The famous documentary photographer dorothea lange once said, "a documentary
photograph is not a factual photograph per se. it is a photograph which carries the
full meaning of the episode." what did she mean by this? tian photographs convey a
larger meaning than what is present in the photograph itself? why or why not?

The photographer means that the documentary photograph can be served as a thumbnail. Like the videos that we can see in YT, there is a frame that is showing something that would attracts the user to view the video fully. Some includes a short description of the video. The frame is not the whole message of the video but rather a scene or a caption about it. This goes to the documentary photograph. The photograph is not the whole story but rather an excerpt that would interest the user to view or look at the documentary. The larger meaning is the real issue of the documentary, the people behind it and the experiences encountered.