"Migrant Mother" and "Daughter of Migrant Mother" Response

When I would hear the term documentary photography I assumed that it was photography that was candid.  I assume that it is a candid capturing of a certain instance that can show something in the world that needs to be brought to the public’s attention.  As I have grown older and more informed I have realized that the purely candid moment was harder and harder to find.    

The Case Study in Wells on Dorothea Lange’s famous Migrant Mother photograph raised some interesting points that I would like to reflect on.  Hurley explains how Lange was never truly happy with the photograph because a thumb was in the foreground.  Lange had edited out the thumb from the photograph.  Some people think that altering a “documentary” photograph makes it not as much of a documentary piece because it is altered.  To me I feel that the old me would have agreed, but now I would be just as annoyed with an intrusive thumb.  I believe that altering the piece to make it formally more appealing or framing the image well is just good artistry.  It is not changing the meaning on the image.  As long as the image isn’t fabricated and staged then formal changes can be made to improve the image aesthetically are good.

Another point I thought was very interesting was made by Solomon-Godeau saying how the photograph of the mother and her children was an “individual misfortune”, and Lorentz noted that the photograph didn’t show all of the “drifters, the tramps, the unfortunate, the aimless dregs of the country.”  As I have grown as an artist I believe the Migrant Mother is a documentary photograph that makes a point.  I enjoy watching documentaries and everything has some sort of bias, agenda, and point that wants to be made.  Sometimes the views are so biased that it is almost uninformative.  I just see Dorothea Lange’s work as effective communication of a plight of an individual that can be the face of a movement, which is what the image has become.  No, she does not choose to photograph a drifter or a tramp.  It is because drifters and tramps are harder to identify with.  A mother and child is a long-standing image both is society and religion, the Madonna and child.  The woman and her children make a face that can be sympathized with.  Dorothea Lange uses the photograph to show how one woman feels, but also what most people can relate to.  I think it is an effective photograph that has become the face of a movement because of all that people sympathize with. 

After reading "Daughter of the 'Migrant Mother'" it makes you wonder how many people do not want their photo to be used for documentary purposes.  Even Lange thought that she would be able to helps the "Migrant Mother".  In hindsight the daughter says she was embarrassed of the photo.  It raises the question that when is it okay to use a photograph? I think that consent should be given first.  Does that risk ruining the moment outweigh the possible harm to a persons pride and feelings?