This photo was taken in Shenandoah valley in May of 1941.

It was taken by a man named John

Vachon. Though it doesn’t say what the photographer was thinking when he took the picture, I
think he felt that it was necessary to bring attention to the issues going on. In the picture, it looks
a little smoggy, the fields barren, and the trees missing their leaves. It seems lonely and empty.
I think that was the part of the Great Depression he was trying to capture in this picture. Since it
looks smoggy, I think it would’ve been a little difficult to see everything. The photograph seems
to have been taken when the emotion and inspiration struck him.
This photo was also taken in the Shenandoah valley in May of 1941. It was also taken by John
Vachon. This photo makes me feel something. I think that the purpose of this picture was to
make people feel something. I’m not sure it mattered what exactly, but I think the photographer
hoped it would draw attention to the emptiness and loss that the depression brought with it. The
street looks empty, but for a few people and cars. No one is crowding outside of buildings, or
bustling about town running errands. It’s too quiet. Especially after the seemingly perfect 20’s. I
like that the photo is real. It doesn’t seem posed or fake. It conveys true emotion.