You have most likely heard of Pablo Picasso, Barbra Streisand and Marilyn Monroe, all very famous artists in many different ways. Dorothea Lange is someone who went down in history as another artist, someone who captured the attention of many thanks to her love and passion for photography. Lange was a passionate photographer who captured the misfortunes and stress of living through an important time in our nation's history, taking photos that brought attention to people in need. During the Great Depression, he took action and launched his career. She lived an unpredictable life and began a difficult childhood. She left behind a significant legacy and many reasons to honor her and her work. Photography during the Great Depression proved to be a vital tool in understanding how our country survived such an economic crisis. In the 1930s photography was considered nothing more than an art, a meaningless hobby. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay But when Dorothea Lange and ten other photographers were asked to photograph the Dust Bowl and record the tragedies, perceptions of photography changed. These photographers helped change attitudes towards photography and established a substantial movement in how photography was viewed and how much it was cared about. The photographers' mission was to immortalize the poor populations of the West. Dorothea, one of the photographers, the most famous photo was taken while returning home after a long day. She passed a sign that read "Pea Pickers' Camp," and something nagged at her for the next twenty miles. Finally, Dorothea turned, went back and found what she was looking for; Florence Owens Thompson. At the time, Florence was a mother of seven living in a lean-to tent, barely surviving on frozen crops and baby birds killed by her children. In the February 1960 Popular Photography article Dorothea stated: "I did not ask her name or her background. She told me her age, which was thirty-two. She said they lived on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and on birds that the children had killed. She had just sold her car tires to buy food. There she sat in a tent with her children huddled around her and she seemed to know that my photos could help her, and so she helped me. There was a kind of equality in this. The equipment and time used to capture a moment were not as simple as today, however Lange took 5 shots of the woman and her children Most of them were focused on the features of the mother and on the frightened and hidden faces of the children. Without these ambitious and courageous photographers, we would never know what people had to go through to survive the worst economic collapse in our history. Lange turned out to be an iconic figure, but her childhood began similarly to that of her peers. Dorothea was born to Heinrich Nutzhorn and Johanna Lange on May 26, 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He had a younger brother named Martin. Lange and his brother lived a very comfortable lifestyle. They attended a small private school and after school they visited the library where their mother worked. A great photographer often has the quality of drawing attention away from himself. Dorothea gained this trait by visiting her mother while she worked at a library in their small New Jersey town. He spent many afternoons there, wandering among the shelves and staring at the pages of books, photographs and pictures. Unfortunately, tragedy struck her.