Stories

Dorothea Lange was a storyteller.

In 1939, during the Great Depression, Lange was piecing together the “big story” behind the many personal and local stories she told of poverty and despair, generosity and hope. A single photograph could not tell the whole story. Nor could photographs alone.

To tell her stories more deeply, Lange began to write reports, which she linked to groups of photographs. She called these reports general captions.

The stories Lange told in 1939 are still unfolding. Somehow, in the process of following Lange’s stories, they became my own.

1939: Lange’s General Captions

1939: Lange reports from the field

2005-2006: Anne Whiston Spirn retraces Lange's Journeys

For the continuing stories see my geoblog