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Lewis Hein Essay

                                                                                                                                      Margery Clark

                                                                                                                                        Photography                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Lewis Hein

 Lewis Hein was born in 1874 in Wisconsin. His early years were difficult due to his fathers’ unexpected passing. He endeavored to support his family even as a young child.  He studied and went on to college to become a teacher.   Frank Manny, the superintendent of the Ethical Culture School, invited Hein to learn and teach the new technology of photography. He took students out to photograph many things in New York including slums and Ellis Island. His photography was different from most as they offered a more humane look at poverty and immigration.

 In 1908 he was hired full time by the National Child Labor Committee to photograph the plight of small children in adverse working conditions.  As a hard working child supporting his family who went on to become and educator I am sure this endeavor must have been close to his heat. While I believe he didn’t start out to be a photojournalist, in essence that’s what he became. He made notes about every child, measured their height with the buttons on his coat and would even pretend to be someone else in order to gain access to the hidden child labor atrocities. While his photo’s captured the despair of the conditions, he again showed his respect for these little workers by treating them with kindness. To him they were more than a social problem. His careful and thorough documentation led to significant Changes in child labor laws.

 Hein later went to Europe with the Red Cross to photograph the war. Some argue his pictures took on a more sightseer feel and that he started to finally see himself as more of an artist than photographer.

  In 1930 he was hired to document the construction of The Empire State building. In this endeavor his true artistic skill is proven. Hein went to extraordinary measures to get some amazing photographs befitting the grand undertaking that building the Empire state building was. He had an elaborate basket built that balanced a thousand feet above 5^th Avenue. He put himself in peril but the results were incredible. These photos area triumphant nod to what man can accomplish and the determined, hardworking spirit of post war Americans.

 He continued to photograph for the government during the depression but soon the government contracts dried up which meant the money did as well. Hein died in 1940 with a great deal of debt and minimal recognition.

Hein is quoted as saying, “There are two things I wanted to do. I wanted to show the things that had to be corrected. I wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated.” His legacy of photographs does just that. He used his art medium to bring recognition to people and work that been overlooked and undervalued. Fifty years later, his legacy lives on and we recognize his significant contributions to social reform and photography  .

Reference page:

Biography.com Editors., Lewis Hein Biography., Bio., retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/lewis-hine-9339610

Habert, J., Lewis W. Hein Biography., About Tech .,  retrieved from http://photography.about.com/od/famousphotogbiosfj/a/Lewis-W-Hine-Biography.htm

Lockett, T. ,  Remembering Lewis Hein., The Humanist.com., October 2011., retrieved from                      http://thehumanist.com/magazine/september-october-2011/features/remembering-lewis-hine

Photography in the U.S.civil war

                                                                                                                                  

Photography in the U.S. civil war

                                                                                                                           Margery Clark

  The U.S. Civil war heralded with it many changes from 1860 to 1865. Photography is one of the most telling examples of how things changed very quickly and would never be the same again. Before the war started photography was still fairly new, rather expensive and carried an elitist quality about it. At that time, the famous Civil war photographer Mathew Brady, was running a successful gallery selling portraits of famous or noteworthy men and women of the day. His photographs had become famous because of their artistic composition. Even the Queen of England honored him for his artistic intuition. Something in him changed at the outbreak of the war and he knew he needed to document what was happening. He sold or abandoned his lucrative business to photograph the civil war. “I had to go. A spirit in my feet said “go”, and I went” he is famously quoted as saying.

   The types of photography changed rapidly during the war. While the war started with Daguerreotype being the usual method of photography, it quickly moved on to wet plate Ambrotype and then Tintype. Daguerreotype was costly and you could only produce one print from a negative. Ambrotype used a glass plate to capture the images and could be used more than once but was fragile and the wagons carrying the glass plates into a battle field was not ideal. The Tin type was cheap and easier to carry. Brady had, at the start of the war, brought Alexander Gardner to America from Ireland. He was a chemist as well as a photographer and helped Brady keep up with the changes in photography. The changes also came at a time when the war losses were becoming great. People no longer wanted portraits of political figures but small pictures to remember soldiers they might never see again.

  Mathew Brody had a grand vision of sharing what was happening all over in the war. He dispatched several corps of photographers. After all, he couldn’t be everywhere at once. This brings into question one photographer being credited for another’s’ work. I think now most photographers are credited with their name and then who they are photographing for. Standard school pictures, dance pictures or pictures from a specific studio are credited to the studio, not the photographer. I think the art was so young that they hadn’t worked out how to acknowledge who the pictures really belonged to. I think if you sign on with a studio you do give up some of your right to claim the photographs. But if you are an independent photographer you can retain those rights unless you decide to sell. It’s a hard and uncomfortable truth to the artist.

  The battles of the civil war were some of the bloodiest and saddest in this country’s history. Brody had a sense of how photographs would tell the tales that dead men could not. The “ethics of moving a gun to create a better photograph” kind of go out the window with such atrocities. Brody needed people to see the story. It was a story no one wanted to see at the time. Only now, 150 years later do we see why he did what he did. Why a man would go to his death penniless and misunderstood just to remind us of this story of truth.                 

 References:

Lanier, H.W. (2014). Photographing the Civil War.  Son of the South. Retrieved from http://www.sonofthesouth.net/civil-war-pictures/photography/photography.htm

Osborne, J. M. (1995). Mathew B. Brady. Retrieved from http://users.dickinson.edu/~osborne/404_98/whitep.htm

Civil War.  (n.d.).  In The History Place online.  Retrieved from http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/#lee_surr

Ambrotype & Tintype.  (2013). In PhotoTree.com.  Retrieved from http://www.phototree.com/ID_Amb.htm

Introduction

1. Introduction:
I am Margery Clark (Margie) returning college student. I'm pursuing a degree in Secondary Education. As a mother of two, it is my evil plan to be teaching high school English by the time my son reaches that point. Humiliation galore!

2. Camera:
I'm looking for a beginner camera. Mostly I've been looking at Cannon Rebels  Ti or Sx series. I'm going for a little less megapixels, older model, body only to start. My hope is that some good lenses will make up for it's weaknesses  while I'm learning what I want. I'm on a very limited budget.

3. Class Goals:
I'm hoping to learn how a camera works and how to take better pictures. I want to explore the hows and whys of good photography.

4. Experience:
I have a point and shoot and an I-Phone. Total Beginner. I have good eye for picture set-up just no technical know how.

5. Favorite Photography:
I really enjoy informal portrait photography. Particularly, the more relaxed and natural portraits that are popular now. I love shooting kids and families and then creating invitations, announcements and holiday cards with photos.

6. Vacation Spot:
I'd just like to take one! We recently moved from Mesa and any vacation time has been spent going back to visit family and take care of our rental. I'm hoping to spend some time in San Diego this spring and get a passport to check out Mexico. Dream vacation is Hawaii.

7. Pet
I have two Princess dogs. Belle is a 14yr old miniature Golden Retriever who is very easy going but loves to lick, Tiana is a 4yr old black Chihuahua who thinks she's the queen of the world. Both are named for the Disney Princesses they look like. (I swear I am not racist, Tiana was the popular princess at the time) We also have two turtles and bad experiences with Hamsters and our 8yr old son.

8. More About Me
My kids are 16 and 8. They, along with my husband of 20 years, always need something! My return to school will be an awesome adventure and a great opportunity for them to take care of the stuff I need for a change. I love listening to people and getting to see things in a new light. I love exploring our new surroundings in Yuma, wasting time on Pintrest and Facebook, reading YA Lit and watching K-dramas with my daughter.