I have been looking through John Vachon’s work today, much of which you can find on good olde Shorpy.  The image you see above was a shot of an advertisement, torn. I was set off on a hunt for his work after reading up on the Farm Security Administration of the 30’s and 40’s, for whom he worked. Thanks to this administration, and their use of photojournalism, we have a collection of truly historic images from this period, the Great Depression. Talented photographers were sent to rural areas, documenting the plight of the people as the hard times hit. Of course the image above shows little sense of Depression, anything but, so for those images, click here. I am unsure as to what today’s period will be called in the years to come. I highly doubt it will be branded ‘Great’, but a recession of a large scale has certainly occurred, there is no argument there. It by no means ranks alongside the events of the 30’s. The Depression was worldwide and brutal. Crop prices dropped by 60% in the States. Unemployment in the UK rose to 70% in areas as ship building dried up. I am so very tired of the awful generation that we now are. Laden with debt, in search of a quick fix, forever obsessed with all that is unholy. What would those captured in the stills from Vachon think of our lives now, in the midst of a recession? What would they say to us, if anything at all. Decades later, most are no more, so learning firsthand lessons, unless we are fortunate enough to be close to someone who went through it, is difficult. Yet the faces in the pictures say so very much, and I do hope we can learn something from that at least.

I have been looking through John Vachon’s work today, much of which you can find on good olde Shorpy.  The image you see above was a shot of an advertisement, torn.

I was set off on a hunt for his work after reading up on the Farm Security Administration of the 30’s and 40’s, for whom he worked. Thanks to this administration, and their use of photojournalism, we have a collection of truly historic images from this period, the Great Depression. Talented photographers were sent to rural areas, documenting the plight of the people as the hard times hit. Of course the image above shows little sense of Depression, anything but, so for those images, click here.

I am unsure as to what today’s period will be called in the years to come. I highly doubt it will be branded ‘Great’, but a recession of a large scale has certainly occurred, there is no argument there. It by no means ranks alongside the events of the 30’s. The Depression was worldwide and brutal. Crop prices dropped by 60% in the States. Unemployment in the UK rose to 70% in areas as ship building dried up.

I am so very tired of the awful generation that we now are. Laden with debt, in search of a quick fix, forever obsessed with all that is unholy. What would those captured in the stills from Vachon think of our lives now, in the midst of a recession? What would they say to us, if anything at all.

Decades later, most are no more, so learning firsthand lessons, unless we are fortunate enough to be close to someone who went through it, is difficult. Yet the faces in the pictures say so very much, and I do hope we can learn something from that at least.

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