2007 Jeremy Rue

Color photos of farm workers in the fields, orchards, and labor camps of California’s Central Valley are the winning work of Jeremy Rue, a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Mimi Chakarova, a lecturer in photography at the journalism school and a 2003 Lange winner, recommended Rue for the prize. “This is a story,” she said of Rue and his photos, “that goes beyond journalism; it’s about someone whose past is very much linked to what he photographs. It’s honest and its colors, full of life.”

Rue’s maternal grandparents immigrated to California from Mexico and briefly worked in the fields like the men and women in his photos, yet Rue said agricultural life was largely unknown to him until he worked as a reporter and photographer at newspapers in the San Joaquin Valley farming towns of Selma and Madera. “It was during these experiences that I became familiar with the human condition of migrant farm workers, and I became interested in the larger scope of a community often overlooked,” he said.

After Rue came to UC Berkeley, immigration became an increasingly hot national topic, and he decided to return to the valley to document the lives of farm workers in Fresno County towns like Wasco, Delano, and Avenal.

Rue plans to concentrate his fellowship work on the town of Huron, on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, where the population triples during lettuce season. Some 98 percent of Huron is Hispanic, according to U.S. census reports, and few residents speak English. Rue considers life in the town to be emblematic of the experiences of California’s farm workers.

“These farm workers, whose aspirations in life are not unlike those of many Americans, migrate from place to place, taking great care and pride in what they do…,” Rue wrote in his entry for the Lange competition. “Many come from Mexico to the United States under illicit circumstances and find themselves in marginalized communities.”

Rue, a big fan of Lange, said his goal is to help society empathize with the mostly hidden culture of these farm workers and to “humanize the process of going to the grocery store” by giving those who see his photos a more complete view of the agricultural system.

He began his project by interviewing his grandparents, who told him stories he had never heard about their experiences picking cotton and grapes and about singing in the fields to help pass the time. “It was hot, it was back-breaking, but there was a sense of community,” Rue recalled from the recollections of his grandmother, Petra Sanchez. “I was surprised that her reaction was almost nostalgic, and I sensed in her almost a yearning for the tight-knit community that many migrant workers have in looking out for each other.”

Later, Rue often took his grandmother with him into the fields to act as his interpreter, filling the gaps in his own broken Spanish.

Although Rue began his project shooting black-and-white, medium-format photos, he said he switched to a Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera because it better captures the vivid colors he encountered. “Color draws a more modern, contemporary feel,” Rue said. “It also conveys a more realistic approach — this is what a person would see if he or she were standing in my shoes.”

Photo Gallery

"Families across the United States gather around dinner tables to feast on the fruits provided by thousands of hardworking immigrants whom they will never meet, and probably never come to know. These farm workers, whose aspirations in life are not unlike those of many Americans, migrate from place to place, taking great care and pride in what they do. They are the campesinos - the farm laborers - of the California Central Valley…"

Man working in an orchard

A farmworker named Cesar, who did not wish his last name used, carries a pole in an almond orchard near Wasco, California.

man walking in an orchard

Workers use the poles to jab at branches to loosen almonds. Cesar said, "It looks easy, but it's hard work. My shoulder always hurts after work."

farmworker in a field

Two men work at a cotton field near Five Points, California. Harvesting cotton once required an abundance of labor, but now relies on less than a dozen workers per field.

woman carrying a bucket

A woman, who did not wish to give her name, carries a bucket of squash near Fresno, California.

two figures in front of a building

A girl and her younger brother sit outside a camp in Huron, California. Housing like this becomes crowded during lettuce season, when migrants flood the town looking for work.

children with empty boxes

Three children play with lettuce boxes near a recycling collection center in Huron, California. The population of the town of 6,000 more than doubles during lettuce season, when migrant workers come looking for work.

woman preparing to harvest lettuce

A group of women prepare for the lettuce harvest near Huron, California.

farmworkers harvesting lettuce

Lettuce workers, known as the "lechugadores," harvest lettuce in a field near Huron, California. Every year around October, workers migrate from the Salinas area to work in the fields.

farmworker tossing a melon onto a vehicle

A man tosses a cantaloupe onto a packing vehicle in Firebaugh, California on September 29, 2006.

woman picking squash

A woman picks squash in a field near Fresno, California on September 29, 2006. Farm labor is one of the few options available to many migrant and immigrant workers, who often speak little or no English.

man with hat

A man waits in a field near Fresno, California on September 29, 2006. For many field workers retirement is not an option and many times they will have to work until they are physically unable.

Project Proposal

This holiday season families across the United States will gather around dinner tables to feast on the fruits provided by thousands of hardworking immigrants whom they will never meet, and probably never come to know.

These farm workers, whose aspirations in life are not unlike those of many Americans, migrate from place to place, taking great care and pride in what they do. They are the "campesinos" - the farm laborers - of the California Central Valley.

Many come from Mexico to the United States under illicit circumstances and find themselves in marginalized communities, yet somehow their kindness knows no bounds. Despite having nearly nothing, they are always willing to offer their time, even to an intruding stranger who comes to them with nothing more than a camera around his neck and the promise to show others how they live and work.

This project has taken me to small rural towns hidden among miles of agricultural fields. One such town, Huron, Calif., will remain the focus of my project. Huron triples in population during lettuce season, and according to the most recent census report, 98 percent of its residents are Hispanic or Latino. With nothing more than a post office and a police station, residents must drive 20 miles to the nearest city to seek medical care or to purchase medicine, because Huron has no pharmacy.

I spoke with César Iban, an almond picker who jabs at trees with a long pole to loosen almonds from its branches. "It looks easy," he said in Spanish. "But it's hard work." He described the pain he feels in his shoulders at the end of an eight-hour day of shaking trees with a five-pound pole.

With the Dorothea Lange grant money, I intend to document further the lives of this community. It's a story I feel has validity given current debates surrounding immigration. Through photography, I hope to help society empathize with this hidden culture. I will work through the remainder of the spring 2007 semester and publish a multimedia photo essay that will include audio interviews, narration, and a written story.

- Jeremy Rue
December 2006