Sunday Photo/Art Quote – Dorthea Lang

For those who might not know, Dorthea Lang was a photojournalist who documented America during the depression era. Her photographs told the story of the great depression more powerfully than words could have done. I’m confident that even if you don’t know her name, you will recognize one of her most famous photographs taken during that time.

migrant mother photo - dorthea langKnown as ‘Migrant Mother.’ Photo by Dorthea Lang
The Library of Congress caption reads: “Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California.”

Which brings us to the Photo/Art Quote for today on the Successful-Photographer blog.

dorthea lang quote about photography“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” Dorthea Lang

“Altering life by holding it still.”

Think about that for a moment.

How do you think about what do we do as photographers? Do you keep a thought such as this in your mind when you are making images for clients? When you change the focus of whatever you do in life to be helpful to others, you end up becoming more successful in the process.

This type of thought also should be shared with your potential clients when speaking about making images for them. Another way to say this is preserving memories but changing the phrasing can contribute to making this powerful message. There’s a line from Zig Ziglar. “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Sometimes people don’t know what they want in photography until it’s too late. The child has grown up too fast. A family member passes away. Things change amazingly fast in this world of ours and being able to freeze an instant of time is a magical gift.

Do you share those thoughts with your clients? Take the “instants” out of time and alter your client’s world for the better.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob

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