Paul Strand Pre-Assignment

Paul Strand was born in New York on October 16th, 1890. At the age of 17, he began to take photography courses. He worked with Alfred Stieglitz. He made many films after the first World War. After being blacklisted by HUAAC, he left the US to live in France, where he died on March 31st, 1976.

In what could be considered his most famous photograph, Strand captures these moving individuals, all going in the same direction, and moving your eyes from left to right across the bottom. The repetitive rectangles in the back also help that along, as well as the peoples' shadows.

Again fence along the bottom moves the eye, and the white house that stands out in the back holds your attention on the piece.

This was my favorite one. I love the big looming shadow over the little people, and how the shadow shows all the details of the architecture. These big shadows are what I want to try to capture, and I'll do that by going to where the boats are and seeing what kind of interesting designs and patterns they'll give me to work with.