Lewis Hine
[Photographer, writer, and reformer, b. 1874, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, d. 1940, New York.]

 I have always been more interested in persons than in people. 
 There were two things I wanted to do. I wanted to show the things that had to be corrected. I wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated. 
 If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug a camera. 
 In the early days of my child labor activities I was an investigator with a camera attachment... but the emphasis became reversed until the camera stole the whole show. 
 Photography is an empathy towards the world. 
 The dictum, then, of the social worker is “Let there be light;” and in this campaign for light we have for our advance agent the light writer—the photograph. (1909) 
 Perhaps you are weary of child labor pictures. Well, so are the rest of us, but we propose to make you and the whole country so sick and tired of the whole business that when the time for action comes, child-labor pictures will be records of the past. (1909) 
 Ever—the Human Document to keep the present and future in touch with the past. (His pledge as a photographer.)