Paul Strand's photo "Wall Street", shot in 1912, continues to be one of the most powerful and iconic images in the history of the field, and with good reason. The impact is visceral and haunting and needs no words of explanation to amplify its effect. Like all good photographers, the camera was an extension of his soul. If you don't feel it, its not him, its you.
I'm no Paul Strand, nor do my photographs carry the power of his images. But I was raised on the images of Strand and Weston and Evans and Brassai and Atget and the Photo League, et al, and when I finally had my chance to get out there and shoot, I was more than disappointed to find that their world, the world I dreamed of, the America of my mind, no longer existed. In fact you can only live in the world you have inherited and work with the tools available and it takes time to realize this and come to terms with it, if at all. If you do come to find interest and revel in the visual environment of which you are a part, and shoot it in that spirit, it will work out. I persevered, and have been fortunate to find America on my own terms.
When I shot my photo "'Humans of New York' or are they bugs", all I saw was the two oversized posters, but when I printed it and became more acutely aware of the people at the bottom, I was struck by the similarities between it and Strand's photo in terms of the metaphor. While my photo lacks the dark, menacing power and haunting moodiness of Strand's it does convey a similar idea in the context of my world, the world I work in, and the fact that some things never change. We are still bugs, negotiating our small lives through the corridors of power. My familiarity with his photo may well have unconsciously informed the composition and sense of insignificance the city fosters in the photo "bugs".
Fretfully,
Pablo
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