1. History of Photography Part 4:
AWQ4MI
Mrs. E. Kalinowski
History of Photography Part 4:
Photojournalism, Social Reform, Ethnography:
Social Documents and the American Urge for Social Uplift

2. An interest in representing the “un-represented.”
19th century:
Million of immigrants came to USA
Seeking freedom, opportunity, a better life
New immigrants didn’t find the ‘American Dream’ and were left jobless, hungry, in poor health, homeless, psychologically beaten down
The Result?
40,000 people entered workhouses or asylums
Children joined gangs
Photographers understood this social emergency and used photography to document evidence of poor living conditions to create change for immigrants
The Other:
A person who is different (culturally, economically, socially, etc.), from the West

3. Photojournalism Communicating news with photographs instead of text
Muckracking:
Exposing political/social corruption to the public.
Flash powder
Jacob A. Riis, 5 Cents a Spot (How the Other Half Lives), 1890.
A journalist - used photography to better convey conditions of immigrants

4. Social Reform Making changes in society and its perception
Lewis W. Hine, Steelworker, 85 Stories up (left – looking north to Central Park/right – above Rockefeller Centre), 1931.
A sociologist- used photography to reveal dismal labour conditions and how people became insignificant in the urban/city landscape

5. Ethnography
A ‘scientific’/visual description of individuals/cultures/peoples
Photographers took photos according to their own view and controlled the Other’s visual identity
Edward S. Curtis, Bear Bull-Blackfoot, 1926.
A self-taught photographer- documented Native Americans in a non-object/subject way (he used a ‘white, European culture filter’ that made natives appear romantic, pictorial, soft-focused, nostalgic, not assimilated, emotional & used props to stage scenes/people)

6. Ethnography as Social Consciousness
A ‘scientific’/visual description of individuals/cultures/peoples
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936 (left) & White Angel Breadline, 1931 (right)
A photographer – photographed people impacted by WW1 during The Great Depression who became an “Other.” Her work called attention to poverty and directed aid to those in desperate need.