The totally new Asheville Museum of Art is currently exhibiting 65 photographic prints by Lewis Hine the American sociologist and photographer. His life’s photographic work, as with Dorothea Lang, centered around the American people of the early to mid-1900s. Child labor, immigration, the Japanese American during interment, are but a few of the topics covered. The body of work shows the strong influence of documentary photography on social justice issues of the time. More, for the photographer interested in portraiture they provide excellent lessons in environmental portraits. Study each image. Ask yourself about the surroundings, the lighting, the lens, the composition, subject isolation, what environmental elements are in the image, each subject’s attention; was it the camera or the activity in which they were engaged. Look especially at the eyes. See what you can learn about subject capture and keep in mind, by today’s standards, the primitive equipment available to the photographer. Then marvel at the images captured. Chuck Gilmore