Hine left the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC)
in 1918 to work as a photographer for the American
Red Cross. He was one of 37 photographers who documented
Red Cross relief efforts in France, Italy, Serbia,
and Greece. Hine focused primarily on the refugees,
again, bringing a sense of humanity to his work.
Man and Machine
After returning to the United States in 1919, Hine
began to focus on the more positive aspects of work
life through what he called "work portraits." Whereas
Hine had initially portrayed workers as victims
of industrialization, he now portrayed them as heroes
and heroines, working together with machinery.
Throughout the 1920s Hine took
photographs for the American Clothing Workers, the
Tenement House Commission, the Boy Scouts, the Girl
Scouts, and the Interchurch World Movement. In April
1924 he received the Art Directors Club of New York
medal for photography.
Empire State Building
portrait work culminated in his appointment as the
official photographer of the construction of New
York's Empire State Building. From 1930 to 1931,
Hine joined the builders laboring high above the
city, balancing on girders to photograph their work.
In 1932 he published a book titled Men at Work,
which showcased the work portraits from the Empire
State Building project.