Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning

Gr 9 Up—Dyanna Taylor, filmmaker and granddaughter of Lange, shares glimpses into the life of one of America's most talented photographers. This high quality documentary is laden with personal interviews of family, friends, and experts, as well as an extensive portfolio of Lange's work, including her most iconic photo, Migrant Mother. As a young woman, Lange was a brave spirit who headed west to San Francisco in search of adventure. Unfortunately, she was robbed shortly after arriving and forced to find a job to survive. Lange began developing film and ultimately started her own portrait studio, which became wildly successful by the early 1920s. Soon thereafter she met and married painter Maynard Dixon, who challenged Lange to move beyond studio work and explore the open skies of the Southwest. Ultimately motherhood and marriage did not sustain Lange, who left Dixon and their children in pursuit of her career. Lange teamed up with journalist and social documentary photographer Paul Taylor, who became her second and greatest love of her life. Together, they introduced "America to Americans" through their provocative photographs and written reports. This examination provides an intimate look at Lange's personal and professional life, and personifies her quotation that "beauty appears when one feels deeply. Art is an act of total attention."—April Everett, Rowan Public Library, Salisbury, NC