Looking Down, New York 1922

Paul Strand made this gelatin silver print called *Looking Down, New York*, sometime in the early to mid-20th century, and what I love is the way Strand is looking. It’s not the usual street-level snapshot, but a high-angle view that gives us a sense of depth, and a kind of detachment too. The monochrome palette flattens everything, turning the buildings and streets into geometric shapes and patterns. Look at how the light catches the lines of laundry strung between buildings - that regular pattern is repeated in the facade of the building which dominates the foreground. It’s the starkness that gets me, the way the mundane, everyday life of the city becomes abstract and almost surreal. Strand was interested in social documentary, and you see some of this in his earlier work, but you can also see his influence on photographers like Andreas Gursky, who also capture urban spaces from a detached viewpoint. This image invites us to consider the beauty in the ordinary, and how different perspectives shape how we experience the world. It’s a study in seeing.