Period 4 -- Critical Analysis #8

11/9/2017

Local Identifier: 102-LH-136, “Young Driver in Mine. Has been driving one year. 7 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. daily [at] Brown Mine, Brown W. Va. [West Virginia]”, Photograph by Lewis Hine

Today you will be writing about this photograph made by Lewis Hine, a photographer and sociologist who used photography as a tool for social reform. His images of child laborers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries helped abolish child labor.

We will read together in class an article on Lewis Hine and the National Child Labor Committee. Then, you will write a 4 paragraph critical analysis of the photograph above.

Your analysis must be 4 paragraphs, 5 sentences minimum per paragraph. Remember to post your analysis as a comment to the blog post that corresponds to your class. If you post your analysis to the wrong class's post, it will not be graded.

If you do not complete your analysis in class, you must finish it for homework before your next class on FRIDAY, 11/10/17.

Refer to your "How to See" handout for analyzing a photograph--

Describe specifics.
Describe form.
Describe the content.
Evaluate the image

Your analyses will be graded on:

meeting minimum length requirements
depth of organization
evaluation of the content
grammar/punctuation

Dylan Pegg link

11/9/2017 09:39:05 am

In this image by Lewis Hine, we see a child who has been working as a “Driver” and is obviously not leading a very great life. He is very dirty, using some kind of trash as a hat, and is covered in soot and dirt. His expression seems very hopeless and there is a whip hung around his neck. It was most likely shot in daylight, with exclusively natural light. The photo is in black and white, but if it were in color, I would see it as having a warm palette of green and brown, along with some black.

The photo is nicely exposed, and doesn’t appear to clip most places outside of some dark bushes behind the subject. The boy is in the dead center of the frame, and is seen from the waist up. A railroad track the the boy is standing near leads the eye to the boy and the change in color from the boy’s dirty neck and clean chest creates contrast. Behind the boy are some bushes and a railroad track, but nothing else is cut off. However, the background is a bit blurry since the photographer is using a shallow depth of field.

Lewis was working as social reformist when taking this picture, which definitely makes since. The child is a child laborer, and is experiencing yet another long day of hard work for little pay. We know much of this from the caption, but the photo itself manages to convey the misery the boy faces. Additionally, most viewers will be able to understand further due to history we’ve learned in school. Overall, Lewis managed to make a statement for his time that challenged the norm, but managed to bring justice to child labor.

Personally, I enjoy the photo because the expression on the boy’s face is very authentic. His clothing and accessories aren’t what we are used to seeing this day in age, but are still interesting to look at and question their use. The photo immerses the viewer in the time that it was taken, both due to the location and the boy, but the graininess of the film and the black and white colors further enforce it (even though it wasn’t an artistic choice to do so). Overall, the photo puts forth a bold statement and conveys its message very explicitly.

Leon Toursarkissian link

11/9/2017 09:40:36 am

This image is of a young child laborer who appears very dirty working as a mine driver in the mining industry. The image is only using black and white in order to give the image a more sad feeling. The lighting in the image isn’t very visible because of the colors, but it appears to be pretty well lit. The objects in the image are a young mine driver, a hat, ming rails or tracks, a rope around the boy’s neck, overalls, buttons, a shirt, and trees in the background. In this image, the boy is very dirty and weary looking and seems to be standing next to rails in a mining area, having paused from working momentarily.

The composition of the image functions well because the boy seems to be framed by the trees and shrubbery in the background. The rule of thirds is not being used because the boy is not centered on any of the thirds lines. The angle at which the photographer took the picture is directly across from the boy and level with him. A shallow depth of field being used since the boy appears sharp but the background is blurred. The focal point of the image is the boy and he is somewhat framed by the trees in the background. The lines in the image are very random and don’t lead you eyes to any specific point. The image isn’t completely symmetrical but it almost is because each side of the picture is similar to the other. The subject does not fill the frame and there is quite a bit of extra space. The picture crops off at the trees and the rails and seems to do so randomly. The positive space in the image is the boy and the negative space is the trees and railroad.

The theme of the image is child laborers in the US and showing the life which they lived. The story being told in the image is of the mine driver boy and his life as a child laborer. The artist probably made the image to show the horrors that child laborers in the early 20th century worked in and to raise awareness for it and eventually abolish it. The image doesn't seem to remind me of anything. The image did question the belief that child labor was ok and had nothing wrong with it. I think the image is noteworthy because of the story behind it.

Personally, I don’t like this image mainly because of the expression on the boy’s face. The way he seems to be staring into nothingness and the way his features are oriented in the picture make him look a bit like an automaton. I also don’t like how unorganized the picture seems just from the nature of the picture. However I think this image is successful because it raised awareness for and important cause, which in this case is the abolition of child labor. I also believe that because of the story this image tells it was quite successful with all.

Melody Umsted

11/9/2017 09:41:42 am

This picture is of a young boy who is a child laborer. The boy is wearing a worn out long sleeve shirt with old overalls. He is wearing a hat that has some weird thing sticking out of it; it looks like a tea pot. Around the boy's neck, there is a whip because he was a driver at a mine. He is standing in front of a small train track and trees. Everything on the boy, including himself, is extremely dirty, and the photo is black and white, which enhances the dirt. He is looking right into the camera.

This is a nice portrait. The boy is standing right in the middle of the frame and the space around him is even all on sides. The picture is taken straight-on at eye level. There is a shallow depth of field because only the boy is in focus, everything else is very blurry. The boy is the focal point of the image because he is the only thing in focus and therefore the only thing your eye is drawn to. There is slight use of leading lines in this image with the train tracks behind the boy and the whip hanging from his neck. The boy’s legs are cut off at the bottom of the image.

The idea of this image was to challenge child labor laws. Lewis Hine was against child labor, and so he photographed child laborers so that other people can see what the children go through on a daily basis. Through this image, the observer can see that the boy is not happy by the look in his eyes and the dirt on his face. At the time this was photographed, it challenged the child labor laws that were accepted by businesses and manufacturers in America. This image is noteworthy because it was taken for a good cause and is a part of history that might be overlooked often.

I like this image because it is a nice photo but also because the story behind it. I like that Lewis Hine used his photography skills and social knowledge for good and to make a change in America. Hine is a nice reminder that photography doesn't just have to be a hobby, or a part of a job, but a social factor that can change the world. This image is successful not only as a portrait, but also because Hine was part of the reform that abolished child labor for good. If it weren't for Hine and his fellow reformers, I could be in a factory dying, so thank you, Lewis, for saving me.

Andi Feik

11/9/2017 09:42:12 am

This image is by Lewis Hine called “Young Driver In Mine”. It is of a young boy that works in a mine. This image was shot in black and white. It is outside with trees behind him. This is a portrait of this boy so he is the only thing in this image. The image has a short depth of field.

This image is using the rule of thirds because it is a portrait so the boy is centered in the image. The point of view is straight ahead and the camera is facing right towards the boy. This image has a short depth of field. On each side the boy there is a little bit of background. The image is of the middle of his thighs and up so you can almost see his whole body.

This image was shot early 1900’s when people were dealing with child labor. The main idea that Lewis Hine had in this image was to show the public the working conditions the children were in. Lewis Hine later on helped make a law to end child labor. These images deal with all different things because they are sad because you feel bad for the kids and also beautiful because they helped change something.

I like this image because Lewis Hine had a purpose when making them. He was also very risky because he would sneak in factories or wherever he was making his images to take these images of children. This whole group of images are really successful because they are good photographs. They also helped passed laws for children not being able to work. Overall these images are great because they tell a story and they also helped.

Chase Blackwell

11/9/2017 09:43:54 am

The photo shows a young boy who was working in a mine in a driver boy. The photo is black and white, due to Hine shooting the image on a wet plate camera. The boy, despite standing in the sun, has a darker appearance due to the soot covering his skin and caking his face. The boy has a bull whip around his neck, and a strange hat on that appears to be a lamp. The boy is staring sadly into the camera as his photo is taken, due to the rough nature of his life.

The image is formed in portrait mode, with a very shallow depth of field, as only boy is in focus. The subject fills the majority of the frame, getting cut off just below the hips. The bull whip curled around his neck forms a line for your eye to follow fto his head and down his body. The image is taken from a standing point of view, as the boy is able to look directly into the camera while looking straight ahead. The image is very well balanced, with the subject almost perfectly in the center of the image.

The image conveys the feeling of despair to the viewer, due to the monochromatic nature and disheveledness of the young boy. The image tells the story of a year of backbreaking, dirty work as the boy worked the mines all day driving the mules. The lack of hope in the subjects eyes does a good job of portraying his emotions as they are; exhausted. The image was made in Hein’s series in an effort to stop child “slavery”. Hein used these photos to support the National Child Labour Committee.

The image itself is very unattractive, as the subject of the photo and technology used to create it combined to make a image that is deeply unsettling to look at. This rough quality to the image does a fantastic job of forcing the viewer to realize the difficulties that these child “slaves” faced in their daily life. This makes the image very successful, and they were rightfully recognized as so, proven by how the government has added them into their archives. I personally don’t like the image, as the older technology couldn’t portray the image in very high detail, as it gets a little too blurry around the face for my liking. The one positive for the image, is that the bullwhip and apparent mining hat were surprises to me, that caused me to have to go and look up what they’d’ve been used for.

Catherine Clausewitz

11/9/2017 09:45:23 am

This is a photo of a boy who looks to be around 11 or 12. The photo is in black and white as well. The boy is standing there and from the base of this neck up and as well as his whole face is covered in what looks to be like dirt or soot. He has very short hair from what you can see of it because he is wearing a sort of hat. He is wearing a long sleeve shirt that buttons up and almost looks like a dress shirt and is wearing overalls as well He has a whip hanging around his neck also. He has a hat on and it has some sort of object on it that I don’t know what it is. The object on the hat looks to be very dirty and used. He also has larger ears and nose and it almost looks like his bottom lip is pursed out.

His eyes are the main focus of his face because they are the only things that aren’t covered in the dirt or soot. His eye color is a lighter color because in the photo they look to b a light gray. He is also looking off to the side and has an expression on hi face that gives off the sense that he’s miserable. He also has what looks to be a giant gash on the side of his right cheek. He looks to be standing near a railroad that has a lot of greenery near by it. The background of this image is blurred out a lot so you can’t make out exact objects. The image is in black and white so there is a lot of depth to the image. Since the image is in black and white you can see every little detail on the boy from the dirt on the boy’s overalls to the lines on his forehead.

The source of light in this photo is most likely the sun. The photo was definitely taken outside and it looks like natural lighting. However, the lighting isn’t very intense so the photo was taken either in the morning or late afternoon. It also looks like the sky could be overcast while the photo was taken because the boy isn’t squinting at all and there is no harsh light anywhere not even in the background. The top of the image has a very dark feel to it because of the boy’s face and the plants in the background. The bottom of the image is light because the edge of his clothes are so wore they they almost look bleached and he doesn’t have anything on his hands and the dirt on the ground. The only shadow that hides anything is the one casted by the boy’s hat onto his forehead. The angle of this image was taken level to the boys face, but his eyes are looking to the right and his body is facing straight forward.

The main theme of this photo is almost like a plea for help. The boy looks miserable and has a look on his face that makes him look like he is in a lot of pain and want’s help. The main tones of this image are dark just because of the boy’s face, his clothes and the shrubbery in the background. This image has a very sad feel to it. I like the image because it feels like there is a story behind it that is waiting to be told. I also don’t like the image because it is very depressing. The image isn’t something i would hang in someone’s house just because I feel like it’s very sad and depressing. I would hang it in an office or something like that because people that come in and out of the office will stop and think about what the image is about. There is a story to be told from the image and it shows how society has changed.

Kaitlyn Evans

11/9/2017 09:47:33 am

Kaitlyn Evans
November 9th, 2017
Digital Art

Critical Analysis #8

This photo is taken by a photographer named Lewis Hine, he took pictures of young children who worked back in the early 19th and 20th century. This image is of a young boy who looks around the age of 11 or 12, I can’t really tell because of all the soot on his face. The colors in this image are black and white. The lighting in this image is from sunlight but you can’t tell because the image is in black and white. In this image there is a child who has worked really hard and he has a hat on with something sticking of out of it and it looks like he has a rope or a tool that is dangling from his neck. It looks like there is a train track behind him along with some trees. In this image the boy is standing while he gets his photo taken by Lewis Hine.
This photograph is taken at an eye level view. Lewis Hine took this from a shallow depth of view so the camera would focus on just the boy. The subject does not fill the space there is still extra room in the back that has trees and a train track. At the edge of this image there is probably more train tracks and trees along with the place the boy must work at. The positive space is of the boy and the negative space is the background.
The idea in this image is that Lewis Hine is trying to show how the impact of work affected young children back then. Lewis Hine was trying to show how there was no laws on child labor and how the children were always covered in soot and dirt every time they went home. Some children were sick and even died from their work. Lewis Hine wanted to stop child labor so he took photographs of them to show other people so they would help him stop it. Lewis Hine actually helped the children with his photographs. I really like this image because of the story behind it but it’s also sad because of how badly children were treated back then.
I like this image a lot I love old photographs especially when there is a story behind it. It’s cool knowing how photography helped the world because something so little can have a big impact on the world. It’s sad seeing children so young go through so much work and not being able to have a say in it. Lewis Hine was the voice of the children through his photographs and that’s what makes him successful. The photographer was so brave going out and taking pictures of the children even though it was risky, he helped change children’s lives and I think that’s wonderful.

Adriana Vazquez

11/9/2017 09:49:04 am

This picture is of a young kid who works as a driver. He is standing on the trails of the train, he is wearing a long sleeve shirt and old overalls. There is a rope around his neck and his face is very dirty because he has worked all day. There are some trees as a background and what looks like a part of a wall. The image is all black and white, I Think they're using this color to show the sadness and the suffering of the children like him, that are working. The kid is wearing a hat with what looks like its wood and a bottle can.

The picture is very pleasant to look at, the main object, which is the kid is focused while everything else isn't. He is the biggest object of the picture and he’s also well centered. The photographer took this picture in a standing point of view. The rule of thirds is being used, the lines are in the body of the kid and the square is in the neck. There’s a shallow depth of field being used, the only thing being focused is the kid and everything else is unfocused. The frame crops off the trees, a wall and the trails. I think the image has only negative space, because the colors, the facial expression of the boy, the dirtiness in his face and because what it represents.

The theme of the image is the labor of young children, it shows how they were treated and how they felt about it. I think the intention of the photographer is to stop child labor, now a days there isn't a lot of children working at young age. He wanted to represent the sadness of the kids when they had to work. This image reminds me of young children in Mexico, there are some kids that are working at a very young age because they chose to, just to help the economy of their families. The image is very interesting on what it represents and the story it tells.

I like the image, because the intention and the message it gives, which for me is to stop child labor. But I don't like the feeling it gives you when you first look at it. The photograph is successful. It gives us an idea of how children felt about working at such a young age.

Estefan Zorrilla link

11/9/2017 09:52:19 am

This image is of a boy that has dirt all over his face. He appears to be in front of some train tracks. The picture is in black and white for an artistic approach. The lighting is good, not too dark but not too over exposed. There are some shadows in the background. There is boy with dirty clothes and a dirty hat. He appears to have a rope around his neck. There are also some train tracks right behind him and some trees. The boy is just looking at the man that is about to take a picture of him. He appears to have just exited working in the mines.
The photo is very pleasing to look at because the subject is in the middle and the picture is in black and white but the subject pops out more. The photographer took this photo as he was directly looking at the kid. There is a shallow depth of field being used here. The lines to direct the subject are the train tracks and the rope around his neck. The lines direct me to the subject because the rope comes down his neck so the line goes straight up to his face. The image is balanced and symmetrical It is symmetrical because the photograph is perfectly straight. The subject does not fill the frame. There is extra space around the subject. There is some trees at the edge of the picture and a white object like a gate. The photograph crops out this white object and some trees. The positive space is the subject in the middle and the negative space is the space around the subject which is the kid.
Some of the ideas and themes in this picture are rest and child slavery. I think the story being told here is that the kid is coming home to his family when he sees the building on fire but he does nothing he only stands and stares. This reminds me of a game and story the game is called cave story and the story is called the harbinger experiment. This photo can challenge some ethical views on children.
I like this photo because it can give you story no matter what way you look at it. I think this photo is successful because it conveys a message the photographer wanted to make

Julieta Vazquez Maritnez

11/9/2017 10:07:04 am

This is a portrait of a young working boy by Lewis Hine. Because of the time, the image is in black and white. It looks like the Photograph was taken sometime in the afternoon when the subject was done with his long shift, it looks like this time of the day because it is not bright enough for it to be around noon, and it is not dark enough to be later than six in the afternoon. The boy, being the subject, is standing in the center with a sad, tired, and lost expression. He is wearing overalls with a kind of rope or maybe a tool for his job, he is also wearing a hat that has some kind of metal on top of it.

This image has a simple composition, which is why it is pleasing to look at; however, if you focus on the boy then you see a sad boy who isn’t enjoying his life which isn’t pleasing to look at. The rule of thirds is not being used, as already said, the subject is in the center. The point of view of the image is an eye-level one that contributes to the simple composition that the image has. A shallow depth of field is being used, it is worthy to mention the sharp focus that the photographer archived on the boy because it is very noticeable regardless of the image being black and white. The focal point is the subject and it is not being framed by anything. In this image there are a few lines but since they are out of the depth of field they aren’t sharp enough to direct the viewer’s eye to anywhere. The image does not fully photograph the buy, the frame cuts out his legs and his hands.

Like all the images in this series, the photographer, Lewis Hine is trying to use photography as a tool for social reform. The themes are child labor, which automatically comes with child advantage, family problems, and economical problems. Lewis Hine’s intention was to make awareness of how badly children were being treated by making them work. This image reminded me of my hometown, which from the colonial times has been an important place for mining, and how back in these same times they would also use child labor for mining putting them and their health in high risk. The image tells the story of this young working boy that gave up his childhood to support his family. I do not think that the image challenges the beliefs or assumptions of me or people nowadays because we passed that already (even though unfortunately there is still child labor in some parts of the world), but I strongly believe that it would have if we were living back then.

I do not like the image. This is exactly why I think this image is successful. Lewis Hine was trying to make a change in his society by showing this images of what some people were probably denying. I do not like his lost stare, his dirty face and his tired position. If I’m to be completely honest, I cannot look at his face for long because of how sorry it makes me feel. It is with no doubt a successful image, it makes the viewer feel what the photographer wanted, it makes the viewer what to do something for him.

Pedro Mejido link

11/9/2017 10:10:30 am

The picture is of a small boy with overalls and a hat with a weird object on it. The object could be used as a light source because the tip of the object looks burnt. The boy has dirt all over his face has a whip hung around his shoulders, behind the boy are train tracks that were probably used for minecarts. The boy looks tired and lifeless, the boy has a big smudge on his face, possibly dirt. The boy works at a coal mine and possibly uses the whip he to force other workers to work. The rule of thirds in not being used and the image was taken at a normal view. Since the photo is a portrait it uses a shallow depth of view to focus on the boy and not the background. The boy is the focal point and the leading lines are the tracks in the background and they point toward the boy. The image is balanced and is not tilted. The subject does not completely fill the frame because there is still extra space in the background. The image leaves out the rest of the train track, the boy’s hands, the boy’s legs, and the whip. There is no negative space in the image, the theme of the image is about child labour in the industrial revolution. The photographer made a series of images like this one to show how child labour was affecting kids in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The photographer took pictures of kids in coal mines, factories, and other jobs to showcase that the kids could live their childhoods and get an education instead of working. The photographer was successful in his efforts and helped pass laws to stop child labour. This image was of a child who worked as a driver in a mine. I like the photo because the focus was pleasing to look at and also because of the story behind the image. I would hang this image on my wall because I could explain the backstory of the image to my guests. The photo was successful because the photographer was successful in his efforts to stop child labour. Sadly the photographer, Lewis Hine, died in poverty but his efforts will be remembered by photographers and historians.

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Period 4 -- Critical Analysis #8

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