Lodgers in Bayard Street Tenement, Five Cents a Spot

He used magnesium flash photography, which allowed him to take pictures at night, and often controversially took them without permission of the people he captured on camera.

The picture depicts at least six people in very poor conditions and in a very narrow space, with a stove and several belongings visible.

A kerosene lamp burned dimly in the fearful atmosphere, probably to guide other and later arrivals to their beds, for it was only just past midnight.

A baby's fretful wail came from an adjoining hall-room, where, in the semi-darkness, three recumbent figures could be made out.

[3][4]Even sometimes with controversial methods, his photographic and journalistic work helped to create legislation that would allow better sanitary life conditions for the poorest classes.