Social Photography

I really enjoyed this essay about the use of photography as a way to document real life in America.  I thought it was interesting reading about the biography of Hines and how he differed from his predecessors in this field.  The fact that Hines was not not looking for empathy in photographs of the slums and poverty-stricken areas of America signaled, to me, that he was presenting a "true" picture of America.  This reminded me of the conversation we've had in class about how unbiased a picture can be considered.  Even without photoshop capabilities, a picture can be framed by the photographer and his or her choices of what to photograph and what not to photograph are important elements in designing a photograph.  Therefore, can Hines's pictures really be considered "documentary" or can any photograph be categorized as such?  The article touches upon this idea but never offers a resolution, except "Despise not the camera."  I think this is a difficult question to answer and I think that photographs are by  nature selective slices of life.  However, I do not think they should be discounted as documentary merely because they are strategically chosen for politically motivated reasons.

I really enjoyed the intertwining of history and photography in the piece.  It was fascinating to me that Hines worked during the depression photographing slums and poor children.  The photographs were meant to portray everyday life as well as inspire people to help end cruel child labor laws.  While his photos were supposed to be simply photos of life, they were chosen with great care in regards to what was shown.

I also enjoyed reading about Hines's personal biography.  It was nice to be able to the put the author in context and understand where he was coming from.