
The Hindenburg Crisis in 1937 at Lakehurst, NJ was one of the most significant and tragic incidents in American history. This photo depicts and represents the crisis all in one. It caught my attention by the shear magnitude of the situation being depicted by the photo. The photographer captured exactly what the public needed to see. Through the color of the photo showing its age, the actions happening, and the historical context of this photo you can truly capture the emotion of this photo. What should have been a time of true significance turned into disaster. This photo is exemplifying the action of that day and the point of the photographer’s photo was to make sure that this days historical significance was captured not just verbally, but visually and physically.

When you see anything related to film or photography in black and white, you realize that the photo has a historical and superannuated background because nowadays everything that is contemporary has color. Times when there was not color in photos are the times when things were not as easy. The fact that this photo is in black and white gives anyone a clue of its background. The Hindenburg tragedy happened in 1937 when everything that mankind was on the verge of collapse. Just like the other events occurring during this time, disaster was everywhere and good was nowhere to be found. In this photo that is what I am overcome by, the feeling of disaster and misfortune. The photographer did a great job of capturing the historical context and in doing so is trying to show the people from that day all the way to the present our mistakes and how we can avoid those disasters. This photo serves as a reminder of our failures as humans and how we can learn from those mistakes.

The most significant part of this photo is the actions occurring. When the Hindenburg Disaster happened it was out of nowhere. Flames began to erupt out of the blimp and catastrophe struck. The most powerful aspect of this photo is the flames that engulf the picture. They take up at least half of the photo. I believe the photographer really tried to capture the flames as a symbol of destruction and to give the impression of this disaster as unfortunate. The workers running from the blimp as its destruction reigned terror over that area on that day in this photo really helps engulf any viewers mind of its emotional impact. The workers tried desperately to save themselves from the explosions and combustion of the Hindenburg and helps any viewer when they see this photo take in the gravity of the situation. The sky also is an important aspect of this photo because the smoke begins to take hold of the sky, going back to that theme of good vs evil. You can also notice the ropes that the workers were using to help lower the blimp to the ground dangling in the air as the blimp explodes. 

The historical context and facts of this day all can be caught in this photo. That day the sky was in beautiful condition until, right before the Hindenburg for landed, the sky started to rain. Just like in the books the weather was a symbol for what was going to happen in the next 10 mins of that landing. The sky which represented good began to turn into the evil which would begin to take over this photo. Many fatalities happened on that day, which is the only thing in this photo that technically isn’t caught on photo. 
