Lewis Wickes Hine: Photo Analysis: ?Powerhouse Mechanic?

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 spanner.

During the first thirty years of the 20th century, Hine caught pictures of the often-horrendous working and living conditions of the American working class at that time.

Our gaze is led in a round motion, following the series of arches, leading to the body of the man. And with a longer stare, it seems to lead down to the spanner the man is using.

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 to convey a message that now machines control you. They make you bend your backs, and make you work long hard days for peanuts.

The vertical piece is taken at eye level, with a balanced composition. We can see this because there is not much void space, with the machine taking up much of the top of the picture, and the man at the bottom. There are also instances in the photo that have curved features to it, and they all curve in the same direction, the pipe at the top, the round circular section of the machine, and the man?s back, making it balanced. The circular curved section of the machine also seems to frame the man doing his work.

On personally thoughts, I interpret the print as a very symb

Some topics in this essay:
York City, Americas Midwest, Powerhouse Mechanic, Wickes Hine, America Hine, , section machine, artificial lighting, light source, shutter speed, soft tone, section machine frame, york city, shades grey, light coming, speed 250, machine frame,