BORN in 1874 in a small Wisconsin town, Lewis W Hine was forced to become the family’s breadwinner when his father died. After a series of poorly paid jobs, he attended night classes to educate himself and was able to obtain a degree in pedagogy before going on to study sociology.

At a school for deprived children, he came into contact with the practical and technical aspects of photography and,  encouraged to document its activities, began what became a lifelong commitment and passion for revealing the social and working conditions of the labouring classes in the US.