that), meaning that there was likely some minor collaboration between subject and photographer. Florence Thompson's anger at being an overnight media sensation is indicative that the sentiment captured in the photograph was genuine and that Thompson failed to realize what Lange was capable of doing with the photographs. Being thrust into the public eye and inextricably associated with both poverty and the fundamental economic problems of your country seems in this case to be violating, not flattering. She became a symbol for the people who saw her photograph in the newspaper but it's a shallow insight into Thompson's true personal struggle.

This article seemed more concerned with comparing the success of the photograph with the lives of the Thompson family than explaining the truth of the situation. It's unfair, I think, to fail to mention that Lange could not make any money off the photographs since they were taken while she was on government assignment and thus they are a part of the public domain. The contrast is greater without extra details involved, making it more sensational.