Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #8

11/9/2017

Local Identifier: 102-LH-2546, “Merilda, carrying cranberries. Rochester, Mass., 09/13/1911”, 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

Pato Wray link

11/9/2017 11:37:38 am

This image is of a girl named Merilda and she is carrying raspberries for child labor in the 1900's. The photo was taken by a Lewis Hine and he is a photographer for a "stop child labor" society. The photo was taken in a small town in Massachusetts. The photo itself reveals a bad time for the children of the United States. Thank the Lord this is all going to stop soon.

There are many things we can say about this photo. It is not following the rule of thirds however. This is not a very good image for anything. Although the quality is very good, it shows the bad things about the beloved country. There is a small depth of field being used while we are viewing the image.

The positive space for the image is Merilda and everyone in the background not nbeing interviewed is the negative space. There are probably people thinking theres not much to say about back in the day but there is. There were times of hatred and disgrace for the families all wishing they could go home. Some of the kids today don't know how to do the laundry (me) and back then they had to do there own. I cannot believe that America was too stupid for not knowing the pain these children felt.

Lewis Hine was probably a good man for thinking about the kids and not just himself. Some people would walk away from these kinds of things but not Lewis. There were some laws established back then but they are not anything affront because they were still put into labor. Everyone in the background is most likely either super sweaty or super cold because they are wearing long, thin clothes and that just makes weather an even worse issue with work. The photo was very successful for it's back story and I like it a lot.

Ryan Kyle

11/9/2017 11:40:46 am

This image is of a little girl named Merilda working in the fields and collecting cranberries. The image is in black and white because this photograph was taken in 1911 when there weren’t many color cameras available. The lighting is sunlight at about midday. The objects in the image are Merilda, the buckets of cranberries, and the women working behind her. The women and children in the picture are all working in the cranberry fields.

I like that the composition of the image includes a shallow depth of field along with the subject being in the center of the image. This really allows for you to focus on the subject as she in is the center and everything else is blurred. The rule of thirds is being used so that the subject is in the center of the image. The image is asymmetrical because there are different amounts of people working on each half of the image. The subject does not fill the entire frame. The girl in the middle is the positive space of the image and the background with all of the women in it is the negative space.

The overall theme for this image is abolishing child labor, which was the intent of this photographer to show. The story in this image is probably just the girl working in the field. The artist’s intention for their photographs was to attempt to abolish child labor in an attempt for children to be in safer conditions of living. At the time, this image challenged the ideology that child labor was a normal and okay thing. Nobody in this time period would have tried to challenge this because it was just normal, everyday life. The image is interesting because it gets you to think about what you would have done if you had to live with these types of things everyday, and how if you were a child at this time, how you would respond to having to work everyday.

I like the image because of the point that it tries to convey. The artist had good intentions because they were fighting for the rights of children. The photographs that he made for this cause were not only helpful, but also very good photographs. This is very evident because of how good the composition is. The photograph is successful because it does its job of showing how harsh these conditions were while also being a well photographed image.

Jessica Mims

11/9/2017 11:40:54 am

This is a photo by Lewis Hine. The photo is of a young girl, Merilda, standing in an open field. She is wearing a hat and a dress, and she has long sleeves and tights underneath the dress. She is doing child labor because she is working on a cranberry farm. In the background, we can see many other children performing similar tasks. The image is in black and white, and this is because it was made in 1911 when child labor was very common.

Merilda is the subject of this image, and the rule of thirds is being used because she is in the center of the frame. There is a very shallow depth of field in the photo. The children and building in the back are not in focus. The frame of the image is cutting off more open fields, and more children working in those areas. The photo is taken from the photographer, Lewis Hine’s, point of view because we can see what he would have seen when this photo was made.

This image, along with all of the other ones that Hine made, have a very important meaning. He made these images so that the awareness could be spread about child labor laws. In the early 1900s, there were no laws regarding child labor, and often children were forced to do very tiring jobs. This was a cruel thing for the children to have to do, so people wanted it to stop. Hine’s images are very important to this abolishment. His images help us to see what was really happening between the children and the employers.

I really like this image, even though it is sad to see what the children had to go through, it is very interesting to look at. We are able to see how tired the children and how hard they worked. I think this image is very successful because it meets the standards of what Hine’s defined as a good photograph. He said that if the photo is “a reproduction of impressions made upon the photographer which he desires to repeat to others”, then it is a good photo. This picture allows us to see what impressions Hine’s gained from these children as we look at this picture over 100 years later.

Kate Madison

11/9/2017 11:44:31 am

This is an image of a young child laborer that worked in the fields carrying berries in baskets. It is in black and white because Lewis’s pictures were taken in the 1900s. The lighting is mostly shadows because it was an old Graflex Camera with negatives and it made it look dark. In this image there is a basket full of berries being carried by a little girl with other children or young adults and some barns or houses behind her. In this image Merilda, a child laborer, is in the fields collecting berries in baskets to bring back to the employers.

It is pleasing to look at because most other 1900 pictures in black and white seemed a lot more subtle than the ones with vivid colors. The rule of thirds is not being used because the girl is standing in the middle of the frame not in the left or right hand columns/sides. This image is taken in the third point of view because Lewis is photographing everyday life from his perspective. This image is using a shallow depth of field because the young girl is very clear and crisp while the background behind her is very blurry. The image is framed by the sky, some trees, a building, and the field.

The lines that direct your eyes could be the horizon lines or all of the workers seem to be in a position where a line is going off the back and directed to her. This image is not balanced because there are more workers on the right side than on the left and the workers on the right side of the girl are more clear than on the other. The subject, Merilda, does not fill up the entire frame and there are a lot of other objects and people around her. This image’s frame crops off the rest of the laborers that could be working there along with the employers watching them perhaps. The positive space in this image is Merilda while all of the negative space is around her.

A theme in the image is Lewis Hine was trying to take pictures of all the child laborers that he could at different jobs. A story is that Lewis traveled to multiple factories and mills trying to find child laborers to photograph so he could show people how bad it was. Lewis made photographs like this to try to make people understand what they were doing was wrong and try to stop them from doing it anymore. This image reminds me of some of his other images where there were boys standing together and one had a broken arm. This image is interesting because it brings you back to what life was like in the 1900s when we didn’t have child labor laws so child were forced to work in factories or farms.

Zach Burgos

11/9/2017 11:44:48 am

The image consists of a young pioneer girl holding 2 buckets of cranberries, standing in a field. There aren’t any colors because the photo was taken in black and white, and before color was in cameras. The lighting is bright sunlight because they are outside. The objects in this image are a house, a group of people picking cranberries, and some trees. Children are doing labor by collecting cranberries.

The depth of field Lewis Hine used was a shallow depth of field. The focal point is Merilda and it is framed by the depth of field is focused on her. The point of view the image was taken is the 2nd person and Lewis is on the same level as Merilda. The rule of thirds is not being used because Merilda is in the center of the image. The edge of the image is the rest of the farm and it is cropping off some kids or people.

The themes of the image are that children should not do child labor because it is bad for them. A story being told is Merilda being told to help pick berries with other kids. Lewis made this image to show what kids go through during child labor. The image reminds me of pictures with pioneers. The image challenges social beliefs because it is showing how child labor is bad.

I do like the image because it looks like it was set up, but it was not. The image is well done and that is another reason why I like it. I think the photograph was successful because there is little to no child labor as it was back then. Child labor is still out there but it is done illegally and should be stopped. As for farm children, they still have to work but not as bad as back in the early 1900s. The modern age limit is as young as 14, but you can only work for about a month

Maria Tirado

11/9/2017 11:45:46 am

This image was shot by Lewis Hine, a photographer that was popular for taking pictures in the early 1900’s. This picture in particular is of a little girl that looks to be about 6 to 7 years old. This little girl is carrying two big heavy metal buckets filled with cranberries. This image was shot in 1910 and at that time, little girls were forced to do work in hard labor. This photograph is in black and white and was taken outside with clear sunlight. Apart from the little girl in this picture, there are other kids and adults working in the background.

This image is not necessarily pleasing to look at for entertainment, but compositionally this image is very well composed. The young girl is in the center of this image and was probably shot by a third person point of view (the artist). This photograph was shot with a shallow depth of field, because Hine wanted a portrait of this little girl. This image also has a frame that is framing the image outside when it was being reproduced. Because the little girl is the positive space in the middle, there is a lot of extra negative space surrounding her.

The theme in this picture is just how cruel and unfair it was for kids to be put to work in hard labor while they were being taken advantage of. They were used almost like slaves, because the wages they were payed were always lower than regular adult wages. This girl in particular doesn’t have a pleasing face expression and you can assume she is not enjoying carrying buckets. Her hands probably hurt, and the sun probably was tiring her out, but she had to continue with her job until night (more than 8 hours). I appreciate and admire Lewis Hine for capturing the pain these kids go through, when they could be getting some type of education elsewhere.

Overall, I really enjoy this project, not because I like looking at kids that are suffering, but because it makes me realize how unfair and cruel times were in the early 1900’s. I believe this image is very successful along with other portraits in this project. I enjoy the message Lewis Hine shared with the viewers of this image.I don’t agree with what these kids were forced to do, but I like the picture compositionally. This picture is very unique and provides variety compared to the rest of his photographs, and could pass as one of my favorite projects.

Troy Rollwitz

11/9/2017 11:45:57 am

In this photo by Lewis Hine we see a girl named Merilda. She is a young girl, and in her hands she is carrying two buckets of cranberries. The colors used in the photo are black and white, because in 1911 they didn’t have color pictures readily available. The girl is standing in a field, and the background is very dark, at least compared to her white outfit. She is looking at the camera. There are many people in the background who also appear to be working.

Merilda is in the center of the frame, and no part of her is being cut off. She doesn’t fill the frame, she takes up a small portion of it. The negative space would be the people, the sky, field, and trees in the distance. The frame crops off useless thing in the negative space. Hine is using a shallow depth of field, and the people working in the background are blurred out. The edge of the field is a leading line that points our eyes to her head. The main thing that directed my eyes was the contrast between the background and her bright dress. It is pleasing to look at because nothing is overexposed.

The story being told is of child labor. Hime is trying to convey to us the intensity of their work in an effort to stop it. I think this picture is showing the scale of the buckets to the girl to emphasize how small she is. The buckets look like they weigh the same as the girl. Hime is trying to elicit sympathy from the viewer to help further his point.

I like this image. I think what Hime did is inspiring, and I can’t speak for someone in 1911, but to me I think these are good pictures to convince people against child labor. The photo tells a very powerful story. I like it not only in it’s message, but I like how it looks. Overall I think it tells a powerful story and it pleasing to look at.

Marissa Elizondo

11/9/2017 11:48:19 am

This is an image of a young girl named Merilda who is carrying two baskets that are filled with cranberries. In this image you can also see other people working in the fields. You can also see a house and some trees in the background. This image is in black and white since it was taken in 1911. Even though this picture is in black and white, this picture looks like it was taken during the day.

The focus is on the young girl in the center of the image. She is the subject of the image. She doesn’t take up the whole frame and you can see more people working in the background. This image was taken in a shallow depth of field because the focus is only on the girl. The girl is also the positive space and the negative space is everything else around her. At the end of the bottom edge on the right side you can see a child or a laborer being cropped off. There seems to be a lot of workers in the field so I’m assuming a lot of them did get cropped off.

I think this image is beautiful and noteworthy. The theme of this image and the work this photographer is to show people the hardships of child labor and to try and abolish it. The photographer Lewis Hine took pictures of children under the age of fifteen working in mines, fields, factories, mills, and other places, and interviewed them. With his pictures Lewis Hine was able to show people how people took advantage of young children and brought a lot of physical and mental pain into their lives. I respect Lewis Hine work because he created a difference in the lives of many children back then and to all the children who don’t have to go through what children in the early 1900’s went through.

I personally really like this image. I think it is interesting to look at. I like pictures that were taken a long time ago because they show you how life was back then. I admire and respect Lewis Hine for all his work to abolish harsh child labor regulations and to bring awareness to the issue. This is a successful picture. Obviously cameras back then weren’t as good and advanced as they are now, but this image did a good job on focusing on the subject and it has good quality of light. I had an interesting time learning and writing about this image and child labor back in the early 1900s.

Larissa Esparza

11/9/2017 11:50:00 am

This image is of a young girl in a field. The girl seems to be carrying what is a plant or herb that she is picking from the field. In the background, there are other women that are standing around or picking the plant out of the ground. This image is in shallow depth of field because it is focused on the girl and not on the background. Behind all of the workers, there is a large home or storage house. Behind the home/storage house is a hill covered in trees. This image is using the rule of thirds because the girl is in the middle of the image. There are many buckets scattered throughout the field. Some buckets are upside down and some have the plants in them.

This image is using black and white because, during this time period, early 1900’s, the color was expensive and not available to the average person. I assume that this image was taken in bright sunlight because the subject and background are visible and the workers usually work in the daytime. This image is pleasing to look at because it focuses on the subject and captures the hard labor that young children like this girl would have to complete. The photographer took this image at his eye level. This image is framed because of how it was printed. The lines in this image are in the bucket and on the girl’s dress. The lines on the dress lead us up to her face and the ones on the bucket surround her in an odd way.

There is extra space in the frame, the subject doesn’t fill it up all the way. The environment surrounding the subject fill the frame, the trees, house, and fields. The edge of this image is the fields and a women that is picking out plants of the field. It does cut off a women but it isn’t essential to the image. The positive face is the girl and the negative space is the background of the image.

The theme of the images that this photographer took was child labor. The photographer took these images to show people how hard children were pushed to work in factories and fields with the hope of ending child labor. This image asks the question how cruel is our own government and to what lengths were they willing to go to for cheaper labor. I think this image is successful because it tells a story and helped end a cruel part of history. I don’t love or hate this image I like it. I like it because it tells a story and lets us see something that happened in history that some people like to ignore.

Josh salehi

11/9/2017 11:51:15 am

This picture by lewis hine shows a little girl in farming clothes and a
two buckets. I think this is considered a successful photograph because
it has good clarity and good light. The girl in the picture is surrounded by many
people in the background.The grass and trees are the other objects in the
background. I really like this picture and think that it is also successful of how
pleasing the picture is to the eye.

Lewis Hine decided to shoot this photograph in black and white and
after examining it. I think if there were color back when he shot it the image
would have been very different. This photo is shot in the shallow depth of view
and it has many guiding lines that direct your eyes back to the main thing in the
picture which is the girl.

I Think this picture can tell a lot of stories because of the different time
zone and all the farming clothes she is wearing from farming in 1911. Since this young girl is a farmer it could also tell a story of how she is a young slave worker or if she
lives two different lives one being a child labor worker and maybe the other one is that after she is done working she lives a regular life and she goes to school and stuff and does regular fun things but she helps her parents first.

I really like this photo and think that is very successful. The theme of this
picture is a young girl being a labor worker. I think if Lewis hine does all of is photographs like this one than in my opinion he is a very talented photographer
and he might have been one of the first good photographers because his work is
shot in the 1900’s .

Marynez Cantu

11/10/2017 07:59:08 am

This picture photographed Lewis Hine, is a very unique photograph. It seems to be one that was taken a long time due to the outline that it has. In the photograph there is a young little girl carrying two buckets and you could presume that they are filled with water. The little girl also seems to be in a field and she is not alone, there is also many people in the background.
I believe that this photograph is telling a story on child labor and there is many things behind this. I think that Lewis wanted people who weren’t aware of this delicate topic to realize that it is actually something that happens around the world and that there should be a stop to all of that. The little girl in this photograph carrying the two buckets represents just what Lewis wants and I think that the viewer gets the message that he is transmitting.
The lighting in this photograph is bright since it was more than likely taken midday just when the sun is at it’s brightest. The images are somewhat old since Lewis Hine took them in the late 19th century early 20th century. Even though they might have been taken a long time ago, they are still very valuable because you can see how child labor was something that existed and it was very rough and now sadly in some places in the world it is still going on.
In conclusion I did like this picture very much because it is telling a story on child labor and how it actually happened. The lighting is good and I like how Lewis took the picture in black and white, I think that that was another big thing in this picture because it can symbolize that this picture was taken a long time ago. Overall I liked this picture very much and also the story that was behind this.

mikaela mumme

11/10/2017 09:16:38 am

This image is of a young girl working the fields holding two buckets. Their are more people in the background working in the fields with the girl and they are all dressed the same. This image is in black and white, but being outside keeps the image bright. By the image being in black and white it gives it an older feel and better sense of time. Black and white are also not happy colors, so it adds to the narrative.

The focus and positive space of this photo is the young girl is in the center of the frame. The image has a shallow depth of field in the negative space, which really makes the girl stand out. The girl does not fill the frame and it leaves extra space giving the image more context. The image is balanced well and looks symmetrical because of the buckets the girl is holding. The photographer took this image flat footed which i like particularly for this image because it makes it feel more personal.

I like this image for the story it tells through the kids. I think it is cool how the photographer puts a quote from someone he has photographed with his image. I think some of these images can be interpreted as a cry for help. It is brave how he took these kids images and exploited their stories. It is important the role lewis Hine played in gaining civil rights for the children living in a unconstitutional setting. This image is neat, because of how it shows the political and social norms of this time.

I think this image is very successful. I also appreciate for the time these photos were taken, because of how good the composition is considering the time. This photo is successful as well, because the story it tells and reaches out. The quality of these photos are nice and do a good job at expressing the emotion of the subjects. I like this photo very much but is not something I would hang in my room, due to it’s sad feel.

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Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #8

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