JacobRiis

Jacob Riis was born on May 3, 1849 in Ribe, Denmark. He is most famous for his work in the slums of New York City, where he worked as a police reporter. He used his photographic and journalistic talents to photograph people at the bottom of the social class, convincing the Commissioner of the police to close the rundown poor houses operated by the police. His inspiration for his work comes from the fact that he was in the same situation of his subjects at one point. In 1870, when he was 21, he took a steamer over to the US seeking employment as a carpenter. His themes revolved around capturing the poor in their daily lives, to show the rest of the world how these people were living. One of the major inspirations of his life was his best friend, a stray dog. The dog gave some joy to the depressed Riis; however, the dog was killed by New York Police which made him depressed. This brought a darker feeling to a lot of his photographs. A personal victory for Jacob, he said, was not using his eventual fame to ruin the career of the offending officer. Jacob Riis was also a visionary when it came to the technological side of photography. For equipment he was one of the first photographers to use flash powder, which enabled him to take more night pictures and pictures of the dark alleys of New York. Most of the shots he took were on glass negatives such as the method of photography, the ambrotype. His major contribution to photography other than introducing flash powder to American Photography, known as Blitzlichtpulver, is he became one of the first to capture the poverty stricken slums of New York on film. He is considered a pioneer in photography and died May 26, 1914.

Pictures: http://masters-of-photography.com/R/riis/riis_bandits_roost_full.html

http://masters-of-photography.com/R/riis/riis_five_cents_lodging_full.html Sources Cited: http://masters-of-photography.com/R/riis/riis_articles1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Riis