Dorthea Lange Essay

I went in to watch Dorthea Speaks with absolutely no expectations. I did not know who Dorthea Lange was, the name was somewhat familiar to me, but alas, I did not have any ideas on what I was going to watch. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It was very well put together. The film told Dorthea’s story in a way that emphasized her skill as a photographer. This was never said outright, but the visuals throughout most of the story were photographs she had taken. I think that this was an excellent way to emphasize this without outright boasting. I believe it was far more effective than many other techniques that could have been used. Near the beginning of the film, San Francisco was the setting of the story. Several photographs of …show more content…
Seeing some of the photographs and putting a meaning behind them was very influential on my perception of Dorothea Lange. Of course, I had seen many of her photographs, but seeing them through her eyes was an interesting experience for me. I found certain photographs informative of the times. Others, I found descriptive of something larger. Some were even beautiful. It felt to me that many of her photographs were taken for a specific purpose. Seeing her focus her camera on specific things, in specific ways, for a specific shot was eye opening to …show more content…
It has divided into two parts in my mind. Part one is where she was at home and was photographing things close to the home. Things like the trees in her back yard, and her family became her muses. She focused on things she had neglected throughout her life. Unless I am mistaken, I feel like these were important subjects to her at this point in her life. She wanted them to know that she did love them, even though she had spent her entire life photographing other places and things. The second part, for me, was her traveling phase. She went with Paul all over the world. Her photography was lessened by her low energy levels and the fact that she was working as a tourist rather than a professional photographer. These photographs had a different tone than the rest of her