Social Documentary Photography

In the class about Social Documentary Photography we looked at the long history of the camera attempting to instigate social change by photographing subjects that had social/political needs - like the poor, the homeless, the sick etc. We discussed the early London photographs of Mayhew & Beard, the images of Riis in NYC, Lewis HIne and the project of the Farm Security Adminisration. Many assumptions are made (then and now) about how society and photography "works" (or should work)...think about what these assumptions might be? We also looked closely at the analysis of Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother, pictured here. You should be able to apply this approach to critical analysis to other images.