You can’t photograph farms or rural areas without knowing the work of Dorothea Lange, one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century. She captured the farm workers of the Great Depression with such gravitas and authenticity that her images are still used to illustrate the desperation of the depression.

Mother of seven children, photographed by Dorothea Lange, perhaps the most famous image of the Great     Depression. 

When I’m not photographing farms, I’m working on a thesis through the feminist studies department on rural woman. This image, as well as many others from Lange’s gallery, have helped to illustrate the way that rural women – women who participate in farm labor as a way to earn money and keep their families alive and fed – in a way that the few oral histories cannot.

 Dust Bowl, north of Dalhart, Texas, photographed by Dorothea Lange

More of Lange’s work can be found here, and here, and a wikipedia entry about her life can be found here.