Photo Analysis: “Powerhouse Mechanic” Artist: Lewis Wickes

The artwork in focus here is titled “Powerhouse Mechanic”, taken in 1921.The medium here is gelatin silver print and the measurements for the sheet is 24.9cm by 17.6cm and the actually image is 24.2cm by 17.cm. It now rests in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, America.

Hine passed away in New York City in 1940 out of poverty in trying to continue his passion for photography and compassion for the suffering.

A vertical portraiture, because the subject matter takes up most of the space, and not much of the background can be seen, except black, void space. The subject is made up of the young worker struggling against the huge machinery in the slight foreground, and takes up most of the space in the picture. Looking in his mid twenties, this young man is wrenching away manually at the machine with nothing but a

Many shades of greys are in this print, with many soft tones, especially the features of the machine. The man has also a variety of tones, which can be seen as his muscle has a grey shade to it. But because he is standing closer to the light source, and his skin colour is white, there are more contrasted shades. The whiteness of his skin makes him stand out from the rest of the picture, which is what Hine wanted to focus on. The light source is infront of the machine, but is not a harsh flashlight, but rather a soft light, of which the machine and the man’s body seem to reflect the radiance, giving the work a soft tone. We can tell the light is coming from the front of the machine and the man because of the white shades on the machine and the body, shadows on the left and right are not present, showing that the light was flashed straight on. Probably an artificial light source that bounces the light off the subjects was used.

spanner. His back is arched, along side the curved of the machine, making it seem like a backbreaking tedious task.

The atmosphere created by the picture is one of bleak and weary days of hard labor -- of dripping sweat, aching limbs and tedious muscle power. It shows subtle signs of uncertain future ahead. What is going to become of me when I grow old? Is this enough for bread on the table? We can see in the photo, that the man has his back curved, in an awkward position, alongside the other curves of the machine, the circle section of the machine also seems to frame him, or consume him? It seems that the artist was trying

Some topics in this essay:
York City, America’s Midwest, Wickes Hine, , America Hine, soft tone, section machine, artificial lighting, light source, shutter speed, speed 250, shades grey, light coming, photo curved, section machine frame, machine man’s,