# Historical photos



## Stephan Brock (May 31, 2020)

Hi friends
I decided to try to recreate some shots from the Great Depression period. It seems to me that it will be very interesting.
Help with the idea of how to implement it. Also interested in information about this historical period to better understand. how to play a photo.
I will create everything with 5D MK III and 70-200 f / 2.8L.


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## YuengLinger (May 31, 2020)

Will this project give you insights to take better photos of the Greater Depression we have created for ourselves? It is starting all around us.

But, besides reading books written at the time of the Great Depression, and news articles, and finding amateur images where you can on the web (or by asking a curator at your local history museum), you can watch many movies made in the early 1930's. The earlier the better for direct, contemporary references, both sober and humorous, to the trying times Americans lived through. And there are some great PBS documentaries.

While learning to recreate a look can teach us many things about capture and post-processing, finding fresh perspectives right now might be even more rewarding. Many more people are going to face homelessness than ever before, and this time it won't be only those who have made bad life choices. A large number of kids are going to be living with parents in cheap hotels, tiny apartments, and their cars. Families will be sharing space with other families like never before. City parks and other facilities will go without care, so there is that aspect too. Expect to see decay of commercial properties on a huge scale. 

But watch out! As local governments go without revenue, police and rescue will be reduced to skeleton crews. Thieves will know that. (And there is another topic for courageous citizen journalists!)

I'm sad and, for my own kids, quite concerned with the economic catastrophe unfolding around us right now. Be brave, be bold, and capture what you see in your style. Good luck!


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## stevelee (May 31, 2020)

_Sullivan’s Travels _is a good film to watch as a director of comedies confronts issues and values.


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## Hazel Spitler (May 31, 2020)

Before reproducing historical photos of such an event, you should read more about the events of that time. So I recommend you read about the great depression a few free essays at studydriver.com/great-depression-essay/. All essays are informative and very interesting. It will definitely help you. You will be able to better understand these events and, as a result, better reproduce historical photos. Good luck.
When the photos are ready, share them with us. It is interesting.


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## unfocused (May 31, 2020)

The American experience during the Great Depression is probably one of the most well-documented eras for photography. Tons of books and compilations available. Start your research with the Farm Security Administration and Roy Stryker. (Stryker oversaw the photographers documenting the depression and the New Deal for the Roosevelt administration). Since the photographers were in the employ of the government, the images belong to the people and are readily accessible through the Library of Congress. 

The photographers employed by the FSA included Arthur Rothstein, Theo Jung, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Carl Mydens, Russell Lee, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano, John Vachon and John Collier. Google any of them to get an idea of what they are most known for. During the same period, Margaret Bourke-White was working for Life magazine and also shot many well-known photos.


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## privatebydesign (May 31, 2020)

From a purely technical standpoint the biggest issue you face is the sensor size, your camera sensor is dramatically smaller than virtually all the images taken at the time so to achieve the 'look' from back then is a challenge.

If by recreation you mean B&W and same image characteristics I'd ditch the 70-200 f2.8 and get a 50 f1.4 and shoot wide open or close to it all the time, it still won't give you equivalence most of the time but it will get you much closer. I'd also download some of the scans of the original images from the Library Of Congress, they are freely available and public domain, once I had some of them in Photoshop I'd do color checks on them to get the color palette (of the B&W) and the tonal values, I'd then process the new images to those values.


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## stevelee (Jun 1, 2020)

The book ironically titled something like _Let Us Now Praise Great and Famous Men_ by James Agee with photos by Walker Evans is available in modern reprints for reasonable prices.


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