Florestine Carson, unemployed Creole Negro trapper, and daughter 1935

Ben made this photograph, Florestine Carson, unemployed Creole Negro trapper, and daughter, probably somewhere in Louisiana, sometime in the 20th century. It's a portrait of a Black man reclining, perhaps exhausted, next to a young girl perched barefoot on the porch. The light is muted, rendering the woodgrain in shades of gray. You can almost feel the heat and dust of the day. The image speaks to me about the complex interplay of history, identity, and survival. What was Ben thinking as he framed this shot? Was he trying to capture their weariness? To tell a story of resilience? Or, like me, was he merely struck by the composition? The man's pose echoes classical reclining figures, but the context is starkly different, rooted in the realities of poverty and racial inequality. The image reminds me of Walker Evans and the WPA photographers, those artists who used their lenses to document a nation in crisis, to spark conversation, to prompt change. We look at the girl's feet, the man's gaze, and their combined expression somehow still resonates today.