Iron Latch, East Jamaica, Vermont 1943

This gelatin silver print, "Iron Latch, East Jamaica, Vermont," made by Paul Strand, is a symphony of textures and tones, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. I can almost feel the weight of the latch in my hand, hear the creek of the wood as it's pulled open, the smell of damp earth. Strand’s play with light and shadow transforms a simple door into a landscape of abstract forms. The vertical planks create a rhythm that is only broken by the horizontal latch, like a musical score. Each line and shadow speaks to the passing of time, the story of its creation. When I look at this, I think about the act of framing, what to include and what to exclude. Strand invites us to see the beauty in the mundane, a testament to the power of observation. His commitment to documenting the world around him reminds me of other photographers like Walker Evans, who found poetry in the everyday. Strand's photography is like a form of seeing, a way of understanding the world not just through our eyes, but through our fingers, our noses, our whole selves. I hope it inspires you to notice the unnoticed, to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, and to celebrate the beauty of the everyday.