In the United States, Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September every year.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s “History of Labor Day” page says Labor Day is observed annually on the first Monday in September, in celebration and remembrance of the economic and social achievements of American workers.
In the late nineteenth century, when labor activists sought a holiday to recognize the numerous contributions workers made to America’s prosperity, well-being, and strength, they pressed for it.
Labor activists and solitary states recognized Labor Day before it became a national holiday.
However, in 1885 and 1886, following the passage of municipal ordinances, a movement emerged to secure state legislation.
New York was the first state to get on board by introducing a bill, but the first state to pass a law recognizing Labor Day was Oregon.
In 1887, four more states followed Oregon’s lead.
The movement caught on from state to state, and on June 28, 1894, an act was passed by Congress
making the first Monday in September a legal annual holiday-Labor Day.
So much for the brief history lesson.
I wanted to discuss two words: “work” and “labor.”
Broadly speaking, “work” is a purposeful activity that often creates value, achieves a goal, or helps the worker find fulfillment personally.
On the other side of the coin, “labor”, especially when done for compensation, pointedly relates to toiling or exerting ourselves physically, and may infer less skillful or valued effort, contrasted to the broader term, “work”.
Labor can be a type of work, and this type of work also includes creative and intellectual activities that may not be considered labor, such as the process of creating something, like a photograph.
I always refer to the photographs that anyone creates as their work.
If I want to know the labor that went into that picture (the work (photograph) that they produced), I’ll ask
about their process of creating it.
Studio photographers perform different types of labor from photojournalists.
Every time we create a photograph, we’re producing work.
The amount of labor we put into the process of creating a picture varies depending on what type of photography we do.
Furthermore, we get compensated for our labor in terms of the satisfaction of making a photograph, or if we’re a professional, we get paid for our labor.
But we should also be paid a licensing fee for using the photograph, in addition to being paid for our labor.
All that aside, our labor goes a lot smoother if we understand what we’re doing with our cameras, understand composition,
and can observe and describe the characteristics of the light we’re seeing.
I hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day.
