Think about where we left off in the last reading (1880s Industrial Revolution) and how this essay looks at photography’s role over the following hundred years (up to the 1980s, when this was written). We see how photography was used to both glorify and condemn technology and the effects of the Industrial Revolution, the beginnings of documentary photography and how it’s been used in the service of social concern, and photography’s sometimes contentious relationship with other arts.

There are a number of photographers named in this essay. Use this opportunity to look up their work to provide context to the writing and to the history of our photographic traditions. Trace the arc that the author, Andy Grundberg, follows concerning changing sentiments toward the natural and industrialized world, as well as how photography has been considered by artists and the public. How would you carry these ideas forward to the world of images today, and how they influence our perceptions?