This man is a labor contractor in the pea fields of California. "One-Eye" Charlie gives his views. "I'm making my living off of these people (migrant laborers) so I know the conditions," San Luis Obispo County, California 1936

Dorothea Lange made this gelatin silver print of "One-Eye" Charlie in the pea fields of California. It’s a portrait, but it’s also a document of a time and a place. I imagine Lange, with her camera, trying to capture something real about this man. She’s probably thinking about how to frame him, how to get the light just right to show his face, his clothes, the landscape behind him. It's about capturing a story, an exchange. There’s so much texture here, isn’t it? The lines in his face, the worn fabric of his jacket, the way the light catches his hat. It’s all so palpable, and evokes the dust and grit of field labor. Lange is saying something about the relationship between this man, his work, and the land. Thinking about other artists, I am reminded of someone like Gordon Parks. Photographers like them are speaking to something larger, showing us the complexities and contradictions of American life, then and now. It's about how we see each other, and how we tell our stories.