Dorothea Lange’s days of photographing the lavish lives of the upper class were over.

The horrors of the Great Depression showered down on the public and having professional portraits taken wasn’t exactly a priority anymore. With her business drying up, Lange decided to do a total 180, hit the streets and photograph the financial carnage unleashed upon the people of the 1930’s.

This photo is one of Lange’s earliest attempts at street photography, actually taken the first day that she decided to capture depression-era San Francisco streets. She was a bit wary at the hordes of destitute men, and asked her brother to come along as a bodyguard. This shot shows a hungry fellow waiting in line at the White Angel Jungle, a soup kitchen near Lange’s studio. Lois Jordan, the self-titled “White Angel,” was a widow who established the soup kitchen to feed the unemployed and impoverished. She ran the kitchen completely off donations and was able to feed more than a million people over the three-year period it was open.

It would appear that we have come quite a way since these tempestuous times. One of Lange’s prints of this sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 2005 for $822,400. That price made it one of the most expensive 20^th century photographs ever sold. It’s kind of ironic to think that someone would pay so much money to look at some of the most deprived people in recent history. Perhaps a reminder to not get poor?

White Angel Breadline marks the beginning of the shift in Lange’s career that would bring her validation and fame. Her decision to veer from photographing the opulent lives of rich folk to the reality of life’s hardships would prove to entrance audiences for decades to come.