WP1: Pre-Writing Assignment 3

Starting towards the end of 1929, the Great Depression would strike and hard and fast. Within two weeks, $30 billion was lost from the U.S. economy. What started as a small drop quickly grew as panic spread, exasperating the problem and turning it into a cyclical downturn. The economic contraction continued until 1933, by which point the GNP had dropped 30.5% and consumer prices fell 24.4%. During this same time, industrial production fell 45%, house-building fell 80%, and more than 5000 banks had gone out of business. By the end of the contraction, 13,000,000 people were out of work, equated to unemployment rates of 25% of all workers and 37% of all non-farm workers. Businesses began to hang "No men wanted" to ward off the those looking for jobs and most of the people that were still employed still felt the fiscal tightening, either in reduction of pay or forced, uncompensated leave. The financial stresses of the contraction alone impacted many, leading to the anecdotal examples of the period's simultaneous downturn in mood, even causing some to take their own lives.

After the end of the primary contraction in 1933, the United States was still on a long road to recovery. Although actions were taken, like the creation of the WPA (the Works Progress Administration)and progress was made, the impacts of the depression continued to linger. Dropped again in 1937 by another decline, the U.S. wouldn't truly escape the Great Depression until the onset of the United States' involvement in World War II, starting in the early 1940's. With the revitalized industrial production and the job openings created by soldiers leaving for war, the economic recovery was underway, unemployment even dipping below 2% in 1943.

The picture American Smelting and Refining Company, largest iron smelter in the world was taken in November, 1938, still in the throws of the Great Depression. This given with the aforementioned statistic that industrial production had fallen by 45% (although by 1938 the United States was starting to see the signs of recovery, times were still bad since the additional recession in 1937) means that the American Smelting and Refining Company was very likely not doing very well, experiencing a large drop in production, leading to a drop in revenue, and finally leading to either a drop in wages or hours of work or outright layoffs as was the case with many industries.

The knowledge of this context deepens the impact of first, not seeing any people (workers) in the image (although the smoke stacks in the background are still churning giving indication of work being done, the lack of people creates the sense that the factory is more of an automaton than a place of work), and, second, the piles of scrap just sitting in the yard (likely not being used simply because the demand for product wasn't big enough). Also, at 1938, approaching nearly a decade of severe national economic depression, focusing on the scrap yard side, with not only its scrap/waste in the yard but the more run-down buildings, reflects the tired and run-down sense of the era.


Broad, Mark. "I remember the Wall Street Crash." BBC News. BBC News, 6 Oct. 2008. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. (Site)

Smiley, Gene. "Great Depression." Library of Economics and Liberty. Library of Economics and Liberty, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2010 (Site)

WP1: Pre-Writing Assignment 2

First to note is that there are no unified vectors of attention because there are no people visible in the image. This carries its own argument however, removing the people of the factory from the list of subject matter and continuing to further the image away from the organic (with the similarly noted lack of any kind of noticeable foliage), adding emphasis the obvious industrial motif. If the image were focused on some gathering of men working, or on break, or in some line, then the story told would be specifically different in the following the in the lives in the smelting company. The picture as it is though maintains its focus on the factory and its grounds.

That said the framing gives a more specific focus on the scrap yard in the foreground than the factory as a whole or any other specific part. The (relatively for high angle shots) low angle of the shot (its also unlikely that they would be taking detailed aerial maps for anything other than mapping during this time period) causes objects in the foreground to obscure those behind them, although there is the tendency for the objects (buildings) further back to be taller, meaning they can be seen, although not fully, until the large factory and the large smoke stacks after which only the far horizon (possibly not so far hills but we associate the fading to distance) is visible. All of this means that the scrap yard is given more focus in the hierarchy of the photograph, being the first at hand, the closest (showing more detail), and the least obscured. This continues the motif of industrialism as dirty, giving primary attention to the part of the factory with the least well kept buildings (those likely for storage) and the piles of scrap that although are meant for recycling and re-smelting are associated still closely with trash (especially when thinking of some closed down factory still with a lot a scrap that is left to rust or of the "redneck" with all kinds of scrap just lying around).

The cropping plays less of a role though it still deserves note. Not as stark as when a series of different cropped shots are displayed, its affects could probably be associated with framing without much difficulty. However the cropping does maintain and strengthen the rhetoric of the photograph. The main use of cropping is to either side, cutting off the edges of the factory and its grounds. First this re-emphasizes the focus on the American Smelting and Refining Company by not including any extraneous buildings, businesses, or even empty lots. Second, by the way the photograph is cropped, without any sign of the buildings ending shortly after the edge of the picture, our mind extends the factory and its grounds (or at least and more so other factories in a large industrial park) out significantly beyond just what is shown.

Now being a black and white photograph, there isn't nearly as much to talk about dealing with the colors of the picture. This picture was taken just after (really during) the introduction of color photography. This means that it is likely that its still black and white just because of the camera available, this supported by the fact that the other photographs in the collection with this one are all black and white, this one being no special exception. However, although not likely intentional, the black and white (mostly gray) nature can now be said to also aid the argument of industrialism, these tints, especially the grays of cement, metals, and smoke, commonly evoking those associations or industry, the antithesis of the organic.