[wildman]

I will assume we all know about Dorothea Lange and the "Migrant Mother" shot but..
...I've always been intrigued by this remark of Lange:
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" 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."
Wikipedia.
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so what happened to the other 4 frames and what were they like?

I found the full 5 frame sequence at the Library of Congress and have put them in the order they were probably shot along with some other relevant stuff. Other than resizing no PP whatsoever.
It's the middle of winter here and what else is there to do?
Enjoy.

Florence Owens Thompson - Wikipedia
Dorothea Lange - Wikipedia
Graflex Series D- Revolving Back- Dorothea Lange

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Last edited by wildman; 02-17-2017 at 05:01 AM.

[MikeW]

Very interesting! Thanks!

[Caver]

Thanks, it is interesting to see the rest of the photos. I knew about the "iconic" one I saw it several times, but never the rest. The last - picture is what I think it is? The same family?
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I like your quote - sadly is so true.

[wildman]

The last - picture is what I think it is? The same family?

Yes. Thompson (seated) with three of her daughters, (from l. to r.) Katherine, Ruby and Norma, in 1979—43 years after Migrant Mother

[MarkJerling]

Thanks for posting.

[arnold]

This is real poverty, and one can see the hard-life aging effect on her face. In other circumstances she could be an attractive younger looking woman. Another example showing photography is more than high resolution pretty pictures. Thanks for putting these up.

[clackers]

Obviously, these are of huge cultural significance ... but I'm also admiring technically the open shade!

I do like the shot of Thompson and daughters decades later.

[SpecialK]

The "famous" one was/is retouched to remove Florence's left thumb (it sort of stuck out like...a sore thumb.).

I hate asking for location help, but it was going to be the only time there. The cemetery staff was friendly, though not sure they recognized "migrant mother".

[wildman]

Just thought I'd throw this in from the same FSA series.

Title: Negro children and old home on badly eroded land near Wadesboro, North Carolina
Creator(s): Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1938 Dec.
Medium: 1 negative : nitrate ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches or smaller.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-fsa-8c30011 (digital file from original neg.) LC-USF34-T01-050720-E (b&w film dup. neg.)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs(U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information/Office of Emergency Management/Resettlement Administration Black & White Photographs - Rights and Restrictions Information (Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress))
Call Number: LC-USF34- 050720-E [P&P]
Other Number: E 372
Repository: Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 Prints & Photographs Reading Room | Prints & Photographs Division - Library of Congress

Note: My wife informs me the small child is suffering from rickets.

[ffking]

The interesting thing about the Dorothea Lange series is a very familiar situation for all of us photographers - the 'approach shots' have nothing iconic about them at all - one of the most underestimated skills in photography is staying with it until you get your image. Thanks for posting

[wildman]

the 'approach shots' have nothing iconic about them at all

I wonder, considering the "iconic" shot, how many of us would have instructed the kids to turn away from the camera - I don't think i would have had the foresight to do that and maybe neither did Lange..
Photography may be an art form but so much depends on dumb luck and really taxes the photographers ability to visualize before the fact unlike, say, painting.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Just thought I'd throw this in from the same FSA series.

That's a magnificent photograph that deserves an iconic status of its own. The house on the horizon is such a classic American trope, and it's used here to deeply telling effect.

And yes, the little kid does seem to have rickets.

[wildman]

Something different but from the same series - now we are in the depths of WWII.

Chicago, Illinois. In the waiting room of the Union Station
Creator(s): Delano, Jack, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1943 Jan.
Medium: 1 negative : nitrate ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches or smaller.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-fsa-8d24901 (digital file from original neg.) LC-DIG-ppmsc-00251 (digital file from print) LC-USW3-T01-015486-E (b&w film dup. neg.) LC-USZ62-130260 (b&w film copy neg. from print)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs(U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information/Office of Emergency Management/Resettlement Administration Black & White Photographs - Rights and Restrictions Information (Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress))
Call Number: LC-USW3- 015486-E [P&P]
Other Number: F 520322
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 Prints & Photographs Reading Room | Prints & Photographs Division - Library of Congress
Notes:

This was a real challenge. Much was burned out and took a lot of PP to make some sense out of it. I think the DR of the scene was way beyond the emulsion of the time (Plus X or equivalent perhaps?).
While working on it in Photoshop the thought occurred to me that I'm probably better off with a digital copy of the neg and Photoshop then the original nitrate with chemicals. I guess that's some kind of progress.
Anyway it was a real beast to tame at least on my monitors - I don't have a clue how this will look on yours.

[Caver]

Yes. Thompson (seated) with three of her daughters, (from l. to r.) Katherine, Ruby and Norma, in 1979—43 years after Migrant Mother

Thank you!

[wildman]

photography is more than high resolution pretty pictures.

I couldn't agree more.
Take a look at Flickr - an endless supply of technically accomplished but empty, vapid, soulless snapshots taken with $3000 worth of gear but ultimately - "much ado about nothing". I sometimes get the feeling the "photographer" has been reduced to a machine operator trapped within his gear and unable to respond directly to the scene in front of him other than as a technical problem with, perhaps, a little schmaltz and/or kitsch thrown in for good measure. And, I include myself in this as well. It's the great trap of photography - technique is a means, but only a means, to an end and the end is ultimately the sole responsibility of the photographer.

Then I look at my little Oly E-M10 with the kit lens. 1/20th the bulk of that reflex 4x5 of Lange's. Small, discrete, responsive, better DR, turns out good 8x10 prints, capable of more or less perfect exposures almost automatically, holds over 400 RAW frames on a 8mp card etc. I can't help but wonder if we would still have the "Migrant Mother" shot if Lange would have had the Oly. But the gestalt of the 1930's was very different than now especially to someone the caliber of Lange. Photography was still struggling to be accepted as an art form and all that so she took her craft very seriously.

Another Lange classic. This shot is thought to be the inspiration for the character "Big Daddy" in Tennessee William's play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

Title: Plantation owner. Mississippi Delta, near Clarksdale, Mississippi
Creator(s): Lange, Dorothea, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1936 June.
Medium: 1 negative : nitrate ; 4 x 5 inches or smaller.
Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-T01-009599-C (b&w film dup. neg.) LC-USZ62-103367 (b&w film copy neg. of illus. in E169.M16, P&P Ref.) LC-USZ62-131226 (b&w film copy neg. from print) LC-DIG-fsa-8b29713 (digital file from original neg.)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs(U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information/Office of Emergency Management/Resettlement Administration Black & White Photographs - Rights and Restrictions Information (Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress))
Call Number: LC-USF34- 009599-C [P&P]
Other Number: E 329144
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA Prints & Photographs Reading Room | Prints & Photographs Division - Library of Congress