The picture I choose was taken by Dorothea Lange, in July of 1936. Dorothea was known for taking picture during the Great Depression. This picture was taken in Mississippi, the Delta area to be exacted of four Negro children. The delta area was affected by the mechanization that started in the 1930s that altered agricultural economics, as thousands of laborers were no longer needed and migrated North(Wikipedia). This picture was taken toward the end of the Depression but the people where still effect by it. "The Southern Blacks felt the worst of this economic despair, as seen by the grand migration of blacks to the north and west. There opinion of their social status however differed from one interviewee to the other. Some said the life the lived currently was worse than the life of slavery that they used to live; some said their life now was easier than the life of slavery and some yet said it did not make a difference free or enslaved" (Briggs). By 1932, Harlem had an unemployment rate of 50 percent and property owned or managed by blacks fell from 30 percent to 5 percent in 1935. Farmers in the Midwest were doubly hit by economic downturns and the Dust Bowl. Schools, with budgets shrinking, shortened both the school day and the school year (Elenore). I hope that people reading my blog and looking at the picture I chose, will get a better understanding of the children and the environment of this time period. The hue the photographer chose was black and white or gray. This to me is soft, quiet and inviting. I want people to feel (or pathos) how they might have been feeling and to understand the situation or event that is going on in this time period. I want people to picture in their head the hardship the United States was going through. To see that everyone was affected by the Depression even wealthy people, but the South and African Americans took it the hardest.
When looking at this picture the hue is obviously black and white. I think she chose to take it black and white because colors of a photograph can bring out different emotional responses or pathos in us. As it says in the book "our responses are not random but instead have much to do with what we have learned to associate with different colors"(Lynch). People have done studies to see what color's to use to get people attention or to make their point. I believe photographs do the same thing when taking photographs. The lack of saturation draws you into certain areas of the pictures. "A highly colorful stimulus is vivid and intense, while a less colorful stimulus appears more muted” and I believe this picture feels that way. Sure as the shadows on the faces and on the porch stick out to me. This picture is somewhat bright. It does show that is was a sunny day because of the shadows on the children’s face and on the porch. It also helps you to see that there is dirt on their legs. Whether it’s from playing or working in the fields, I’m not sure.
When looking at this picture, my attention was drawn to the little girl sitting and then to the boy standing looking at us. The girl is in the middle of the page and looking off to the side so that's why our attention is drawn to her first. She may have being looking at the person in the rocking chair or another child playing on the porch. Then our attention is drawn to the little boy because of his facial expressions. He is looking right at us in this picture but his stare goes right through us. He looks as if he’s sad or trying to be tough. This photo makes me think that Dorothy (the photographer) was taking this picture to make people aware of what was going on in the United States. I believe capturing people’s facial expressions can say a lot about a situation or a moment.
Photographs provide a visual record of events, people, and places. However, decisions made by the photographer affect that record (History). Framing includes deciding how much background or foreground to show in the photograph and determining how close to get to the subject. Another aspect of framing is deciding whether to make the shot horizontal or vertical (History). This picture was framed and cropped so that our main focus was on those four children and where they were at. I believe there are adults sitting in the chairs but she doesn’t want them captured in this picture so she cropped them out. People are drawn to child more than they are adults. I believe she choose to include those children because their facial expression, their appearance, and their body gestures. Many photographers believe a photo is more interesting if the subject is not in the center of the picture. Instead, they imagine a tic-tac-toe grid placed over the image and try to place the subject at one of the points where lines intersect(History). The picture was framed to show the children, the porch, a little bit of the field in the background, and a little bit of the dirt. I believe the porch was framed because that would have been somewhere where they all would have been hanging out together. The porch is run down and has pieces falling off of it. It’s supported by brick but the brick looks crooked and looks like it could just collapse. It kind of represents how they live and their wealth status.
This picture gives us an idea of how life was in the 1930's. People didn't were clothes to be fashionable, especially if they were going to be working out in a field. House and sheds weren't made to be fashionable either. They were made to live in and stay warm. Everyone worked back then, even children. It was a tough time in the 1930's especially in Mississippi. They got hit with huge flood that wiped out everything and then three years later the stock market crashed. The stock market crash caused the Great Depression.
When looking at this picture the hue is obviously black and white. I think she chose to take it black and white because colors of a photograph can bring out different emotional responses or pathos in us. As it says in the book "our responses are not random but instead have much to do with what we have learned to associate with different colors"(Lynch). People have done studies to see what color's to use to get people attention or to make their point. I believe photographs do the same thing when taking photographs. The lack of saturation draws you into certain areas of the pictures. "A highly colorful stimulus is vivid and intense, while a less colorful stimulus appears more muted” and I believe this picture feels that way. Sure as the shadows on the faces and on the porch stick out to me. This picture is somewhat bright. It does show that is was a sunny day because of the shadows on the children’s face and on the porch. It also helps you to see that there is dirt on their legs. Whether it’s from playing or working in the fields, I’m not sure.
When looking at this picture, my attention was drawn to the little girl sitting and then to the boy standing looking at us. The girl is in the middle of the page and looking off to the side so that's why our attention is drawn to her first. She may have being looking at the person in the rocking chair or another child playing on the porch. Then our attention is drawn to the little boy because of his facial expressions. He is looking right at us in this picture but his stare goes right through us. He looks as if he’s sad or trying to be tough. This photo makes me think that Dorothy (the photographer) was taking this picture to make people aware of what was going on in the United States. I believe capturing people’s facial expressions can say a lot about a situation or a moment.
Photographs provide a visual record of events, people, and places. However, decisions made by the photographer affect that record (History). Framing includes deciding how much background or foreground to show in the photograph and determining how close to get to the subject. Another aspect of framing is deciding whether to make the shot horizontal or vertical (History). This picture was framed and cropped so that our main focus was on those four children and where they were at. I believe there are adults sitting in the chairs but she doesn’t want them captured in this picture so she cropped them out. People are drawn to child more than they are adults. I believe she choose to include those children because their facial expression, their appearance, and their body gestures. Many photographers believe a photo is more interesting if the subject is not in the center of the picture. Instead, they imagine a tic-tac-toe grid placed over the image and try to place the subject at one of the points where lines intersect(History). The picture was framed to show the children, the porch, a little bit of the field in the background, and a little bit of the dirt. I believe the porch was framed because that would have been somewhere where they all would have been hanging out together. The porch is run down and has pieces falling off of it. It’s supported by brick but the brick looks crooked and looks like it could just collapse. It kind of represents how they live and their wealth status.
This picture gives us an idea of how life was in the 1930's. People didn't were clothes to be fashionable, especially if they were going to be working out in a field. House and sheds weren't made to be fashionable either. They were made to live in and stay warm. Everyone worked back then, even children. It was a tough time in the 1930's especially in Mississippi. They got hit with huge flood that wiped out everything and then three years later the stock market crashed. The stock market crash caused the Great Depression.
Work Cited
Briggs, Jennifer. Views of Race Relations by the 1930’s Society of Whites and Blacks. 3 March 2004. http://mgagnon.myweb.uga.edu/students/3090/04SP3090-Briggs.htm
Lynch, Anne Frances Wysocki and Dennis A. Compose Design Advocate. Pearson Education, Inc, 2007.
Mississippi Delta. 8 October 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Delta
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers."The Great Depression." Teaching Eleanor Roosevelt, ed. by Allida Black, June Hopkins, et. al. (Hyde Park, New York: Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, 2003). http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm
Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party. 12 June 2009. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/women-protest/langarts.html
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