Dorothea Lange on PBS

icebear

icebear

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Dorothea Lange: Grab A Hunk of Lightning

The 2014 episode AMERICAN MASTERS about Dorothea Lange will air tonight at 8pm on channel 13 PBS.
 
Is there anyone documenting the social changes happening today, the way Dorothea did in her day ? I think we really need someone to hold up a mirror for all to be informed of the state we are now in.
 
I have watched it twice. Wholeheartedly recommended.

Have YOU contributed to help support your PBS station? Excellent programming such as this is expensive to produce and broadcast. Someone has to pay for it. And, that comes down to you and me.
 
Austintatious said:
Is there anyone documenting the social changes happening today, the way Dorothea did in her day ? I think we really need someone to hold up a mirror for all to be informed of the state we are now in.
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giganova said:
Yes, millions of people with cell phone cameras and social media accounts. :p
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Today's problem is not that something doesn't get documented, just the opposite is true, everything gets documented but without a filter, without someone distilling the essence of what is happening into a single frame. I think Dorothea said something along the lines of that she was interested in the universal aspect of a person (or object for that matter) and particularly not the context.

Nowadays a lot of discussion is focused on the "social context". Her pictures have an enduring appeal because of the way she approached her subjects. She mentioned before she did anything with her camera, she explained who she was, why she was there, what was the purpose of her taking pictures, she mentioned how many children she had, how old they were and their names.

Obviously every photographer needs to figure out a way how to approach people without them "closing up" in front of the camera. I think she had a way that worked especially well with her subjects and the circumstances she was working in.
 
Plus don't forget that her work for quite a number of years was supported by the government. The horror! That would never happen today. In fact you might not even be able to see this program in a few years because the d-bags want to cut funding for public television. More bombs! Less thinking!
 
Mr. Fizzlesticks said:
Plus don't forget that her work for quite a number of years was supported by the government. The horror! That would never happen today. In fact you might not even be able to see this program in a few years because the d-bags want to cut funding for public television. More bombs! Less thinking!
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Be careful what you wish for. We have two radically different outlooks on public policy, ethics, and the common good in the country right now. Not sure we can all agree on what "reality" government-sponsored photos should document. Some folks have alternative facts, for instance. I can imagine government-sponsored photos of large crowds at the inauguration, with the same two guys and a dog cloned over and over and over . . . .
 
The documentary managed to walk the fine line between her life as a photographer and the lives of the people she photographed in much the same way she wanted her retrospective at MOMA to be more about the human condition than just the photographs.
Well done!
 
Hi there halfaninchawater,
not terrible many post since you joined 10 years ago;) but I'm glad my thread about the Dorothea Lange documentary helped to break the ice.
Don't be so scarce with your input.
 
Klaus
Thanks for your original post about Lange and the encouragement to post more. I guess you might say I've been "lurking" way too long. Good reads in in many posts in those years, but I think you're right, time to post as well.
OK that was #2...
 
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