Friday, April 30, 2010

Drawing Beauty Out of Desolation


NPR's "Morning Edition" had a piece recently on my favorite photographer, Dorothea Lange (pictured above), who took beautiful pictures during the Great Depression. You can listen to the piece, here.

From the story...

Many of us have an image of what the Great Depression looked like — even if we weren't there. One reason is because of Dorothea Lange's photographs.

Linda Gordon, who wrote a book on the renowned photographer called Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, recalls one of Lange's favorite sayings: A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.

"She really understood that the ability to see does not come from your eye; it comes from your brain," Gordon tells NPR's Steve Inskeep.

As a portrait photographer by trade, Lange knew pictures of individuals would have far more of an emotional impact than those showing eroded land or the dust storm, Gordon says.

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