Ellis Island, 1950

[bixaorellana]

Has anyone else seen this yet? It's from a Life magazine spread with photos by Alfred Eisenstaedt. I was initially enthralled by the capturing of individual faces within crowds, but then found myself quite moved by the emotional weight of the collection.

It's frustrating to be allowed to see the layout at the end as it appeared in Life, but with the text too small to read. Still worth looking at as lesson in good design, though.

news.yahoo.com/lightbox/life-rare-photos-from-ellis-island-slideshow/

[htmb]

Fabulous photos, of course. This reminds me of the fascination I had with the pictures in both Life and Look magazines when I was a very young child.

[Deleted]

I loved both of those magazines, too. Paris Match used to be good but now it goes for 'people' most of the time and only goes for the photojournalism that made it famous if it has something really shocking to show.

Photos of both refugees and immigrants who are leaving their whole world behind are always moving.

[fumobici]

As a child I loved poring over my grandmother's Paris Match magazines which she kept an overseas subscription to after she moved back from working in Paris. It was more interesting than French class and it all seemed so exotic and sophisticated to a boy from California.

[nycgirl]

Really moving photos. I've been meaning to visit Ellis Island for awhile now but haven't yet.

[bixaorellana]

It must be a pretty intense experience. I hate going to immigration here (& they're actually pretty nice & helpful), so can only imagine the tension and fear at Ellis Island.

[Deleted]

I have visited Ellis Island, and they hide none of the grimness of the experience. It reminded me very much of another visit I made to a bunch of buildings on an island on the other side of the country -- Alcatraz.

On a lighter side, there is a very interesting set of interactive screens so that people can track down relatives who passed through Ellis Island when immigrating to the United States.