WPA Legacy
10 July 2014 -- 191/365
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
The scene before you is the Marconi Garden in Slater Park. The Garden was created as a WPA project in 1937 and is still a very popular site for wedding photographers in the state. The WPA - Works Progress Administration (renamed to Works Projects Administration in '39) - was part of FDR's New Deal and provided jobs to about 8 million Americans during the Great Depression. It was disbanded in '43 when World War II brought unemployment down to extremely low levels. The program was funded at both the national and the state level with states assuming between 10% and 30% of the costs. Wages were set comparable to average local wages for similar work, but the project sponsors were expected to donate land, materials, and equipment to support the effort. In Rhode Island, approximately 60,000 workers were employed over the course of the program.
Post processing started with a neutral filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, and boost black. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
