Dorothea Lange A Photographer Of The Past Analysis

Dorothea Lange: A Photographer of the Past “I realize more and more what it takes to be a really good photographer. You go in over your head, not just up to your neck.” This was said by Dorothea Lange, and what a smart lady she was! Dorothea Lange was a well-known documentary photographer and photojournalist during The Great Depression. The picture she is famous for is “Migrant Mother” and others showing the troubling times during the Depression-era (Partridge). One of two events that had an effect on Lange was her father abandoning her when she was twelve years old. The second event was when she was diagnosed with polio at age seven. The polio had left Lange with weakened right leg and a permanent limp. Lange had said, “It (the limp)
One, I have never realized how just one photograph can stop a moment in time. Freeze all emotions, actions, and thoughts. To be able to do that is a real special talent. And if the picture is a good picture, a person is able to guess what the person(s) is feeling, saying, and thinking in the photo. And the other realization I made was when you look at an old picture you start to feel nostalgic and filled with wonder. A wonder that takes you into the photograph’s world and gives you a taste of what the time period was like. A good picture, in my opinion, should tell a story. And most pictures do that because the photographer is telling the story of their life through the pictures they take. At the beginning of this term, I was very confused and didn’t have a clue on what to do or what to take pictures of. I continued to be confused and nervous when I developed my first roll of film, when I made my first proof/contact sheet, and when I made my first picture. Slowly everything I learned from this class and what I knew previously came together; I became more confident as the term progressed. So confident, I was asked to help other students make proof sheets and pictures. With wanting to go into the photographing world, this class helped me recognize what a good picture and photographer needs to become successful. The process of winding film, developing film, creating test strips, and finally, printing the image is a long process to say the least. I feel grateful with the technology we do have; for example, digital cameras, memory cards, photo printers at