The Migrant Mother picture by Dorothea Lange

[Domenico Foschi]

Nowhere the woman in the interview says that the source of shame was the photograph.
She says that was their conditions and the comments of other people that stirred shame on them.
Lange acted not only legally but also ethically and with deep respect, the same respect that exudes from the image itself, one of the finest if not the finest image that came out of the depression.
In my opinion "Migrant mother" is more a depiction of Human dignity rather than a document of the depression era in the US.

If you really want to argue ethics regarding a well known photographer you should be looking through Ansel Adams images created in the Manzanar concentration camps ( I prefer to call them as such).

 

[johnnywalker]

I think the story attributes a beautiful dignity to the woman. (And I know this isn't your point, but I must say; that's one of the most beautiful photographs I've ever seen!)

Exactly right.

 

[df cardwell]

If you really want to argue ethics regarding a well known photographer you should be looking through Ansel Adams images created in the Manzanar concentration camps ( I prefer to call them as such).

What are you insinuating ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Free_and_Equal

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/anseladams/index.html

 

[Domenico Foschi]

What I am saying and not insinuating is that AA created a body of work that was unrealistic to the conditions the people were in.
He created images lacking of power and mainly depicting people wearing smiles and being seemingly happy of the situation they were in.

Then, in the other end, he explained the reason for his book as such.
"The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment…All in all, I think this Manzanar Collection is an important historical document, and I trust it can be put to good use"
To which I say: nice try.
A photographer should leave to the camera the talking.
There were plenty of unhappy people in these camps and how is it that AA dished out all this images of people who faced their destiny with stoicism?
If you read this page http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/manzanar6/page17c.html you will notice that there were plenty of people that were unhappy and I cannot fathom how AA could concentrate on the positive if a lot of ugliness was going on.
There was plenty to photograph, he just failed.

 

[Whiteymorange]

I think Lange acted in good faith and with appropriate respect in taking these pictures (some of the other images here) Her own version of how they came to be casts a somewhat different light on the interaction.
As quoted on the Library of Congress site:

I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).

The story told by a woman who was 4 years old at the time of the event may be missing something. I also think that it is clear from the inscription placed (presumably by her family) on Ms Thompson's gravestone that the image was not a source of shame but of pride for them as a family.

 

[bobwysiwyg]

It was honored with a U.S. postage stamp as well. I can't see that being done if it were an object/image of shame.

 

[Vaughn]

Domenico, do you have any documentation of the mind-set of the people there in 1944 -- two years after the comments you linked too? AA photographed a community...I think you are wanting to see photographs of victims.

All I see are signs of bravery in hard times. A much stronger message to show to the outside world than one of "Woe is me" in depicting life at the camps. But, you are correct, it is not an expose of the of all the injustices faced by the Japanese-American population...obviously AA was not a journalist, nor approached that over-all topic as a journalist.

Vaughn

 

[df cardwell]

Domenico

The pictures, as were Lange's, timely. Adams intended them as propaganda,
for he was completely biased in favor of the Internees,
and there was an immediate need to portray them as human.

This would make an interesting topic on its own. But revisionism is unfair to Adams.
It is an exercise that can only be done by removing the work
from its context and substituting one of your own. Without the context of American racism magnified by the war,
not only would Adam's work would not have been done, there would have been no camps.

Immerse yourself in 1943 America. Then take on Adams.

 

[Domenico Foschi]

Domenico
Immerse yourself in 1943 America. Then take on Adams.

This image of Dorothea Lange of Manzanar is far more telling then all of the images from Adams about this camp.
http://www.nocaptionneeded.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/lange-flag-manzaner.jpg

The truth is that Adams choice was a political one.
Adams knew too well that pictures speak louder than words.

 

[Domenico Foschi]

WIth this I am not saying that Adams was a wheel of the propaganda machine.
I agree with Adams Humanism and love for Nature in general.
It's just that in this instance he probably felt thorn by the injustice that the Japanese Americans were going through and the wish to do something for his country in times of war, wish that was very strong in him if you read the motivation for him to work in the Manzanar project.


If you want to see some

 

[Alex Hawley]

As I understand the story, Adams was hired by the US Discernment to to do a photo documentary at Manzanar. A portion of those photos were published in a special edition magazine in January 1944. I have seen an original copy of that magazine. In its entirety, its mildly provocative. The more provocative photos were withheld from publication. Shortly after the magazine's release, the same Government that commissioned the work squashed it and the negatives were locked away for years. Because the Government "owned" the negs, they did not become a part of the Adams estate.

That whole episode of internment is one of the sorriest things the US Government ever did. The two Japanese-American combat Regiments fought with the highest level of bravery and distinction through the rugged terrain of Italy. Even that didn't help the plight of their families back home.

 

[canuhead]

...What would you do today, in this great depression assuming you are well dressed with a good job as journalist facing an unemployed family. What would you say to these people before taking their picture?

Me ? I tell people right off the top who I am and who I represent. I'd explain why I wanted/needed to take their photograph. If they agree, issue solved. Problem for me would be the names. I can't submit images without names so this would be for the higher ups to hash over.

Chances are I probably would also have taken their photograph before approaching them if I saw potential in it. You can't always wait to ask permission before releasing the shutter.

 

[Domenico Foschi]

As I understand the story, Adams was hired by the US Discernment to to do a photo documentary at Manzanar. A portion of those photos were published in a special edition magazine in January 1944. I have seen an original copy of that magazine. In its entirety, its mildly provocative. The more provocative photos were withheld from publication. Shortly after the magazine's release, the same Government that commissioned the work squashed it and the negatives were locked away for years. Because the Government "owned" the negs, they did not become a part of the Adams estate.

That whole episode of internment is one of the sorriest things the US Government ever did. The two Japanese-American combat Regiments fought with the highest level of bravery and distinction through the rugged terrain of Italy. Even that didn't help the plight of their families back home.

Alex, from what I understand, Adams was never hired by the US government.
In any event the government owned the negatives either since they were taken in a Military area or because Adams had been hired by them.

"The internment of Japanese Americans struck a chord with Adams when Harry Oye, his parents' longtime employee and an Issei in poor health, was summarily taken into custody by authorities and sent to a hospital halfway across the country in Missouri. Angered by this event, Adams leapt at an opportunity to photograph Japanese-American internees at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, which was run by his friend and fellow Sierra Club member Ralph Merritt."

from the Library of Congress website.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/anseladams/aamabout.html

 

[Alex Hawley]

Angered by this event, Adams leapt at an opportunity to photograph Japanese-American internees at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, which was run by his friend and fellow Sierra Club member Ralph Merritt."

from the Library of Congress website.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/anseladams/aamabout.html

Ahhh. Thanks Domenico. Another myth busted.

 

[Allen]

This article gives a different take on the story.

http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Depression_Mother

She said she was told the photos would never be published.

"While the boys were in town Dorothea Lange came into the camp and took her pictures. In Lange’s field notes she described the family as, "Seven hungry children. Father is native Californian. Destitute in pea pickers’ camp … because of failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tires to buy food." Florence insists that Lange never asked her any questions. According to Florence she just took the pictures and told her that they would never be published and her family would later tell Bill Ganzel, "There’s no way we sold our tires, because we didn’t have any to sell … The only ones we had were on the Hudson and we drove off in them. I don’t believe Dorothea Lange was lying, I just think she had one story mixed up with another. Or she was borrowing to fill in what she didn’t have."
When the story broke and the food was delivered to the Pea Pickers camp, the Owens-Hill family had already moved on and reached their destination, the outskirts of Watsonville, in Pajaro Valley."

And it looks like she did not like the photo.

“Florence always hated the picture and whenever she saw it would get angry because she thought Lange was getting rich off her image. However, because Lange was taking the picture for the federal government she never directly received any money.”

But in the end it did end up helping her.

“She always hated the picture but in 1983 it would come in useful. In early 1983 then 81 Thompson was diagnosed with cancer. Treatment of the disease triggered a stroke and she soon required round the clock care. By the summer of 1983 her bill was reaching $1400 a week. The family couldn’t afford it and turned to the public. Jack Foley of the San Jose Mercury News picked up the story and it got national attention. Soon envelopes started pouring in from all over the country eventually raising more than $35,000”