Unit 208- Theme 2- Lewis Hines Portrait Photographer

Lewis.W. Hine was born in Oshkosh Wisconsin USA in 1874 . After graduating from school he worked in various jobs before going to the university of Chicago in 1900 where he met a professor of education Frank          Manny, Frank had recently been appointed superintendent of the Ethical Culture school in New York . In 1901 Hine moved to New York after being asked to accept a position as an assistant teacher at the school by Frank and at this time Hine had began to use a camera as an educational tool to photograph school events . Hine then decided to return back to school himself by attending the school of education at New York Plymouth Rock. By 1905 Hine had received a degree and continued to photograph at the EC school in New York . Hine was also helping in a photograph club at this time and met a man called Paul Strand whom deemed to be influential and in 1905 was considering a career in sociological photography leading Hine into his next line of work with The National Child Labor Committee and by 1907 he had his first freelance assignment with them . In 1908  Hine was working and receiving a monthly salary from the NCLC and photographed child labor practices ,during the next seven years Hine traveled photographing mines ,factories , canneries ,textile mills and agricultural industries .
Hines photographs started to make a point to the public that children were being deprived of childhood ,health ,education and a chance for a future. Hines work on the subject changed the publics attitude towards child labor and strict laws were enforced .
In 1912 Hine started a family and by 1913 had established himself as a successful social welfare photographer , for the next seven years Hine continued to travel ,exhibit and lecture for the NCLC . In 1917  Hine excepted a position with The National Red Cross spending the next two years photographing refugees and displaced civilians in war torn Europe . During the 1920's Hine undertook various assignments and in 1924 was to be awarded a medal by The Arts Directors Club of New York at an exhibition of Advertising Arts ,Hine found it difficult to make a living at photography even though he was famous ,then in 1930 Hine was hired to photograph the construction of the Empire State Building . In 1931 Hines work was exhibited in the Yonkers Art Museum and Hine then went on to publish a book in 1932 ,Men and Work .
In 1939 , sponsorship for Hine retrospective of specially made large prints were exhibited at the riverside museum in New York , with the works of Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz were to be included too.
Lewis .W,Hine died in 1940 and his son Croydon donated his fathers prints and negatives to The Photo League after finding little  interest elsewhere ,eventually they were then donated again to The George Eastman House.


                                                        
   Lewis Hine's black and white images of people and children really strikes me  , he manages to capture reality and the individuals personality in their working environment in his work . Lewis Hines is also famous for capturing images of child labor between 1908 and 1912 . Each of the images below tells a story of the working conditions , the age of the workers and some intricate machines and work needed to be done in their every day lives.                                                        
 I have Chosen photographs of people in their working environment as this is what I have been doing in my unit 208 ,theme 2 .                
                                                       

  The light and detail is fab in all of the shots on this page, Lewis has got the workers and their machinery/placement  in the frame and you can tell the line of work each individual is undertaking ,showing a story in all of his images .The shots draw you in, and you seem to be wanting to know more about the real people in the photographs.

The Butcher

And His Tools !

        

All of the pictures above have been taken for research from the website below an not used for any other publishing uses . 

       http://www.multimedialibrary.com/framesml/IM12/IM12.asp                                                            

Unit 208 ,theme 2 - And The Candle-Stick Maker !

                                                                        

The Boss -Annie.

ISO 400   f/s  5.6  s/s 1/50.

Flash Fired.

Annie in the work shop, holding one of the jugs we use for pouring hot wax into candle molds .I like this shot, it is a shame there are shadows behind Annie, but the work shop is extremely dark. One of the photographers I have researched has shot photos here and they had to remove some of the roof sections to let some natural light in , which was a time consuming job. The camera I use, finepix S5600, it has a fixed flash unit which fires forwards only and has not got the flash mover-ability and  strength of an external flash unit.

The Hurricane.
ISO400  f/s 5.6  s/s 1/50.
Flash Fired
Annie holding one of her wears, this is a hurricane candle made of wax and dried fruit . Annie is stood in front of the original door to her work shop which used to be the black-smiths workshop in the 1800s , you can see the original iron-work and other interesting pieces hanging , this also gives the photograph character as well as texture, shape and pattern. Again I wish the shot was more crisp and lighter .

Candles and Christmas.

ISO 400  f/s 5.0  s/s 1/40. 

I really like this shot ,I think the light is right ,its central ,good composition, nice texture in the wreaths that are hanging above the door, the rule of thirds appears vertically .

Ready Made.

ISO  400  f/s3.2  s/s1/60.

Here I have tried to recreate one of Andrew  Montgomery's shots , in a similar place in the workshop ,in black and white , again there are shadows present and the shot could of been a little clearer. The subject is in the frame ,there is  texture in the wall and good composition .

I Think I'm Getting On Her Wick .

ISO 400  f/s  3.2  s/s  1/60.

There is plenty of texture in this shot 

Afternoon Delight.

ISO 200  f/s  8  s/s  1/60

No Flash

I love this shot of Annie, the afternoon sun was just at eye level as Annie leaned in for the shot. I think the light is great ,the texture of the fur on the hat and wall behind Annie is apparent ,the shape of the bottles and the lines of the perspex sheeting all add to the photograph.

The shots again in this theme have a lot of shadow due to me not using my camera correctly , I have brought a tripod and now know how to open the shutter to allow light in .

Below are links to photographs that I have taken for Annie at on a Wick and a Prayer, all the shots of the candle cabinets, reed diffusers and two shots in the scented glass candles  section have been taken by myself in the summer of 2010 ( blue flock and silver rose candles).

Link to 'On A Wick and a Prayer' web page for Candle Cabinets

Link to' On A Wick and a Prayer' web page for reed diffusers

link to 'On A Wick 'and a Prayer web page for scented glass candles

My camera - Finepix 5600 .