Roy Stryker (photographer and economist) set up and led the FSA photography unit – to document the work and issues. Photos are copyright the government as made through this project. Flight of dustbowl farmers and resettlement on better quality farmland. Some collective farms where people learnt skills. Because of this some accused it of being communist.
The pictures of people get you thinking about what happened to the people. 1950s Life mag ran stories and people came forward to say ‘that’s me’.
Walker Evans. A new type of social documentary. Places more than people. Details. Posters, cars. Mash ups of signs. An underlying interest in the exponential growth of consumerism. Inside houses, a fireplace which could tell a lot about the people who lived there. Still lives. Very good communicator, able to gain access to people’s houses/worlds. Possible influence on the Beckers? where industry is in the background.
Dorothy Lange, iconic photo, migrant mother. Often concentrated on women.
Marion Post Wolcott. Shot sometimes in colour. Colours then could be unreal but showed how colours used in advertising eg red stands out.
Gordon Parks. Key figure in civil rights as well as FSA. Film director, Shaft. First black member of magnum. Looked at social stratification and racism.
Pauline M 502040 OCA Documentary Fact & Fiction 