American photography: a century of images

Photography

Today, the world is inundated with photographs on billboards, in the print media, on television, and online. Everywhere one turns, there are photographs. It is difficult, therefore, to imagine what it was like when photographs did not exist, and only static drawings were used to inform, emote or motivate. Now, photographs have lost much of their power, because the viewers know that "reality" can be manipulated within the camera and electronically altered. It is impossible to know if a picture is actually recording an event or if it has been altered to make the people, place or things appear differently than they really were at that second the shutter opened and closed. However, for more than a century, people were not jaded by photographs. These images made a true impact, especially when there was a new stage of photographic development. The PBS special American Photography: A Century of Images, covered a number of these monumental times that so greatly influenced the American public.

Although photography has had several extraordinary developments over its history, which this documentary highlights, there are three that personally stand out most. These are Lewis Hine's child labor photographs, which evidenced children and youth in horrible working conditions of the early 1900s; the publication of Life Magazine in 1936, which truly established the field of photography and made it a household entity; and the stills during the Viet Nam War, which proved how one picture could transfix and completely alter the mindset of millions of people.

Hine's photographs of children working established the use of photographs for investigative purposes. The field of photojournalism was born. No longer were photographs used only to capture a likeness of person, but of a society. Admittedly, Matthew Brady's photographs of the Civil War definitely documented this event and demonstrated the power that photography can have beyond the portrait. However, the photos were just that: a document of the war. They were not being purposely used to change perceptions. Lewis Hine used the camera as a vehicle to inform people of a social injustice and to eliminate it. For four years, he traveled across the country to take photographs of children -- even some as young as three years old -- who were working for long hours in often dangerous situations, such as mining, manufacturing and agriculture. He published his first photographs in 1909, which depicted children employed in possibly injurious circumstances. The photos showed children, who had not only lost their innocence, but were already looking aged and ragged. Their faces were sorrowful, angry, fearful, and exhausted, and their bodies were wasting away right in front of the viewers. Some of Hine's images, such as the young boy in the field staring off into space or the several boys with their faces blackened from the coal mine, are among the most impactful photographs ever taken before then or since.

Hine's photographs were viewed by huge audiences nationwide, and, as this PBS special reports, they "moved and outraged" people who, for the first time, were able to picture this great wrong. Hine was able to leverage the extraordinary power of the camera's image, which "went beyond logic and language" to the heart instead of the mind. Photography was now being used as a tool for social change. The photographs spurred people to work toward state and federal legislation to enact child labor standards. These changes did not happen overnight, by any means, but the photographs were the impetus of other advocacy to come. The widespread publicity of Hine's photographs continued to encourage attempts at child labor reform and states began to pass stricter laws that banned the employment of underage children. Eventually, in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, or the Federal Wage and Hour Law, which was declared constitutional in 1941.

With all the magazines presently on the newsstands, it is difficult to understand why Life Magazine made such an impact for so many years. Yet, its introduction in 1936 was the first time that Americans across the country saw visuals of people, places and events outside of their own small community. As this photography document states, this was as big as the Gutenberg press. The magazine, which was received by a mass market, covered everything possible -- politics, home life, advertising, happy events, tragedies, employment, animals, world cultures. The world was opened up to the readers. They could actually envision themselves outside of their daily lives at another place and time. They could "see and take pleasure in seeing," as the video states.

Nothing like this existed at the time. There were photographs in newspapers, but they were black and white and often muddy and difficult to see. Life Magazine's photographs, first in black and white and later in color were actually larger than life. In one photo spread of several pictures, an entire story could be told from the beginning to the middle to the end. It was only when the computer arrived that the magazine lost its luster. Yet, it had a long run, and greatly impacted millions of readers.