Case Study: Migrant Mother

While Reading the case study on Migrant Mother, one thing really stood out to me; Dorothea Lange’s complete disinterest and disregard of the living condition and identity of the subjects. She purely was just the photographer, she did not get personally attached or become engaged with these people, she merely just took their photographs and then went back on the road. I find this interesting, I’m not sure what side I am on, whether this was unfortunate of her to loose the chance to know this mother and possibly help them, or that she was able to take this photograph purely from a documenter’s stand point with no bias influencing it whatsoever. Her photograph spoke to a lot of people, it was seen by thousands of eyes, and she was able to bring awareness to social issues surrounding this image. Than on the other hand, the United Press did end up searching and finding this woman, Florence Thompson, in her home, which was in very poor conditions, and seemed like nothing had changed for her. When they asked about her opinions about the image, she said that she was proud, but that it had done nothing for her. Dorothea Lange had taken a documentary picture that brought awareness to the social change as a whole, had people thinking about it and asking questions and I think that is a huge step. -Emily Walsh