Dorothea Lange was best known for her emotionally compelling portraits during the American Depression era. She grew up in a home that encouraged the study of the creative arts, so after high school she went on to study photography at Columbia University. His first experience in photography came as a receptionist for Arnold Genthe, a nationally recognized portraitist at the time. From him he learned the basics of art and the appreciation for quality and design. After studying at Columbia, she led a nomadic lifestyle, moving around the country wherever her work took her. Some of his most famous early work documented bread lines and soup kitchens in San Francisco. It accurately captured the unemployment struggles in the city at the time. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Lange captured the image he titled “White Angel Breadline” in 1933, during the height of the Great Depression. He was said to have referred to that photograph as his "breakthrough in documentary photography". The image is strong emotionally and artistically; the dark colors and repetition of hats give the overwhelming feeling of being crowded. The subject of the image has his back to others in the shot, which conveys the feeling of solitude and solitude, even in a cramped situation. His clothes are dirty and his head is bowed, all of which convey what it was like to live in that time. The photos Lange took in San Francisco, which so accurately showed the struggles of the homeless, attracted a lot of attention, and she was soon approached by the Farm Security Administration (FSA). They asked her to document the living conditions of migrant workers in California during the Dust Bowl (Burns). Lange spent a lot of time with the people of that area and took some of the most important images of his career during that time. In 1936, Lange captured the “Migrant Mother” in Nipomo, California. The image, a portrait of a mother holding two children who are shielding their faces, conveys the raw emotion of tiredness and worry. This photo is said to be the most important documentary photo of that era, and perhaps of all time. The image now hangs in the Library of Congress. The photos Lange took of the workers revealed to the public the nature of the horrific living conditions and thus influenced real change. The FSA used his photos to advocate for the creation of government camps with better sanitation and protection for migrant workers who continually arrived in the area. This area of ​​his photographic career was the best known. Lange worked for over 30 years as a documentary photographer. After documenting workers in California, he went on to cover Japanese American internment camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He also traveled abroad, adding more and more to his portfolio. Remember: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay At the end of her career, Lange worked on putting together an exhibition of her work to display at the Museum of Modern Art, however, she died before the exhibition opened in 1965. Lange continued to be famous for her incredible documentation of the human struggle. As a photographer who moved around a lot and had assignments that took her away from home, her personal life was a bit turbulent. She divorced, remarried, and even raised children. And that this would be one of the hardest parts of the job. Don't always know.