Migrant Mother's thumb...

[allenspencer]

When I first saw the image on a larger scale, I noticed something odd in the

lower right hand corner. It seemed like some blurred outline of something at

the bottom of the pole, but I ignored it, thinking it might have been dust or a

hair on Lange's lens.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg/461px-Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg

 

I later found that the Migrant Mother had been holding the pole, showing her

thumb in the bottom right corner. But this, for some reason, had been edited

out (And badly, at that.)

 

Notice the thumb:

http://lakelandschools.org/wphs/erichsen/grapesofwrath/grapes%20images/aa_lange_power_2_e.jpg

[allenspencer]

Hmm, for some reason the links didn't entirely "link". So you'll have to copy&paste into your address bars.

[petemillis]

She took it in 1936 - perhaps she found the original version of photoshop a bit hard to master, or maybe the darkroom clone tool was a bit clumsy.

[petemillis]

Try these links...

http://japanfocus.org/images/UserFiles/Image/2260.internment.photos/migrantmother.jpg

 

http://lakelandschools.org/wphs/erichsen/grapesofwrath/grapesimages/aa_lange_power_2_e.jpg

 

The picture on the Lakeland Schools site is much brighter down that part and looks like it has been processed differently from the one on the Japan Focus site.... Interesting...

[petemillis]

whoops... http://lakelandschools.org/wphs/erichsen/grapesofwrath/grapes%20images/aa_lange_power_2_e.jpg

[robertshults]

Lange retouched the negative herself in 1941 in preparation for an exhibition. Reportedly

this act was met with some ire from the FSA, which felt that the images constituted an

unalterable historical record.

 

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0084-0416%28198621%2921%3A1%3C1%3ADLMMAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0

 

The linked article is part of the JSTOR archive, you need access via a quailifing library to

view it. More info is available at the LOC:

 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html

[don_e]

The thumb is very clear on the lakelandschool's site.

 

But the Library of Congress site has the dodged version.

 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/guide/pp9058.jpg

[robertshults]

When a link extends onto a second line in the little "Contribute an answer" box at the bottom

of the page, it seems to show up broken in the thread. Cut and paste as neccessary.

[petemillis]

This is quite interesting - I think the photograph looks better with the thumb. I wonder why it was felt it looked better for an exhibition without the thumb?

[robertshults]

Pete, at this point you'd have to ask the Lange estate. I'd assume, though, that it was done

for the same reason that you (or, at least, I) can only see in a given photo one particular,

small flaw that no one else cares about or, sometimes, even notices. I've read interviews with

HCB where he complained about the out-of-focus fence post which is barely visible along the

left edge of "Behind St. Lazare Station".