Hacienda, near Taos, New Mexico 1930

Paul Strand's photograph, *Hacienda, near Taos, New Mexico,* captures the exterior wall of a building in muted browns and grays, highlighting the textures of the adobe. I imagine Strand, in that light, composing the shot, considering the angle, light and the play of shadows. I'm really drawn to the way the water streaks down the wall, like rivulets of paint from some abstract expressionist's brush. It reminds me of Helen Frankenthaler's soak-stain technique, but here, nature is the artist, staining the wall with time and weather. The streaks create a kind of accidental beauty, blurring the line between intention and chance, like the drip paintings of Pollock. Those parallel wooden poles in front of the window? They feel like brushstrokes frozen in time, adding another layer of depth and rhythm. The window itself becomes a framed painting within a painting. I think Strand, like all artists, was in conversation with the world around him, and with the art of his time, finding new ways to see and capture its fleeting beauty.