This photograph was taken in Sunray, Texas a small town in the northern tip of Texas close to the border of Oklahoma. When I first found this picture I did not know the location of the photo but would have guessed somewere in the south. I figured it was the photo was taken on site at a local mine. The photo was taken in 1942 in the height of the carbon black refining. Most of my first insights were true, but I did not know everything. The town first originated in 1930 when a man invested in the land to start an carbon black plant. The town was going to first be called "Altman" but was changed because a town in the county already had the name. The name was than changed to "Sunray" after the oil company that was there. The first lots of land in the town were acctualy sold for 10 dollars a peice. The town lived and still does on the refining of this black carbon. This carbon is used in the production of cars, mainly tires. Knowing these things somewhat changes my feelings of the photo. Me knowing that the town runs on the mining and refining of carbon, lets me know more about the daily life of this man. His whole life relies on the production of this carbon. The town itself is 1.7 mi, which is extreamly small. This carbon black that is produced in this town is now know to be linked to global warming and is really bad for the environment. So I cannot even imagine what health problems it would cause for this man, breathing it in daily.

This photo today that I have picked is a little different in terms of the way it was taken and the message I think the photographer wanted to convey. Instead of bringing about a dark and depressed man, this photo shows a proud, hard working man. The photo has way more light and contrast, the man is still covered in dirt, but it gives a more rugged hard working American feeling. The photo itself has more vectors of attention then just the man, like the rail car and his tools. The lighting and cropping are also very different. There is much more color and hue in this photo creating a different mood, than the other photo. This man seems to look like he takes pride, and is more at peace with his job. This is possibly because this man works above ground welding and such.

Seeing these two different photos and knowing some background information of what I was looking at really changed the way I look at the photo. Both these men come from the same place at the same time, but they both look like they are in different places and different states of minds.

Synthstuff. Nov, 2005. 30, Sept 2009. www.synthstuff.com/mt/archives/2005_12.html

"Black Carbon." Wikipedia. Web. 30, Sept 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunray,_Texas

"Sunray, Texas." Wikipedia. Web. 30, Sept 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunray,_Texas