Photo Essay on the Great Depression

Photo essays can be a compilation of separately taken pictures depicting the same event. I found one example of this today documenting the Great Depression. Many of the photos were snapped by Dorothea Lange, Jack Delano, and Russell Lee, but the project is a mixture of pictures from many photographers in various places with numerous types of people and historically significant signs, all to depict the direness of the times.

The captions are noteworthy. Many of them are lengthier than is typical and tell a story in words that compliments the story in image. I liked the quip at the end of the first caption: “Cynical New York hotel clerks asked incoming guests, ‘You want a room for sleeping or jumping?’”

I have a good deal of interview material with Greg, and I plan to use it in writing succinct, informative, and entertaining captions that further the narrative the photos provide.

Source: Nelson, Cary. “A Photo Essay on the Great Depression.” Modern American Poetry. 2013. Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 5 Nov. 2013.