At the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. had a major child labor problem. The children were working in mills, fields, mines and factories, and the statistic says that one in five children under 16 were working at this time. But one photographer’s work helped to put this to an end. In this video from Vox, you’ll hear the story of Lewis Wickes Hine. His powerful images of child workers from the early 20th century contributed to the end of child labor in the United States.
This 119-year-old video is the first ever footage of a total solar eclipse
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In the 21st century, millions of people got to see, photograph and film a total solar eclipse. With technology so advanced and widely available, in recent years we got to see photos and footage shot from an airplane, a stratospheric balloon and even from space. But what was it like to shoot this phenomenon almost 120 years ago? Thanks to a recently recovered video, you can see the first ever footage of a total solar eclipse, filmed way back in 1900.
Arab photography archive now lets you access 22,000 digitized historic photos
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Whether you’re learning about history or looking for inspiration, historic images are always interesting to browse through. The Arab Image Foundation is digitizing its collection. Out of half a million images, now you can access and download 22,000 of them from an online gallery – and there are more to come.
Rare glass plate propaganda photos of Hitler digitised into US National Archive
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1,270 of 41,000 glass negatives created by Hitler’s personal photographer and “key propagandist”, Heinrich Hoffman have been scanned into the US National Archives. Many of these negatives were broken and had to be reassembled in a process taking around 9 months to complete, overseen by Richard E. Schneider.
These silly puppets will tell you about the terrible history of photography
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In the past few decades, we have witnessed rapid changes in the world of photography and cameras. The history of photography is long and rich, and tongue-in-cheek video from Glove and Boots will tell you about the bad sides of photography that came before our smartphones.
Why Kodak willingly ignored photography’s digital future
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Kodak’s been struggling to regain its place in the world of photography ever since it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. At the time they said that “Since 2008, despite Kodak’s best efforts, restructuring costs and recessionary forces have continued to negatively impact the company’s liquidity position”. Basically, they’re not making enough money.
But why? Well, according to Cheddar’s take, it’s all down to the fact that they ignored the future of photography and the march towards digital. He suggests that Kodak intentionally shunned digital because it would be competing with and eating into the sales of its other primary product – film.
This drone video shows the scale of the ruined city of Pompeii
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Almost 2,000 years ago, in the year 79, the Roman city of Pompeii was annihilated by Mount Vesuvius. Buried under ash, with many of its residents trapped and unable to escape it’s said to have killed around 2,000 people. It’s been a great source of interest ever since. Especially to archaeologists.
After centuries of excavation, much of the city has now been uncovered. It can be difficult to really grasp the scale of a city like Pompeii from the ground, though. But thanks to this 45-second drone video published by the Porta Stabia archaeological group, we can see a better overview of the area.
Hidden Children: American Child Labour in Colour
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“There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work” – Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940)
Lewis Wickes Hine was an American sociologist and photographer, whose work was instrumental in changing child labour laws in the United States.
Hine is my favourite photographer. Aside from being technically excellent, his black and white photographs are some of the most important ever taken. His record of the first half of the 20th century is a unique glimpse into the real lives of working class America, and his work for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was instrumental in bringing about change for the nation’s children.
Camera Historica: The Sean Flynn Leica M2
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This is a story about a camera, a rather special camera. Every camera has a history, so they say. But it is not all that often that one has such a rich and documented history. One that was thought to be lost but has been found again. This is the story of Sean Flynn’s Leica M2.
I have been very lucky throughout my career to have found some amazing cameras, but every now and again you come across something that sets itself apart. This is one of those cameras. The vast majority of the cameras I see have no record, you literally have no idea where they have been. But this camera is different, it has a well documented history that was thought to have been lost. But through a bit of digging and a lot of luck the history of this camera has revealed itself.
He was 19. He lived in Oslo. And he used a spy cam to take street photos. In 1890
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When we think of either paparazzi or spy cameras, I believe most of us wouldn’t connect them with the late 19th century. Photographer and scientist Carl Størmer (1874 – 1957) had an unusual and controversial hobby at the time. He was only nineteen years old when he walked around Oslo with a spy camera hidden underneath his vest. He was secretly taking photos of famous men and women of the time. because of this, he is sometimes referred to as “Norway’s first paparazzi.”
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