Why Images Work # 6 - Paul Strand

right click (or control click on a Mac) to access this group portrat image, known as Family Luzarra and move the window so you can see both the comments and the photograph.

Paul Stand had a long photographic carreer and photographed many subjects from landcapes to industrial but of all his images, this family group portrait is my favourite.

With an image like this, we HAVE to start with the non technical aspects. The expressions on the faces, the body postures and the positions that the family members line themselves up and the direction of their gaze tells us a huge amount about these people. Whether such conclusions is accurate is irrelevent, this image makes us feel we know these people. No "say cheese please' for Paul.

Note the position of the heads. Can you imagine if all the heads were at the same height - yuk!

The textured but fairly simple wall provides an excellent background - brick just wouldn't have been the same.

Look at the bottom and you note that all the feet have something to stand on - it might be tempting to crop to the feet but this way there is a unity to the image by provinding a common base running across the bottom of the image.

The choice of clothing says something about the people too.

The bicycle provides a specular highlight but also tells a story - it's quite a modern bicycle for 1953, the year of the shot, it's in excellent condition with white wall tires and a headlight - someone had some money. The large dark area of the doorway is broken by the mirror or window within but giving a sense that the doorway leads somewhere.

Little details like the incredible beat up drain pipe, the arch above the door and the worn through wall on the left give the image character.

But, this image is really all about the people and the story the picture tells, the story may be fiction, but there's nothing wrong with fiction.