Dorothea Lange

1.

• The picture is a black and white photograph of a middle aged caucasian woman with long, dark hair and two young children, most likely boys, whose backs are to the camera
• the woman is situated in the middle of the picture and the focal point of the picture seems to be her face, as she wears a worried and troubled expression on her face as she has a deep frown and wrinkles on her face. her brow is furrowed and she seems to give off an air of intense stress and tension.
• she seems to be staring into space, pondering on a difficult problem, her right hand touching her jaw in what seems to be distress.
• she is wearing a long sleeved jacket with the sleeves pushed to her elbows and a collared shirt underneath that has a checkered pattern
• she seems to be holding one of the boys to her with her left arm, presumeably in comfort as the boy seems to be crying, with his face buried in his hands while his head rests on the woman's shoulder, a common position children have when they are crying.
• the second boy also seems to be hugging the woman, burying his face in her shoulder for comfort. the two boys are probably her sones.

2.

• the artist created movement through the use of the varying shades of gray and black shown in the photograph, which is in greyscale.
• when the viewers first look at the photograph, their eyes are drawn to the focal point, which is the face of the woman, since it is the lightest shade of gray and is surrounded by an almost fully black background, creating contrast that places emphasis on the face of the woman and her troubled expression
• the reader's eyes then follow the thick line of light gray of the woman's arm down to her elbow, while taking in her attire, to the light coloured pants of the boy on the right, who is leaning onto his mother's left shoulder. as the viewer's eyes move in an anticlockwise direction to take in the boy on the right and his position, the viewer then proceeds to look at the left of the picture where the second boy is hugging his mother. 
• the viewer's eyes are drawn to the second boy due to the light gray of his exposed neck contrasting against his dark, long sleeved shirt and the dark background and then takes in the rest of the boy's body and the position he is in, as he seeks comfort from his mother.
• thus. the viewer's eyes are led from the center of the photograph, the woman's face, down and in an anticlockwise direction around the picture due to the strategic placements of light gray amidst the darker grays and blacks of the background surroundings.