Short Biography of Paul Strand

Paul Strand was born on October 16, 1890 in New York. He became interested in photography after being inspired by Alfred Stieglitz's 291 gallery. (later on some of Strands work was added to the 291 gallery) In 1915 he was introduced to "straight photography" by discovering what a large-format camera can do. Unlike the photographers of that time and age who took soft focus pictures, Paul Strand took sharply focused photo's of New York try to capture the life and energy the people and culture. Around 1920-1930 Strand worked on films while still being an active photographer. Around 1950 Strand left America for political reasons and went to Europe and spent weeks at a time traveling and photographing Northern Italy, the Outer Hebrides (Islands located off the northwest of Scotland), France and in the 1960's went to Africa and Egypt to capture the people of north and west Africa. He then spent the remainder of his life in Orgeval, France. Paul Strand died March 31, 1976. Strand left his mark on history and becoming one of the best photographers  throughout the 1900's and to this day.