Personal Background: Dorothea Lang was born in May of 1895 and grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1913 she traveled to New York to attend the NY Training School for Teachers. Lang was never very interested in schooling, and found her passion for photography while working at a photo studio in NYC. That led her to study art at Colombia University. Dorothea has diagnosed with Polio at the age of seven, and it greatly weakened her right leg and foot. She is grateful for that experience because she says it guided her towards where she is today.
Style: Lang's photos are very unique and moving. Each one was taken with the intent of arousing deep emotions inside of us. All of her photos were taken in black and white because that's all technology permitted at the time. Knowing that, I think she took her photos to accentuate the black and white that they would be. She was a documentary photographer, which explains why her photos seem to tell a story in each one.
Philosophy: Lang's philosophy was simple, she wanted to correct the political and social injustices in the U.S.. She thought that by taking photos of struggling people, society would begin to open their eyes to the people around them who needed help. The Great Depression is what really inspired her career in documentary photography. She traveled around America documenting the poor farmers and struggling parents everywhere. This included her famous image, the "Migrant Mother" which clearly showed the pains and hardships that many people across the continent were facing.
Influences: Dorothea Lang has greatly influenced and inspired me and my photography. She taught me that a picture truly can be worth 1,000 words. Before, many of my photos were pointless and without meaning. But now that I have my newly formed knowledge of photography I am beginning to see my photos look a lot better. Maybe not as good as Dorothea's, but they look more prepared and professional than before.
Resources: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothea-Lange, http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/bios/dorothea-lange/, https://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993
Sources: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/dor12-117.htm
Style: Lang's photos are very unique and moving. Each one was taken with the intent of arousing deep emotions inside of us. All of her photos were taken in black and white because that's all technology permitted at the time. Knowing that, I think she took her photos to accentuate the black and white that they would be. She was a documentary photographer, which explains why her photos seem to tell a story in each one.
Philosophy: Lang's philosophy was simple, she wanted to correct the political and social injustices in the U.S.. She thought that by taking photos of struggling people, society would begin to open their eyes to the people around them who needed help. The Great Depression is what really inspired her career in documentary photography. She traveled around America documenting the poor farmers and struggling parents everywhere. This included her famous image, the "Migrant Mother" which clearly showed the pains and hardships that many people across the continent were facing.
Influences: Dorothea Lang has greatly influenced and inspired me and my photography. She taught me that a picture truly can be worth 1,000 words. Before, many of my photos were pointless and without meaning. But now that I have my newly formed knowledge of photography I am beginning to see my photos look a lot better. Maybe not as good as Dorothea's, but they look more prepared and professional than before.
Resources: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothea-Lange, http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/bios/dorothea-lange/, https://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993
Sources: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/dor12-117.htm
Compare and Contrast: My first photo is very similar to theirs because I have a little sister and brother that I could take a photo of. The difference comes in with the scenery because she has a barren landscape but I have a forest in the background. The second photo is similar because I was able to get four people in the photo standing together. The people are very different though because my photo is four kids and hers is two adults with 2 kids. The last photo is very similar because I had my sister pose exactly as the guy was. The only difference is that their car is on the dirt but I had to keep mine on the driveway.
Personal Artist Statement: All of my pictures represent daily life in the mid-1900's. I took all my pictures in black in white to give them more of that olden look to them. The first one show's two kids standing together in a field. My siblings don't usually stand still for very long so this photo was mildly difficult to take. The second picture shows a family of four waiting for a cab to come. I couldn't exactly get both my parents to come outside to take this photo, so I had to make due with what I had. The last photo shows somebody getting out of a car. For this photo I had to park the car on our driveway so I could get plenty of natural light in the picture. I think all my pictures turned out very good and resemble the work of Dorothea Lang.