Paul Strand is a photographer from New York City. Like most photographers, he began by enjoying photography as a hobby. During a class field trip, he got the chance to visit an art gallery. A gallery that promoted photography and paintings that are outstanding. This led to him taking his hobby more seriously. Eventually, he was able to get his work promoted into galleries. Strand’s work was seen to be influencing and abstract. He contributed to creating a group named Photo League. This group used their artwork to promote social and political causes.

One of Paul Strand’s famous works is a photograph named ‘Wall Street’. The photo frames a building with people walking pass by it. There are strong shadows being casted, giving us a sense of time. Even though we don’t know the exact time, we can infer that everyone is going to work or going home. Everyone walking in this photo are silhouetted, giving a sense of uniform. Everyone is silhouetted because they have the same destinations. The photo also has huge black rectangle in the building. The color of the rectangle matches the color of the shadows coming from the people. The shadows and the black rectangles on the building puts a mysterious feeling into the photo. Paul’s choice of shooting on Wall Street shows me that he knows money plays a huge role in our everyday lives.

Aside from shooting photographs for social and political reasons, Paul Strand did a lot of portraiture. Looking as his portraits, we can see a lot of detail and style of the clothes worn. The style of the clothing really tells us a story about the person’s career. The black and white really brought out his subject’s unique features. His collection of portraits contained people of all kinds. I’m assuming he had an appreciation for diversity because he is from New York City. Looking at his portraits, I feel really close to the subject. At the same time, he shot a lot of still life photography. He puts together a photograph using inanimate objects ranges from bowls to houses. He takes advantage of the geometric shapes that are natural there. Paul then frames it well so the lines from the inanimate objects can attract the viewers’ attention. For example, Paul would put together a couple of bowls and using its natural curves, he creates a sense of symmetry.