What I found most interesting about the Migrant Mother was how one image became an icon for an entire period of American History. This image has been reproduced millions of times in contexts other than a photograph, like stamps, magazine covers, and still used today.
What I wanted to highlight about this reading is how Lange "admitted that she wasn't interesting in 'her name or her history'". She only knew few details about her and she didn't care. However, reading her passage in Illuminations, she was so compelled to take the picture, she drove 20 miles in the opposite direction to take pictures that only took 10 minutes to take. It seems like photography was her passion but by not caring about the people she took pictures of it makes her seem emotionless.
Another interesting comparison I found in the readings for this week was Lange's lack in caring to know who the Migrant Mother was compared to Welty. They both took pictures to document the depression and neither were interesting in the subjects personal history. However, in Welty's case, she said once the final picture was printed, all she saw was the face of the subject and their story in their eyes. Despite it was just a picture to document the time period, it was ignored because the personality came through the print. I think the same could be argued in Lange's print. While we only know little about her, her personality and her history shines through the photograph. You can see her struggle, her strength, and see who she is as a person through the image.
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