Jacob Riis
Men's Lodging Room in the West 47th Street Station
c. 1892

I chose this image because I find it interesting the way Riis would photograph his subjects. He often rejected images that engaged his subjects choosing rather, non-posed images that had a sense of autonomy from his subjects and portrayed their reality. He also photographed candidly and his images often lacked any formal photographic sensibility. The lack of formal aesthetics in the images arguably gave them a greater sense of realism as Susan Sontag would agree claiming that documentary images loose their impact when formal aesthetics take precedence making them objective (art objects) rather than subjective (harsh overcrowded living conditions).