Dorothea Lange – Grab A Hunk Of Lightning

Photographer and photojournalist, Dorothea Lange is a famous for documenting the lives of people during the Great Depression as part of a Farm Security Administration program. She traveled across the country recording the effect of the Depression on the lives of so many. In the photo on the right, you can see the camera she used, a Graflex Super D, which by today’s standards would be called “massive”. (Check out her cool shoes, too!).

The Film

The PBS American Masters program has long had cinematographer Dyanna Taylor‘s film, Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning on Amazon Prime. Although it is on Prime, it was a premium offering. This meant that you had to either subscribe to the PBS Living “channel” or rent/buy it. That is, till now. The film is included in the regular Prime subscription until March 31, 2021. So, if you belong to Amazon Prime this is your chance to see this film free. But don’t delay, it’s only included in the Prime subscription until the end of the month.

Besides being a talented cinematographer, Taylor is also Lange’s granddaughter. Because of this, the film contains some unique insights into Lange’s thoughts and work along with “home movies” that really give you a sense of what Lange was like.

Making Art

Lange was one of the greats. She documents life of the common people during the Depression. Although, her images are documentary in nature, that doesn’t mean they weren’t artistic. Composition was extremely important to her and she used her skill as a photographer and an artist to tell a story of those suffering through hard times.

Lange cared greatly about art and make you feel something with her photos. Lange was obsessed that you see the subject. Truly seeing and feeling something is what I’ve always considered as the purpose of art. Lange describes it this way:

“To me Beauty appears when one feels deeply. Art is an act of total attention.”

Even if you aren’t familiar with Lange, you will probably recognize her most famous work, Migrant Mother. That photo and the story of Florence Owens Thompson came to be the iconic photo of the Great Depression. It came to symbolize the poverty, hunger, despair and utter hopelessness that so many faced during those times. If this photo doesn’t make you feel something, I don’t know what would.

The Significance Of Lange’s Work

Migrant Mother is included in Time magazine’s Time 100 Photos, the 100 most influential photographs ever taken. Being considered one of the 100 of the most influential photographs ever taken is quite an accomplishment. But her art, her entire body of work is so much more than just that one photo, as great as it is. As you look at her other photos you truly appreciate them as art and you truly feel something.

Lange’s studies of the unemployed and homeless during the Depression and photos in the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII are simply amazing and gut-wrenching. The Army impounded her photos of the internment camps out of concern for the implications of what she documented.

The movie is just under 2 hours long so allocate enough time to watch it.  You’ll be glad you did.

Dorothea Lange – Grab A Hunk Of Lightning Video

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