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Summary Of Dorothea Lange's Everything Left Unsaid

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Everything Left Unsaid
“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind,” Dorothea Lange made this quote famous, she proved this idea through her widely recognized work. This photographer succeeded in capturing the era of the Great Depression in its most raw and forthright way. One of the most impactful and even conflicting photos that she ever shot was one titled, “First-Graders at the Weill Public School,” this photograph was shot in San Francisco at a War Relocation Authority Center. The picture is in black and white, the focal point lies in a section of what seems to be a line of five kids reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. As any viewer reads this brief description of the image it might seem like the traditional …show more content…

In an unadulterated manner, Lange allows the reader to be transported to that wearisome time... and lyrically gives the children a voice in this paradoxical issue.
Throughout time we see all forms of media altering facts. Overall, they offer assumptions and interpretations that the readers may not always agree with or trust. The Great Depression is one of the events in history with many opinions surrounding it, for the Japanese it was a truly tragic time, the American take on the same situation may be somewhat different due to the blinding patriotism. In all reality there are innumerable biased sources on this era. On the other hand, Dorothea Lange’s photographs represent an exception. They establish ethos, a trust with the viewer because all the meaning lies in one place. They are simply open to interpretation. Lange made a point of only emphasizing main, key components in her snapshots. Her strategy was waiting for the perfect moment to capture the photograph. …show more content…

She approaches sensitive concepts in a very unvarnished manner leaving the thinking and feeling up to the viewer. “First-Graders at the Weill Public School,” is an example of this, Lange approaches children because they reflect everything that is happening in their surroundings and are in some way victims of the decisions made by society. Adults make independent decisions based on their judgement and interests, which is why Lange most likely chose to take a picture of children, it is evident that they will inspire tenderness. This image mostly hits home due to the fact that it displays the effects of war, discrimination and hatred; this for the most part is ironic considering the fact that children have an unadulterated mindset. Lange knows this and uses it to highlight the dimmed brightness amongst all

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The organization that employed D. Lange was the Farm Security Administration because they wanted to describe the depression in society using the illustration 12.15, Migrant Mother, which depicts the hardships of life and the impact takes on the individual. Also to document the unemployed citizens in the world to demonstrate how challenging it is for people to live in such harsh conditions. The FSA thought Lange was an important aspect in taking images of the poor because their mission was to fight against poverty and to establish change. Capturing the woman as seen in 12.15 it help generate a difference for humankind so that everyone can visually see how hard it is for individuals to survive on nothing. Later on, this image started to catch

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