The Laundry Line
![]()
Can you smell that clean fresh air?
Being a fan of Dorothea Lange, I had to try photographing laundry hanging out to dry. My biggest dilemma in making these photos was deciding how I wanted to show the motion of the clothes blowing in the wind. Did I want to blur the motion or did I want to stop the motion and have the picture in clear focus. Ultimately, I couldn’t make up my mind so I tried a little of both.
For the first picture below I used a slow shutter speed with a tripod mounted camera which gives you the feel of motion with the blurring where the motion occurs. The second picture I used a fast shutter speed which shows you the motion but stopping it in it’s tracks.
![]()
![]()
Laundry hanging out to dry kind of reminds me of when I use to develop my own film and hanging prints up to dry. It seems like everyone can relate to the clothes line in some way or another. That’s what really fascinates me are how many people love photos of laundry strung out to dry. It seems to bring up a thought, a memory or an emotion. Maybe of their grandmothers or that clean smell of the outdoors or maybe its how nice and crisp the sheets feel to sleep in after drying in the warm breeze of autumn. Maybe it’s just remembering a time that seemed so much more simple.
A thought, a memory, an emotion, isn’t that what pictures, are about?
![]()



