Visual Analysis - Photojournalism

The photograph is of a woman and three children. The woman looks as if she is in her late thirties. She is also sitting down and has her hand held to her face. There are two boys leaning on her and a baby is in in her lap. The way they are positioned suggests that she is their mother and they are a family. They are all looking away from the camera which gives the illusion that you are watching them but they can not see you. This makes you feel as if you are seeing a small part of their everyday life.

The children have been positioned so that they are looking away from the camera and are almost hiding behind their mother meaning that there could be something in front of them that they don’t want to see. The mother is looking into the distance and has a worried or tired facial expression.  The mother has a few wrinkles on her face, which could be from tiredness or stress. Her facial expression indicates that she could be worried about what is in front of them or worried about looking after her children. The women has also been positioned in the middle of the photograph, this makes her the main focal point. It also emphasises how she is the lonely adult in the photo which could mean she is quite lonely as she doesn’t have any other adult company.

They are all wearing worn out and tatty clothes which indicates that they cannot afford to buy new ones and that they are possibly suffering from poverty. The mother is also not wearing make-up, which could suggest that they again might not have a lot of money.

The photograph has been taken in black and white. One reason for this is because it matches the photo’s historical context as it was taken in the early 1930’s. Another reason is that it gives the photograph a documentary type feel and makes the photograph seem ageless. The black and white doesn’t give away the date so it could have been taken years ago or it could have been taken a minute ago.

The purpose of the photograph is to show the effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in America and how it effected normal photographs. The Dust Bowl caused many families to suffer and end up in poverty and the photograph shows this through the woman’s facial expression and the worn clothes that the people are wearing. The photograph was taken in the early 1930’s, the time period when a the consequences of the Dust Bowl were at their worse. The photograph used models rather than a real family but the photograph was still successful in portraying its message.