I don't know what triggered my research into this photo; I saw or heard something. The woman's name is Florence Owens Thompson. At the time of this photo she was 32 years old and had 7 kids. She was widowed, and she and the kids were traveling with a man named Jim Hill. On March 6, 1936 after picking beets in the Imperial Valley, they were headed to Pajaro Valley to pick lettuce when the timing chain of the car broke. They coasted into a “pea-pickers camp” on Nipomo Mesa, and set up a temporary camp.


This is the photographer, Dorothea Lange, who worked for the Resettlement Administration. She began taking photos around the camp. Usually Lange spent more time with her subjects, but it was late in the day. Florence told her that she was 32, and little else. Thompson's identity was not known for over 40 years after the photos were taken, but the photos became famous, this one in particular. The image which later became known as Migrant Mother "achieved near mythical status, symbolizing, if not defining, an entire era in United States history". Migrant Mother is considered the "ultimate" photo of the Depression Era: ". Lange never surpassed it.

Here's a very short interview with Florence late in her life. Not sure what year the interview occurred, but she died in September of 1983 at 80 years of age.

Thanks.
Yes, I’ve seen that photo countless times, but never knew any of the background.

I had not, however, ever seen the photo of Lange. I have a couple of old bellows cameras, but they don’t extend that far. I wonder what the lens and focal length were.

When a friend and I were heavily involved with photography in the late 1960s, there was evidently at least one guy who was still offering a service to repair and actually completely replace old camera bellows.

You can still get bellows repaired today and IIRC there is a video on youtube showing how to make a bellows.

Eyeballing the extension on that camera (suspect Graphic 4x5) I would guess the lens in use is around 230 mm. I have a 230mm Wollensack for my Toyo monorail and in size is near a spitting image of that lens and for non telephoto lenses the bellows extension equals the focal length.

quote:

Originally posted by Scooter123:
You can still get bellows repaired today ....

Interesting; thanks.