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Dorothea Lange Water Boy photograph 1938 Dorothea Lange was born in 1895, in New York City. She lived with her mother, who supported the family after her husband abandoned them. Lange lived in areas in the city that exposed her to poverty. It was during this time, she contracted polio. Lange became interested in photography during her late teens. She worked for photographers doing darkroom and touch-up work, and learned the basics of portrait photography. In 1919, Lange settled in San Francisco and setup her first portrait studio.

In 1932, Lange began to document the Depression. In 1934, Paul Taylor, University of California professor of economics, asked her to work for the California State Emergency Relief Administration. She photographed migrant workers evicted from their Great Plains farms, who came to work in California's fields.

In 1935, Lange and Taylor began to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Security Administration (FSA). From 1935 until 1943, FSA photographers including Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, and others took over 270,000 documentary photographs. Lange photographed the Texas drought, farmers on the Great Plains, and living conditions in the South. FSA photographs were used by Roy Stryker, FSA director, to persuade Congress to establish labor camps and provide relief monies. Lange continued to photograph until her death in 1965.

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