dust bowl Archives - Dispatch Press Images Blog

Posts tagged ‘dust bowl’

AND SO IT CAME TO PASS

Just another farm photo you say? I could not disagree more. Fred and Thelma cannot bear to watch as a piece of their farm equipment is hauled away on a flatbed truck. Look to the left of the car. This is Kansas during the Dust Bowl. The farm equipment appears to be a horse drawn plow or hay rake. I would argue that they are selling off pieces of their farm in order to pay for the necessities of life. Farms became unproductive and many farms were eventually abandoned as their owners moved to California and elsewhere. Normally I would object to the photographer’s shadow in this photo, but the significance of the photo outweighs any technical defects in my opinion. A very sad day indeed as we can see by the expressions on their faces.

“And So It Came To Pass“; Kansas (1933)

On the line between Springfield, Colorado through Boise City, Oklahoma to Dalhart, Texas.

DUST BOWL: BLACK SUNDAY

Just another dust bowl photo? Maybe, but previously unpublished ones are getting more difficult to find. This is the latest addition to our collection: “Dust Bowl: Black Sunday” taken on April 14, 1935 of course. Research indicates that the exact location is somewhere on the line that runs through Springfield, Colorado in Baca county thence through Boise City, Oklahoma in the strip and then through Dalhart, Texas in the panhandle.

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THE JACKRABBIT DRIVES

The Great Depression creates images of the “Dust Bowl”, migration, soup lines and many more especially those of images taken by the Farm Security Administration’s photographers in our minds. But how many of us think of the Jackrabbit Drives in Kansas where a population explosion of jackrabbits created havoc for farmers? See: https//www.kshs.org/kansapedia/jackrabbit-drives/12097.

“The Jackrabbit Drive“; Oakley, Kansas (1934)

TEXAS DUST BOWL

Things could be worse as it was for this Texas farm family during the Great Depression. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to bring this photo to you as we pay homage to the work of the great Farm Security Administration photographers of the period such as Dorothea Lange. For us at DPI this was a no brainer.

“Dust Bowl: Denison, Texas c.1935“

DUST BOWL MOTHER

A classic image to be sure. You know it when you see it. “Dust Bowl Mother“; Texas c.1937. Prosperity, depression, war and victory. They are not called the Greatest Generation without cause.

HOMAGE TO MARGARET KEANE

My family had purchased two copies of paintings by Margaret Keane known for her “Keane Eyes” a/k/a “Big Eyed Waifs”. As a youngster I remembered the haunting eyes of these children in Keane’s paintings. They were very popular at the time. So it is that the lead photograph, “Tuco, Texas (1930)” brought back those memories to me of long ago. We cannot see the eyes of these two young girls. Strong sunlight made them squint, and what we have are their eyes represented by large dark circles because they are in shadows. I see the same sadness in the closed eyes of these two girls growing up in the Dust Bowl as those represented in Keane’s paintings. Perhaps it is also the dust forcing them to keep their eyes closed.

Iconic image of the Great Depression on a Kansas farm (1936).

COMPOSITION AND LIGHTING II

“The Water Wagon” on a Kansas farm (1936). An iconic image from the Great Depression. The right subject taken at the precise moment in history with the photographer’s keen eye, a good camera and excellent lighting. Proof that you don’t have to be a professional photographer to produce excellent photos.

The Okies

Oklahomans or Okies? I use the term Okie in this essay without any pejorative meaning whatsoever. It is used by me to honor the people of Oklahoma who have suffered so much yet retain a strong commitment to religion, political conservatism and moral values.

Grapes of Wrath, c.1931 Featured

It could have been a scene taken from John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, but for these folks and many more like them the experience was all too real. Migrants, headed for California and a new life while leaving the devastated Dust Bowl states behind. If you look closely at the bottom right in the photo you can see the bolt which held the missing wagon wheel standing upright in the road.