Farm Security Administration camp for migrant agricultural workers at Shafter, California 1938

Dorothea Lange made this photograph of a Farm Security Administration camp for migrant agricultural workers in Shafter, California. The composition is so interesting because it's like a landscape painting, but with tents and temporary structures instead of trees and hills. Looking at the textures, you can almost feel the grit of the dust and the roughness of the canvas tents. The greyscale is so evocative, it's not just black and white; it's all the shades in between. It really emphasizes the sense of place, of a community built from necessity. The photograph's aerial perspective gives it a feeling of detachment, a sense of looking down on these lives, but the individual tents and structures draw you in. The geometric order of it all, the neat rows of trees alongside the roads, reminds me a little of the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, with their typologies of industrial structures, turning a basic human need into something strangely beautiful. Ultimately, photography offers a window into different ways of living and experiencing the world.