“Destitute
pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo,
California”
You can
see a woman with 2 kids (possibly her kids) barrowing into/behind her body.
Everyone in the picture looks extremely malnourished and poverty/disaster
stricken. Their skin looks dirty, along with their skin in general. Wrinkly and
lacking moisture. On the lady’s lap, there is also a little toddler or baby
laying down sleeping (or even possibly dead). The first two things I notice are
the lady’s expression on her face. She seems beside herself. Not exactly a look
of distress or sadness, but more like a look of, “why is like this way?” One
can only imagine the expression of the faces of the children. The other thing I
noticed would be the greyscale tone for the picture. It definitely sets the
tone of the photo. This scheme does more than just take out the color. It
affects the mood of the entire photo. Sets the tone and almost evokes specific
emotions of sadness or despair from the observer. There isn’t really anything
in the sense of objects. There looks to be maybe a blanket or some sort of
cloth around the baby, but that very may well be her clothes. Aside from the
clothing of each individual, there really isn’t anything in the line of
concrete objects. Due to the greyscale, you can’t tell accurately what time of
day it is in the picture. I would toss my assumption out there and say it’s
probably midday. Nothing else in the picture can give away anything about the
physical setting. The biggest details that can be examined are physical ones on
the bodies of the woman and the children. In the case of the woman, you can see
a lot of wrinkles along her forehead (vertically and diagonally. Her skin also
looks rubbery and dry; not very healthy. You can’t really see anything on the
children’s faces. On the toddler’s face you can see what looks like dirt or
some form of residue around her cheeks. I actually did not notice the baby on
the lady’s lap upon first glance. Due to seeing this picture before, I was
already aware of the focal points, also my eyes were drawn into the expression
of the lady’s face and the children turning away, it took a full examination of
the picture to even notice the baby. The “lighting” of the greyscale sets the
tone throughout the picture. It’s the only true since of lighting or any other
detail you can get from the picture. So, the lighting does a lot for the
overall effect of the photograph on the reader. The photographer would have to
more than likely be at the same level as the individuals in the photo. The
vantage point of the photo helps because it’s fairly close up and extremely
clear. Allows the possibility of up close and detailed examination of the
photo. The overall mood is somber. Lacking hope. Almost apathetic, in a sense.
This imagine gives a specific concrete example of the hardships of this time
period and puts it into perspective. In a nutshell, I believe this photo could
be an overarching introduction into the society of the 1930’s
Leon does a god job here of drawing our attention to specific details that indicate the subjects of this photograph are suffering. The facial expression of the adult woman, the torn and tattered condition of the clothing, and the ubiquity of the dirt/dust all help us to see that these people do not have access to adequate food, shelter, or clothing. One thing to keep in mind about images like this is that color photography did not yet exist, so black-and-white pictures were the only option. While removing color was therefore not a choice, the photographer could still control components like light, exposure, and even contrast, which have connections to the way we think about perceiving color. You're comment about the close proximity between observer and the subjects of the image is also helpful for thinking about the image's tone.
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