The Photographs of Carl Mydans

Providing a unique view of American life during the Great Depression and Second World War, each volume in the Fields of Vision series focuses on a single photographer whose vision helped shape the collective identity of America and influenced the way we look at photographs in the 21st century. All of the images in each volume are chosen from the Library of Congress’s renowned collection of Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI) photographs.

Carl Mydans (1907–2004) was working as a newspaper journalist when he picked up a second-hand camera. He immediately took to the medium, and joined the Farm Security Administration as a photographer in 1935. Although he left the agency after just sixteen months to help launch Life magazine, his ability to capture the essence of a scene in a single photograph shines through his work. He would continue to apply this skill as a career photojournalist, traveling extensively to capture momentous world events.