David Guaman
Journal 4
English D394 (Prof. Scanlan)
9/29/15
My Favorite Picture
The picture that caught my attention from all of them was Lewis Wickes Hine, “Riveters attaching a bean.” The picture shows four men, which appear to be at a high altitude attaching a beam. Compared to the other pictures, this one was clearer and had something interesting going on in it, which required them to be careful and have good teamwork to get the job done right. The men do not seem to be rushing or afraid of the height, which is beneficial for them so nothing would go wrong.
The fact that the men don’t look afraid and are rushing things catches my eye because being in that high of an altitude, would make most people nervous and would want to finish what they are doing as soon as possible to get out of there. In addition, this being something one would not see every day is another reason why this picture caught my eye. Nowadays there are more safety precautions taken to make the area or work more stable to avoid any dangers to any of the workers. However, it is interesting to see how back then there would be risks like these to complete ones task, and how willing people actually to take these sort of risks. Lastly, the reason why this picture stood out to me is that men at work similar to what my father and brother do, which gives a feeling of comfort when looking at this picture, compared to the others.
It is sort of unsettling, isn’t it? How the workers managed to scale a whole 92 levels to get to work. That’s some crazy workout that they do, or maybe there’s something they hand onto as they are lifted through the skies.
It does strike me as fascinating how little safety gear is around, save for the overalls that the workers that are riveting the beams are garbed in.
Lewis Wickes Hine’s “Riveters attaching a bean.” was also the same picture that interested me. I agree with you David. These men weren’t nervous at all while working that high up. These men worked without safety equipment and one wrong move could be the end of them. It’s a great thing that now a days in our time and age workers have more safety equipment. So your father and brother would be more safe out there. In my opinion, I don’t think these types of work are worth it. But it shows what people had to do back then to make money and feed their families.