This week's behind The Lens Series photographer is Lewis Wicks Hine. A documentary photographer in the early 19^th century Hine gave up a job in teaching to pursue photography, believing strongly in the power of images to bring about social change.

Hine’s photographs are wrought with emotion, as his subjects are poor, often children working in deplorable conditions, yet Hine has an innate ability to portray his subjects with strength and dignity. His photographs document the human condition in the age of industrialization with a quiet potency and remarkable accuracy. He gives his subjects a voice without attempting to beautify or downplay the inhumane conditions in which they are faced to live or work.

Hines work is not all negative however. After returning from Europe where he was commissioned by the American Red Cross to photograph the continent post WWI, Hines began a series of work in which he documented the interplay of man and machine as an undeniable reality of the world in which he now lived.

One of the changes documentary photographers face is how to accurately represent their subjects without dehumanizing them farther, or even exploiting them for personal gain. Hines work is prime examples that not only can it be done, but done beautifully.