Dorothea Lange comparison

This shot was compared to a Dorothea Lange- by a professional photographer
what do you think- I must admit I didn't think of that at all but when I looked at some of her work I can see why-

Charlotte

look arround for FSA:
Farm security organisation

The difference is intent. You wanted to make a shot of a beautiful child that would tug at my heartstrings and you succeeded. Dorothea Lange wanted to raise an entire population of people out of their plight by putting their condition in front of everyone she possibly could. She succeeded. Dorothea never thought once about making beautiful photographs. I had the privilege of interviewing her assistant, Rondal Partridge. She was a force of nature.

Mike

yes I am very familiar with Mz Lange's work-this only flabbergasted me- she is beyond beautiful in her intent to subscribe to us all what humanity does to each other-
thank you! for the link and for coming by to see this work-


Jim

you are right of course-the difference is intent- I never even thought of Mz Lange at all
I think because I left the face with some smut it may have reminded this photographer of Lange's children is all-
but I disagree with you when you said she didnt think of beauty
because what she saw was beauty however it manifests itself-in whatever form --she captured it*
remarkable brilliance she!
appreciate your formidable ideas and for being in my thread-

charlotte thompson said:

Mike

yes I am very familiar with Mz Lange's work-this only flabbergasted me- she is beyond beautiful in her intent to subscribe to us all what humanity does to each other-
thank you! for the link and for coming by to see this work-


Jim

you are right of course-the difference is intent- I never even thought of Mz Lange at all
I think because I left the face with some smut it may have reminded this photographer of Lange's children is all-
but I disagree with you when you said she didnt think of beauty
because what she saw was beauty however it manifests itself-in whatever form --she captured it*
remarkable brilliance she!
appreciate your formidable ideas and for being in my thread-

Click to expand...

Charlotte,

There is a tendency to use the word "beauty", like "love" to cover unrelated phenomena which impact or senses.

Beauty concerns pleasantness of passion in reaction to experiencing something remarkable. We can show beautiful images and from these we might agree on what is simply beautiful. We could look at those beautiful images which are trans-cultural and those which depend on some local values.

However, we are not going to accept "beautiful pain" "beautiful ugliness" in spite of these subjects sparking interest or being poetic. I don't think Dorothy thought of the beauty of the poor, wretched workers but rather the tragic loss of human potential.


Read more here.

Beauty is not part of an access to spirituality or to a deity, although some have claimed that. Saying a work is beautiful does, I admit, have the ring of a complement. "Beauty" might even sound esepcially respectful and cherishing of her work on the dust-bowls. "beautiful".

Lange's photographs are social "wake-up" alarms and not at all beautiful! When we label them such, we degrade and trivialize her purpose. It's little different than objectifying her. Imagine we insisting on described the sensual nature of her neck and thighs at each opportunity? You'd ask why? None of that addresses her photography which is social narrative and not a portion of beauty by any measure!

Asher

Some time ago I downloaded the scan of 'Migrant Mother' from the US government website and cleaned it up etc to print. I keep the print as a reminder, not of beauty, but of the wretched conditions in which many people still live and also not to forget the speed with which so many lives were turned upside down in the 30s and could be again.

This is not a political diatribe, just a personal reminder to myself that our financial security is really only paper thin and that the love of family and friends is actually of far greater moment.

Mike

Asher

I am a strange being I guess- I see beauty in her art even through the horrid implements she shows us
I still see beauty, it may not be the cliched idea of "beauty" as we all know it
as a poet I see differently I guess-
as mathematicians see beauty I can't understand but they do
her work for me is beyond beauty really-it's spiritual beauty that I see and understand but that's me- I see beauty in more than a pretty face etc-I see beauty in the starkness of death even @ a funeral I once wrote a poem for some friends on the beauty I see and in the tradgedy-
I may be a very strange being but I see what I see-
glad to see you around my thread hope you are well-


Mike

these times are very trying indeed
what matters most is family-humanity all inclusive

I found this to be interesting- as the author equates the idea that lange found beauty-beautiful in her works-

ARTIST HERO:
DOROTHEA LANGE
by Susannah Abbey


Dorothea Lange in 1965
� 1997, Rondal Partridge
Dorothea Lange was a natural photographer in the truest sense because she lived, in her words, "a visual life." She could look at something: a line of laundry flapping in the wind, a pair of old, wrinkled, work-worn hands, a bread-line, a crowd of people in a bus station, and find it beautiful. Her eye was a camera lens and her camera--as she put it--an "appendage of the body." During her last illness, as a friend sat near her bed, she suddenly said to him "I've just photographed you." Lange had engaged in this camera-less sort of photography for decades, from the time she was a young girl, and it served as both the foundation of her art education and her first apprenticeship.




www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=d_lange
Dorothea Lange Biography


Charlotte-

Hi Charlotte,

The spirituality of art, that essence that seems to have fluidity, transcending what is in the picture and seeming to have some unity with other evocative works, is present in Dorothea Lange's works. If you wish to call that ephemeral essence, "beauty" then I can understand. However, I believe that beauty, like truth, although difficult to define, has boundaries and is not present in tragedy, murder or the horrors Lange documented.

Asher

Asher


The spirituality of art, that essence that seems to have fluidity, transcending what is in the picture and seeming to have some unity with other evocative works, is present in Dorothea Lange's works. If you wish to call that ephemeral essence, "beauty" then I can understand

"exactly my friend"

that was what I wanted to convey but maybe got lost in translations-
I want my work to do just that! maybe that's what the photographer saw as far as comparison
I wasn't aware of it that's all but he drew my attention to the fact that I may have some of that- still learning-still working and it's a passion! thanks for coming back-you know I appreciate that!

Charlotte-