I mentioned in my last post I wanted to share with you some of my learning experiences from my art history class. One of the most significant in my mind stems from a statement one of my sisters made regarding the photographs I have taken of my children.
Children are not easy to photograph, they don't have a large attention span. I have learned a thing or two through photographing my own children which has helped me tremendously when it comes to photographing other children. Timing and atmosphere are critical, especially when it comes to children. The more engaged with their surroundings the more time you have to find the perfect moment. You must act fast and I find the best approach is to get them engaged and not stop clicking. If they are not engaged... move on! Change locations, give them something to do, and make it fun.
While photographing my sister and her family shortly before the arrival of their new baby, my nephew just didn't know what to do with, or how to respond to, the camera. We tried several settings but only two seemed to keep him occupied long enough, and truthfully, two is all we needed. The first was the river which he was fascinated by. The second was the playground, honestly what child doesn't like the playground.
You might be thinking what does this have to do with art history? During our study of Early Modern Art I ran across the photography of Dorothea Lange. If you don't know who she is I would strongly encourage you to Google her and take a look at her work, it is amazing. I was so engaged by the extremely minute attention the text gave to her work I decided to focus my brief research paper on her. Lange was a patient photographer, she took the time to allow her surroundings to be comfortable with her presence. This got me thinking about my approach to photographing my children. Often it is impossible for me to get a good shot of them right away, they are too enthralled with my camera. They want to take pictures, play with the buttons, and pretty much make it impossible for me to take pictures. Like every toy they eventually get board and move on. It is only after they move on I can capture the best moments, simply because they have forgotten about the camera. Often children are intimidated by the camera or too curious about it to settle into their own natural routine which brings out their unique personalities. Once you get past this, and they become comfortable, the best photographs emerge.
I want to share with you the brief research paper I wrote. It further explains the power of patience. There is an amazing reward which can only be discovered by exercising patience, especially in photography. I would also encourage you to either read or listen to the Oral History Interview with Dorothea Lange located in the Archives of American Art on the Smithsonian Institution's website, I found it fascinating. I hope you enjoy!
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The Power of Patient Photography
There are some images which touch your heart, soul, and mind so intensely you are forever changed by having experienced them. Dorothea Lange had the ability to capture these very images. Lange was a photographer and photojournalist during the mid 1900’s. She is most remembered for her photographs of migrant workers and those held in the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Lange had the gift for capturing heart wrenching images which not only documented the surface devastation of one of the most trying periods in American history, but also the desolation and soul of those affected. What made Lange’s photographs so powerful? Her unobtrusive, patient approach, and her ability to see what most did not, allowed her to capture images which not only stirred deep emotions in their viewers but drove some to action.
Lange knew she was capturing more than a simple image. She had the ability to see beyond the typical. Lange once said; “While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see (“Dorothea Lange”).” It was her ability to see what others did not which guided her to the images which affect us most. Where words could not do justice one image could say it all.
Most times we are too engaged in our own lives to really see what is around us. We overlook the simple, yet powerful, images. For instance, when was the last time you took a moment to see the clouds, trees, or mountains? There are magnificent images all around us if we would take the time to look. It is through our ability to overlook these images which, when presented to us in an undeniable form, cause us to gasp in awe.
It takes time and patience to find these images. When interviewed by Richard Doud in 1964 Lange said, “… so often it’s just sticking around and being there, remaining there, not swooping in and swooping out in a cloud of dust; sitting down on the ground with people, letting the children look at your camera with their dirty, grimy little hands, and putting their fingers on the lens, and you let them, because you know that [if] you will behave in a generous manner, you’re very apt to receive it (Lange).” Her desire to sit and wait, to study and learn, to see what was happening around her, to interact with it, these simple actions made her photographs extraordinary. Even though her subjects were foreign to her she took the time to connect with her surroundings. Because of this she was able to photograph people in their raw, natural state, without arranging or manipulating them to accomplish a purpose.
Her commission by the government allowed her to explore places where most photographers of her time would not have chosen to go. This invisible boundary allowed for a vast disconnect between the lives of those she photographed and the rest of society. Once Lange breached the boundary she discovered a world in need. It was through her photographs this need was discovered publicly and attended too. In one instance, a particularly moving photograph she had taken was published in a San Francisco Newspaper; it took only a few days for the need expressed in the image to be met (Kleiner 955).
The emotions her photographs invoke today are unquestionably different than during the time they were taken. In an article published in The Threepenny Review in 2005, Sigrid Nunez wrote, “Looked at today, these photographs are less likely to provoke outrage or sympathy than nostalgia (Nunez).” When so much time has passed action to right a wrong or improve circumstances is no longer a viable reaction. Instead it is a nostalgic compassion, a desire to remember and never forget which impresses upon our emotions the need to recognize our failures as a country. The images force us to take action towards discouraging a repetition of the same mistake.
The power and influence of a photograph is created through the connection and vision of the photographer. The photographer’s ability to see beyond the ordinary, to find the special in the mundane, to patiently wait for an unknown moment, gives an image the power to move its viewer to action. These are the qualities which Dorothea Lange possessed. This is what made her photographs extraordinary.
Works Cited
“Dorothea Lange.” Photo Quotes, 11 March 2011. Web. 21 May 2011. <http://www.photoquotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=146&name=Lange,Dorothea>.
Kleiner, Fred S. Introduction to Art History Volume II, Art 205/206 at Chemeketa Community College. Ohio: Cengage, 2008. Print.
Lange, Dorothy. Oral History Interview with Dorothea Lange. 22 May 1964. Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Web. 21 May 22, 2011.
Nunez, Sigrid. “Dorothea Lange I.” The Threepenny Review No. 60 Winter (1995) : 24. Web. 21 May 2011.
