Editing Jacob Riis (section)

===Photography===
[[File:Bandits Roost, 59 and a half Mulberry Street.jpg|thumb|''[[Bandits' Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street]]'' (1888) by Jacob Riis, from ''[[How the Other Half Lives]]''. This portrays the infamous [[Mulberry Bend]], which was transformed into [[Columbus Park (Manhattan)|Mulberry Park]] in 1897 due to Riis's efforts]]
[[File:Riis, Jacob A. - Der Graben im Potter Feld (Zeno Fotografie).jpg|thumb|''[[The Trench in Potter's Field]]'' (1890) by Jacob Riis. Laborers loading coffins into an open trench at the city burial ground on Hart's Island.]]

Riis had been wondering how to show the squalor of which he wrote more vividly than his words could express. He tried sketching but was incompetent at this.<ref>Riis, ''The Making of an American'' (1904 ed.), pp.&nbsp;266–67.</ref> Camera lenses of the 1880s were slow, as was the [[Photographic emulsion|emulsion]] of [[photographic plate]]s; photography thus did not seem to be of any use for reporting about conditions of life in dark interiors. In early 1887, however, Riis was startled to read that "a way had been discovered to take pictures by flashlight. The darkest corner might be photographed that way."<ref>Alland, p. 26; quotation from Riis, ''The Making of an American'' (1904 ed.), p. 267.</ref> The German innovation, by [[Adolf Miethe]] and Johannes Gaedicke, [[flash powder]] was a mixture of [[magnesium]] with [[potassium chlorate]] and some [[Stibnite|antimony sulfide]] for added stability;<ref name="spira77">S. F. Spira, ''The History of Photography as Seen through the Spira Collection'' (New York: Aperture, 2001; {{ISBN|0-89381-953-0}}), p.&nbsp;77.</ref> the powder was used in a pistol-like device that fired cartridges. This was the introduction of [[Flash (photography)|flash photography]].

Recognizing the potential of the flash, Riis informed a friend, John Nagle, chief of the Bureau of Vital Statistics in the City Health Department who was also a keen amateur photographer. Nagle found two more photographer friends, Henry Piffard and Richard Hoe Lawrence, and the four of them began to photograph the slums. Their first report was published in the New York newspaper ''The Sun'' on February 12, 1888; it was an unsigned article by Riis which described its author as "an energetic gentleman, who combines in his person, though not in practice<!-- sic -->, the two dignities of deacon in a Long Island church and a police reporter in New York". The "pictures of Gotham's crime and misery by night and day" are described as "a foundation for a lecture called 'The Other Half: How It Lives and Dies in New York.<!-- yes, a period -->' to give at church and Sunday school exhibitions, and the like." The article was illustrated by twelve line drawings based on the photographs.<ref>Alland, pp. 26–27; this reproduces the New York ''Sun'' article, "Flashes from the slums: Pictures taken in dark places by the lighting process: Some of the results of a journey through the city with an instantaneous camera—The poor, the idle and the vicious."</ref>

Riis and his photographers were among the first Americans to use flash photography.<ref>Chris Howes, "Flash Photography", ''Oxford Companion to the Photograph'', ed. Robin Lenman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; {{ISBN|0-19-866271-8}}), pp.&nbsp;224–25.</ref> Pistol lamps were dangerous and looked threatening,<ref>Riis, ''The Making of an American'' (1904 ed.), p. 268.</ref> and would soon be replaced by another method for which Riis lit [[Flash powder|magnesium powder]] on a frying pan. The process involved removing the [[Lens cover|lens cap]], igniting the flash powder and replacing the lens cap; the time taken to ignite the flash powder sometimes allowed a visible image blurring created by the flash.<ref>Alland, pp. 27–28.</ref>

Riis's first team soon grew tired of the late hours, and Riis had to find other help. Both his assistants were lazy and one was dishonest, selling plates for which Riis had paid. Riis sued him in court successfully. Nagle suggested that Riis should become self-sufficient, so in January 1888, Riis paid $25 for a [[Large format|4×5]] [[box camera]], plate holders, a tripod and equipment for [[Photographic processing|developing]] and [[Photographic printing|printing]]. He took the equipment to [[Hart Island (New York)#Cemetery|the potter's field]] cemetery on Hart Island to practice, making two exposures. The result was seriously [[Exposure (photography)|overexposed]] but successful.<ref>Alland, p. 27.</ref>

For three years, Riis combined his own photographs with others commissioned of professionals, donations by amateurs and purchased lantern slides, all of which formed the basis for his photographic archive.

Because of the nighttime work, he was able to photograph the worst elements of the New York slums, the dark streets, tenement apartments, and "stale-beer" dives, and documented the hardships faced by the poor and criminals, especially in the vicinity of notorious [[Mulberry Street (Manhattan)|Mulberry Street]].<ref>Riis, 2018 [1892]. pp. ix, 59, 64, 87, 208, 269–71</ref>

His photojournalism of [[Mulberry Street (Manhattan)|Mulberry Street]] caused New York officials to transform the slum's "foul core" of [[Mulberry Bend]] into [[Columbus Park (Manhattan)|Mulberry Park]] in 1897. The park, today known as [[Columbus Park (Manhattan)|Columbus Park]], significantly improved conditions in the neighborhood.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Association |first=American Park and Outdoor Art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__jwAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Mulberry+Bend+Park%22&pg=RA1-PA109 |title=Report of the American Park and Outdoor Art Association |date=1897 |publisher=The Association |language=en}}</ref> Riis also praised the park's creation, expressing that the youth now had a place to "romp in" and play, rather than "smashing lamps and windows and getting themselves arrested."<ref name=":02"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfNIAAAAYAAJ&dq=These+reports+from+the+police+captains+make+it+evident+that+it+was+not+a+question+of+moving+an+unruly+population,+but+of+changing+its+environment&pg=PA57 |title=Gardening |date=1899 |publisher=Gardening Company |pages=57 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parks |first=New York (N Y. ) Committee on Small |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SZZJD4zM88C&dq=These+reports+from+the+police+captains+make+it+evident+that+it+was+not+a+question+of+moving+an+unruly+population,+but+of+changing+its+environment&pg=PA2 |title=Report of Committee on Small Parks |date=1897 |publisher=Brown |language=en}}</ref>