The Portrait Of Winston Churchill

It is hard to determine what will become something that will stand the test of time. Whether you are talking about a picture of a speech, no one knows that when something is happening it will define a nation. No one knows if something like a photograph will even turn out.

The Portrait of Winston Churchill taken in 1941 by Yousuf Karsh in Canada is one of those iconic photographs that was not intended to be anything more than capturing a moment in time, but turned out as a photograph that spoke for a generation, a place in time, and a country.

In 1941Winston Churchill and the United Kingdom were the last of the European countries still defending themselves against Nazi Germany. As a way to try and gain support for this battle Winston Churchill traveled to all of the British interests around the world giving speeches.

During this tour Winston Churchill gave a speech to the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa. Knowing that this may be a great opportunity to get a history making photo Prime Minister King of Canada decided that after the speech would be a great time to get a picture of Churchill, while his emotions were still high.

Prime Minister King selected Yousuf Karsh to take what is now the most reproduced portrait in the world. Without informing Winston Churchill of his intentions, Prime Minister King brought him to Yousuf only minutes after a very emotional speech.

Upon arrival Churchill was not pleased, he did not want his picture taken and protested, but to no avail as Mr. Churchill was taken to where the lights had already been set up. He scolded at the camera as Yousuf Karsh prepared to take the picture.

As part of his protest Churchill had lit one of his famous cigars and angrily puffed away. Finally Karsh was ready to snap the photograph, when he paused and removed the cigar from Churchill’s mouth.

This only increased Churchill’s displeasure, therefore his scowl intensified and the anger on his face was easy to see. Then Karsh snapped the now famous picture and Winston Churchill relaxed and actually allowed a second snap of the camera.

Once the picture was developed Yousuf Karsh knew he had something special, after looking for a way to get the picture published, he finally found Life magazine that paid one hundred dollars for the rights to the photograph.

The Portrait of Winston Churchill is the most reproduced portrait ever, and it was created by catching one of the greatest world leaders of all time at a moment of anger. This may be one of the most iconic pictures ever taken; it is hard to believe that it almost never happened.

Migrant Mother: A Tale Of Survival And Strength

It’s a haunting image – an anxious mother gazing into the distance while hungry children lean heavily against her back. First published in 1936, the picture was republished by newspapers and magazines across the country.

We’ve heard a great deal about economic uncertainty today. High unemployment rates, lower wages, and companies taking their endeavors to other countries, but the recent recession, deemed by some to be as bad as the Great Depression, has not resulted in families living in tents and bordering on starvation.

The photographer, Dorothea Lange, said the woman in the picture asked her no questions and was on the edge of starvation. Indeed, it looks as if the woman is completely absorbed in the direness of her own circumstances.

The photographer’s field notes say the family of nine (seven children, the subject, and her husband), had sold their tires to purchase food. Other reports, including a notation from the Library of Congress, claim that the destitute family sold their tent. In any case, they’d subsisted on vegetables from nearby farms and birds that the older children had captured.

Instead, the photo generated a donation of 20,000 pounds of food for the migrant workers at the pea farm where the photo had been taken, but did nothing at all for the woman or her family, who’d moved on in search of other migrant work.

Her identity was left unknown until about forty years later, when a reporter discovered her living in a trailer in California. Francis Owens Thompson was the woman in the photo, and still recognizable to the journalist. She felt bitter toward Lange, claiming that the photographer has assured her the photos would not be used commercially. She denied having sold either their tent or their tires.

Her daughter, Katherine McIntosh, has told interviewers that the family felt shamed by the photo. She describes the woman who carried her newborns with her while working the fields, laughed often, and had simple tastes that included chewing snuff and listening to country music.

Most of all, she said, the much-hated photograph instilled in the children a determination to avoid such poverty in their lives. For Katherine, that meant working as a housekeeper and remaining in her house. “People live from paycheck to paycheck. Even people making good money,” she said. Being cautious was one lesson she said she learned from her childhood, one that would do well for people today.

McIntosh is the child featured on the left. Son Tom Owens affirmed that the photo had been a curse upon the Thompson family, but later, when his mother battled cancer, he said he re-appraised the photo as letters and donations poured in to help pay for her medical expenses. At last, he felt proud of her tale.

Francis Owen Thompson died in 1983. She’d reared ten children.