Welcome to the Jungle

To the predominantly immigrant unskilled labor in turn of the 20th Century Rhode Island, the abundance of mills throughout the state was both a blessing and a curse. Jobs were plentiful, and housing was readily available near the mill complexes. Working conditions, however, were deplorable and often consisted of 15-hour shifts 6 or 7 days per week. Air quality in the mills was extremely poor and workers were often subject to toxic chemicals, extreme noise, and extreme temperatures. The mills were also dead-end jobs, offering no hope of escape. For many, they were more of a prison than a workplace. The plight of immigrants and poor working conditions prompted Upton Sinclair to write his now famous novel "The Jungle" in 1906 although Sinclair's message was misunderstood by both the public and the Teddy Roosevelt Administration. It would take several decades for his work to be recognized as more of an essay on the plight of the poor and less about the meat packing industry that served as the setting for his novel.

Very little was done in post processing. I skipped any filtering in Topaz Adjust this time around, and instead went straight to the black and white conversion using a gradient map in color blend mode. I applied a slight levels adjustment followed by a brightness and contrast adjustment. The upper layer is a sepia photo filter.

[Cathy]

A poignant photo... the iron bars enhance your story. And I see that American flag flying in the courtyard.

[Dominique]

Striking photo indeed!

[Janet Shaffer]

Great image.

[Ron Correia]

@calm Thanks, Cathy. I shot this from a bunch of different perspectives, but it's the one with the bars that really caught my attention.

@victorypuzzle Thanks, Dominique! I love the old mills in this area. Decaying or not, they're really photogenic.

@janets Thanks, Janet! I had fun with this one. Had a couple of folks in that neighborhood scoping out what I was doing, though, so it could have gotten real interesting. lol