Jacob Riis

Jacob August Riis (May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish American social reformer, journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York city; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He is considered one of the fathers of photography due to his very early adoption of the flashbulb. It put a whole new aspect on photography and really added an element of drama to his work. He had written many books. One of which was How the Other Half Lives, which showed how life was like in the slums and ultimately shocked the US. Theodore Roosevelt responded to his book with: “I have read your book, and I have come to help.” It was the book that made him famous.

        His photography was very impressive for its time period. Riis was frustrated at first with capturing the images he wanted to. He tried sketching but was incompetent at this. Then he looked into photography, but the lenses of the 1880's were slow and did not create the depth of field that Riis was looking for. In early 1887, however, Riis was startled to read that a new way to take photos by flashlight had been discovered. Now the darkest places could be photographed and the true colors of the world could be shown. His photo "Bandit's Roost" (Bottom right) in How the Other Half Lives was one of his most famous photos. It was taken 59½ Mulberry St. and was considered one of the most dangerous, crime ridden places in new york.

Sources: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/503662/Jacob-A-Riis 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Riis

By Max Buchner 
Period 2