Dorothea Lange took one of the most famous photographs in history, "Migrant Mother," in 1936. Lange lived in a pea pickers camp in Nipomo, California with her family. Lange took five other photographs similar to this one in a short period of time focusing on life at the pea pickers camp. These pea pickers were starving and enduring harsh conditions in the camp, and Lange's effort to spread the news of this succeeded. These photos were published in the San Francisco News (Hariman). When the public saw these photos, relief efforts were raised and given to the pea pickers; there was not one further case recorded of death by starvation. The readers and audience were deeply moved by these photographs and used it as a cause for change, not only through the content, but also through the various elements of photography including color and shadow.

The content of the infamous photograph revolves around four main subjects: The mother and her three children. The mother, in the middle, is looking into the distance or at her desolate fields that are forcing her and her family into starvation. Her face is full of tension, as seen in the deep lines in her forehead, which reveal her stress and anxiety. Her worn hand, touching her chin, shows tension as well. The two older children in the photograph are facing away from their mother, both of them leaning their heads on her shoulders. This protective body language symbolizes how she is trying to shield her children from starvation and the miserable life they are enduring. It is also symbolic of shame, the children and even the mother harbor, in regards to their living conditions and the horrible conditions of the farm. The baby in her lap is hard to notice at first, but upon further examination, one can realize exactly how important the infant is. The baby represents the future; the future of the family and all the families on the farm. The mother is shielding it the most. The baby's eyes are closed, which symbolizes innocence and not yet seeing the cruelty and harshness of the world. The mother wants what is best for her children and a baby requires a lot to survive and thrive. Also, there is a noticeable lack of a father figure in the photo. This adds to the amount of strength the mother carries and how the father might be out trying to find work to support and help his family somewhere else, or it may represent a much darker scenario. The content in the photograph makes the goal of the photographer clearer and more important while creating an emotional reaction in the audience to spark change.

One element that added to the powerful quality of the photograph is color, or the lack of it. In the 1930's color photographs were unheard of, which is one of the reasons the photograph is in black and white. Another reason this photo uses black and white is because it helps the audiences focus on the significance of the subject rather than the color palette or design. Even to this day, photographers choose to photograph in black and white because they believe color can be a distraction to the audience from the focus of the photography. Black and white shows the strength in the mother's features and exaggerates the deep-etches lines in her face from worry and harsh conditions. The lack of color helps the audience to realize and understand on a deeper level that her world during the Great Depression was bleak and dull. The Dust Bowl tinted everything in shades of brown or gray, which would have darkened the picture and washed color from the photograph even if Lange had decided to photograph in color. This bleak situation was the situation in which the family was living in at the time and this photograph demonstrates it excellently with its lack of color.

Another element of photography seen in this photograph is the importance of shadow. The black and white aspect of the photograph gives way to a multitude of shadows and highlights. The first shadow that is seen is in the dark background, which makes the foreground stand out even more to the viewer. The dark background makes the audiences' eyes go straight toward the family in the front and focus on them without distraction. Even more importantly, the darkness around the mother's face makes the audience focus on the mother's tension-filled face including her forehead and chin. Another shadow that can be seen when a viewer looks at the photograph is directly behind the baby's head that makes only a portion of the child visible. This can make the child hard to see but the child's lack of complete visibility represents how it does not really comprehend the events and the cruelty going on in the world around him. Each shadow helps shape the story of the family and the struggles they have gone through in their lives.

In conclusion, the photograph has many elements that magnify to the effect and influence it has on audiences in order to evoke and incite change: content, lack of color, and shadow. The change that was sparked after this set of photographs was released was the exact reaction Lange hoped to instigate to improve the life quality and work conditions for the pea pickers. The change Lange wanted to see was in regards to the Farm Security Administration (The Resettlement Administration) and what they could do to help improve the conditions for the people living in poverty in America. This photograph is now seen in textbooks and museums across the country because it encapsulates and demonstrates what life was like in a time period like the Dust Bowl; people today can only imagine.

