Migrant Mother Questions

• Who is in this picture? How do you think they are related? What do you see in the picture that gives you clues?

I see a mother and her two sons. I think they are mother and children because the two boys(girls??) are holding onto her sholders in a way that someone would hang on to their mother. There is also another child!! The mother is holding her small baby in her arms. 

• How would you describe the woman's expression?

She looks concerned, serious, tired, and worried

• What does the woman's gesture tell you about how she is feeling?

The way she is holding her hand to her face and not looking at the camera makes it seem like she is thinking about something very seriously, or maybe thinking about the future.

• Do you think Lange posed the two older children to face away from the camera? If you think she did, why would she have done this?

I don't think she did; it seems really natural so I think that the kids just looked away because they were shy. She could have done it to make the woman's face the focal point, but I dont think she did. 

• How do you think the public responded to this photograph when it was published in a newspaper?

I think it probably evoked a lot of emotion; the woman looks so kind but also worried that it probably made people feel for her. 

• Years later, Florence Owens Thompson did not want this picture published anymore because she felt it labeled her as "poor" when she no longer was. If it had been up to you, would you have honored her request? If a subject agrees to be photographed, should they be able to control how the photo is later used?

I dont know what I would have done. I can see each side of the argument, but I probably would keep printing it. The fact of the matter is that the picture is going to keep getting circulated no matter what, so I might as well publish it because in the end it's not going to matter that much, and she did agree to be in the photo in the first place. However I do see the other side of things.