Photography: Lewis Hine Essay

During 1892, Lewis Hines graduated from high school and worked in an upholstery factory and in the next several years Hine worked several jobs while he was studying stenography, drawing, and sculpture. Hine eventually earned a Master’s degree in education from the University of Chicago. Hine’s first passion was not photography rather it was teaching. His first job was as a teacher at the Ethical Culture School in New York City. Hine’s had a friend named Frank Manny who was the one that convinced Lewis Hine to become the school photographer at the Ethical Culture School, where he gained technical skills (Hine, 11). Lewis Hine started off with a ten-dollar box camera and soon after set up a dark room at school that lead him to start an after school camera club, where he learned about art photography along the students (Freedman, 9). According to the book “Crusade for the Children,” by 1908 Hine spent several years as an amateur, photographing immigrants, Bowery inhabitants, and Lower Eastside hovel children. Soon after Hine quit teaching because he was interested in portraying the difficulty of the poor (Trattner, 105). Hine spent some time working for The survey magazine but later was hired by the National Child Labor Committee by 1906 Hine started work on a freelance basis (105). According to the book “Kids at work,” by 1908, by the time he left the Ethical Culture School,

To begin with, Lange helped perceive the poor living conditions of the 1900’s through her photo of the migrant mother and three children. For instance, Lange with her photo of the migrant mother helped raise awareness, for the federal government gave the pea pickers camp, where the migrant mother had been distinguished, “twenty thousand pounds of food”. (Starr 48) The photo of the unfortunate pea pickers helped people realize how hopeless they really were. This creating a willingness to help. Showing Lange's photography ability to create empathy through a simple photo. In addition, the mother was so desperate for help that when the picture was taking place, “there she sat in the lean-to-tent” motionless. (Starr 47) The migrant mother was so

In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.

Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is a photograph that documents a moment of distress within American history. The image works as a visual representation of suffering for those who were lucky enough not to live within the Dust Bowl region. To many it is uncertain if Lange’s image became an American Icon because of the struggle it presented or because of the eye capturing composition of it. However, with this image came forth the issue of a photos validity after photo manipulation, as Lange edited the image by removing the thumb of the mother who was a large subject. Despite the slight manipulation in Migrant Mother, the photograph still presents the situation truthfully, making the photograph function as both a work of art and a historical document.

While emotions were extremely high in the sense of angst for a better life, photography provided a new sense of reality to Americans and for others around the World. Photography all around the World is unlike anything else of its kind. People are able to tell stories and elicit emotions that bring the audience to that desired response. Throughout the 1930’s, photography from governmental institutions or advancements alone brought a new beginning to the end of a terrible time that Americans all around the nation

Not simply a great photographer and ethnographer but a man with enough compassion and foresight to recognize that here was a once proud and free people whose traditions and culture were quickly disappearing via assimilation into a conquering white man’s society. His passion and drive to capture those traditions is reflected in this quote:

Ellis Island was an immigration center located in New York Harbor. “At Ellis Island, some people were allowed to enter the united States right away, some were detained (held for a while), and some were deported (rejected and sent back)” (Levine). Some people called Ellis Island “Island of Tears”. Others called it “Island of Hope”. The United States ethnicity is so diverse because of the many different immigrants that came through Ellis Island to live in America. Ellis Island is a symbol of hope to many immigrants and their ancestors.

Without context, Italian Family Looking for Lost Baggage, Ellis Island looks like an organized family portrait, but after researching the history of the island and its immigration admissions processes, it is clear that the photograph reveals so much more. This article explained how the Ellis Island was chosen and prepared for the task of examining and admitting new citizens to the U.S. as well as explaining what was expected of citizen hopefuls. When simply viewing Italian Family Looking for Lost Baggage, Ellis Island, it is impossible to tell just what went on in the New York Harbor in 1905, but after researching the context, the heartbreaking truth comes to light. The article went into detail about how families without father figures were

The violent markings of the photo album and its images, however, produce an equally powerful message that jars the memory as it disrupts and distorts the photographic chronicle of her life and that of her family and friends. The result is a complex visual experience that addresses the use of images in producing knowledge and making history.

The name "Photography" comes from the Greek words for light and writing. Sir John Herschel, was the first to use the term photography in 1839, when he managed to fix images using hyposulphite of soda. He described photography as "The application of the chemical rays to the purpose of pictorial representation". Herschel also coined the terms "negative", "positive" and "snapshot".

As the end of a long voyage and the introduction to the New World, Ellis Island must have left something to be desired.

Henry Peach Robinson, born on July 9th, 1830, was a British photographer and prominent author on photography. Known as “the King of Photographic Picture Making,” he began his life’s work as a painter but would become one of the most influential photographers of the late 19th century. He was a prolific advocate for photography as an art form and is well known for his role in “pictorialism,” which, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, is “an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.”

In Roger Scruton's Photography and Representation the author establishes the idea that ideal photography is not art. In the same breath he says that ideal photography is not necessarily an idea which photographers should strive, nor does it necessarily exist. Yet, he bases his argument upon the ideal. In reviewing his paper, I’ll take a look at why he painstakingly tries to make this distinction between ideal painting and ideal photography. His argument is based upon the proposition that photographs can only represent in a causal fashion, whereas painters create representational artwork via intentional relations. Scruton manages to create a solid argument, but in the end I’ll decide it is not a fair assumption to say that photographs

What is a photograph? The simplicity of taking a photograph leads many to ponder its artistic value. Yet, it is undeniable that there are some photos that cause an emotional reaction deeper than simply observing a recorded point in time. Surely, there are photographs that cause more reaction than some modern art pieces. There seems to be two types of photographs. The first classification is the ‘time capture’ photo – an image with the sole purpose of recording a particular event or point in time. The second nature of a photo carries a ‘deeper meaning,’ which has the ability to change the observer’s mood and cause a reaction. But what distinguishes these two varieties? There are a

Have you ever taken a picture or been looking through a photo album and felt a sudden rush of emotion? Do you wonder what caused that emotion? Many find themselves captivated by a photograph and overwhelmed by the emotions that the photograph arouses. Believe it or not the arousal of emotion from those photographs was not caused by the content of the picture but by certain elements within the photograph. When a photograph is viewed it is not only the subject that triggers the overwhelming emotional response, it is the length of time that the film was exposed to sunlight, the way lighting is used and played with, and the strong detail of colors or lack thereof. While many believe that the subject acts as the primary stimuli to emotions, the