Dorothea Lange in 1936 : the photographer photographed

Dorothea Lange : Migrant Mother, 1936

Migrant Mother, print 2

Migrant Mother, print 3

Migrant Mother, print 4

Migrant Mother, print 5

Dorothea Lange on how she took the Migrant Mother pictures(cf Course booklet)

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).

Distances

Intimate = up to 18 inches (45cm)Personal = 18 inches to 4 feet (35cm - 1m 25cm)Social = 4 to 12 feet (1m 40cm - 3m 65cm)Public = 12 to 25 feet (3m 66cm - 7m 60)

Shots

Close upMedium shotLong shot

Angles

Frontal, oblique or rear view

Horizontal, high or low angles

Distorsions

e.g. wide angle and fish eye lenses

Steve Cury

PAKISTAN. Peshawar. 1984.

Afghan Girl at Nasir Bagh refugee camp.

Steve Curry