Ron,

Hate to disagree, but being able to see through the bullshit does not make one a cynic. It does, however, require a keen eye.

The photos by Dorothea Lange (aka Dorothea Margarette Nutzhorn from Hoboken, New Jersey) were used to convince the American people that everything was awful. Nearly hopeless. That's why they needed FDR to rescue them and fix everything.

If may quote from her biography: "Lange is best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the tragic consequences of the Great Depression and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography."

Wolfgang says the World Press photo "was correct and still it has told a lie".

Same with the "Migrant Mother" photos. Most of the 'facts' given with the photo are not correct. The impression left was the only 'truth' considered necessary. Therefore it is either art or it is propaganda but it is not really documentary.