LEWIS W.HINE

Lewis W.Hine

1974 – 1940

Lewis W.Hine was born in 1874 in Oshkosh Wisconsin USA.

After his father died in an accident he began working and saved his money for a college education.

He became a teacher in New York City at the ethical culture school where he encouraged his students to use photography as an educational medium, the classes travelled to Ellis Island in New York harbour photographing the thousands of immigrants who arrived each day.

Between 1904 and 1909 Hine took over 200 plates (photographs) and eventually came to the realization that his vocation was photojournalism.

Hine became a photographer for the National Child Labour Committee (NCLC) and left his teaching position.

Hine photographed people in there working life, such as life in the steel making districts, people of Pittsburgh and in World War 1 he photographed for the American Red Cross.

Hine made a series of “work portraits” which emphasized the human contribution to modern industry.

Despite his professional successes, Hine found it hard to keep his head above water leading him to accept the offer to document the construction of The Empire State Building. Hine photographed the workers in precarious positions while they secured the iron and steel framework of the structure, taking many of the same risks the workers endured. In order to obtain the best vantage points. Hine was swung out in a specially designed basket 1,000 feet above Fifth Avenue.

 In 1936, Hine was selected as the photographer for the National Research Project of the works projects administration but his work there was never completed.

The last years of his life were filled with professional struggles due to loss of government and corporate patronage. Nobody was interested in his work, past or present and Lewis Hine was consigned to the level of poverty he had earlier recorded in his pictures.

He died at the age of 66 on November 3^rd 1940 at the Dobbs Ferry Hospital after an operation.

 I have chosen the following images as they make you feel like you are actually in the photo, i lot of his images give a visual message a lot to do with child labour you can feel the hurt in there eyes, also being in black and white makes they realise that the images were taken a long time ago.

This is one of the steel work pictures in his early day of photographing people in the working enviroment.

Child labour this young girl is at work, visual message is very strong you can feel the hurt and pain is very present in her eyes.

This you boy is another of his child labour photos.

Just hope he holds on is all i can say about this picture.

The pain in this mothers eyes looking after her children the children not showing there faces you can read a lot in to this image.

 This image is well composed and the rule of the thirds is present, you would not get a photo like this any more i don't think health and safety would allow it !!!

An old man the back ground show the poverty that they lived in the visual message is it his job or just what he does in his own home it up to you to decide!!

Child labour rule of the thirds and the visual message with the young girl lookingout of the window you can feel the pain in this image.

The thing i like about these pictures are that they are all in there natural state, i know that i cant do exactly what Hine did to attache his images i don't think health and safety would let you !!! but i want to take pictures of workers farming in there every day jobs.

All of Hine images give a very strong visual message about child labour and the working life of people in the 1930's if it was not for images like these people would not have believed that things like this really went one.

Even though Hine was not very famous when he was alive, his images are now being sold at place like Ikea and are in peoples houses all around the world and are still giving a visual messages now...