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The photograph that has become known as " Migrant Mother " is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo , California Lange was concluding a months trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration In 1960 , Lange gave this account of the experience : 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 ) The images were made using a Graflex camera The original negatives are 4x5 " film It is not possible to determine on the basis of the negative numbers ( which were assigned later at the Resettlement Administration ) the order in which the photographs were taken There are no known restrictions on the use of Langes " Migrant Mother " images ( Included in retrospective collection : " the FAMILY of MAN " ) ? |
