Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a great week. Me? Not too bad. Thanks for asking. The title of this photo is "Visiting a Historic Photograph." I would love to say that this adventure was my idea but alas it was Robert my photography wingman that came up with this idea. He had done a presentation to our camera club of famous photographers. During his research he came upon the works of Dorothea Lange. She is known for her Great Depression work that she had done for the FSA (Farm Security Administration). This was one of the programs of the New Deal that president Rosevelt had started to bring the country out of the Great Depression. He employed hundreds of thousands of people to build things like the Hover dam the Blue Ridge parkway and many other things for the country. He had commissions that employed artistic folks also. He had painters painting murals in Bus and Train stations and photographers going around the country documenting things like the Dust Bowl migration of farmers to California and rural life all over the country. Famous photographers like Gordon Parks, Ben Shahn and of course the most famous Doretha Lange one of the most famous for her "Migrant Mother" series of photographs. All of the photo's that they took in the decade or so when these programs were in full force can be found in the National Archives website. And let me say they are stunning and amazing photographs that really tell a story. They were in every state of the US documenting what was happening in this terrible time. It is well worth a look. I have spent hours looking at them. The famous photograph that we were going to visit was in North Carolina in July of 1939 by Doretha Lange. She took a series of photos of a Rural Store / Gas Station in Gordonton NC.  The photo shows what life was like at a country store in rural North Carolina which was mainly an agricultural area with cotton and tobacco being king. It shows farm workers enjoying a relaxing moment at the local country store.

Our goal was to go visit the store and take photo's of it . We brought two 8x10 photographs of the famous photo's that I had got printed at my local Walgreens. Robert had all the info of the place where it was at. I hadn't really done much research on it. I was familiar with Dorothea Lange and the photograph but didn't know where it was at or what condition it was in.  I really didn't think that the porch would be there but I was game to go and explore the site.  The ride through the country side was nice after we got off of the interstate and all the large roads. Rolling hills and small farms were on either side of us until suddenly we were there. The porch was still on and even one of the signs that was on the original photo was still in the same place. The modern road that goes right beside it had ditches on both sides that I know weren't there in the original photo. Just a dusty dirt road. Now as I didn't think this trough too much and when it came time to shoot a shot I didn't bring the correct lens. Nothing wide enough. I only brought a 35 and 50mm for some reason. I guess I was thinking that's what she would have used. Well I was wrong and without standing in the road I couldn't get a good shot with the whole store in the frame. Robert had done better with his choice. I ended up using my phone and got some shots. We took some shots with the photographs to show the connection from then to now. Eighty Seven years have passed since Dorothea took the photograph of the guys sitting on the front porch of the store resting out of the hot sun of summer. This was not the only photo that she took that day just one out of a series of photos that she took.

I really didn't know how going to the same place as a famous photographer had been would affect me. But it really was something to experience. I know folks go to famous places all the time like in Yosemite where Ansel Adams took so many landscapes and people try to replicate the shots but I hadn't really done one of a famous person before. I did try to replicate a photo that my Grandfather took in the 40's and that was cool but that was a family photo only known really by me. But these photo's were published in magazines and newspapers all over the world. The building is in bad repair and don't know how many storms it will withstand before falling down. When we left we heard some creaking and squeaking as we walked away. Maybe a cat or squirrel was running around the old store but maybe it was ghost from the past saying thank you for visiting. Maybe Doretha herself was watching us take selfies with the old building. It was kind of eerie . Well that's enough jibber jabber for now until next week " Get out and Shoot" and find some history to shoot.

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

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