About Russell Lee (photographer)
Russell Werner Lee (July 21, 1903 – August 28, 1986) was an American photographer and photojournalist, best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression. His images documented the ethnography of various American classes and cultures. Lee was known for his technical innovation, particularly his use of direct flash photography to capture indoor environments that other photographers of the era avoided. == Early life == Russell Werner Lee was born on July 21, 1903, in Ottawa, Illinois, the son of Burton Lee and Adeline Werner. He attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, for high school. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Lee initially worked as a chemist, but resigned to become a painter. Originally using photography as a reference tool for his painting, he soon became interested in the medium for its own sake. He began recording the people and places around him; among his earliest subjects were Pennsylvanian bootleg mining and the Father Divine cult. == Career == === Farm Security Administration (1936–1942) === In the fall of 1936, during the Great Depression, Lee was hired for the federally sponsored Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographic documentation project of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration.
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