Jacob Riis was one of the most eminent and hard-working social reformers of his time who adopted newer technologies to depict the life of the poor living in New York. He started off as a carpenter in Denmark and soon immigrated to United States to try his luck at the country of opportunities. It was after a series of odd and menial jobs that he finally got the opportunity to exploit his journalistic skills and communicate the sad state of affairs of the poor and the downtrodden to the rich and the upper class of the society. Aside from words, he used photographs to come up with a pictorial description of the bad living conditions of the poor and highlight the same to the ignorant. Riis was amongst the firsts to adopt and use the flashlight technology in his photography. Thus, he is also known as the father of photography. Using his photographic and journalistic talents, he exposed the crime and corruption, inefficiency of police men, problems of water supply and so on of the city.