Paul Strand

Paul Strand was an American photographer. His photography along with other photographers helped establish photography as an art in the 20th century. He was born on October 16th, 1890 in New York City. He took photos for 60 years. His photography was about many things throughout America, Europe, and Africa. He became interested in photography after a field trip to the 291 art gallery. This gallery exhibit the work of photographers and painters. Later on his own work would be an exhibition in this gallery run by Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston.

This image is one of his most famous photographs. I think it is a cool picture because even though the people aren't super clear, you can tell its a person. Also the building in the background shows how small people are compared to it. This was taken in Wall Street. I also like how the peoples' shadows are long and can reach the people behind. Paul Strand died on March 31st, in France. He lived in France because he married there. He did not speak French, but his wife did and she would help him out.

Dorothea Lange

C.J was walking in his garden when he found a cat. It had very bright eyes. The iris was a mix between green, gold, and blue. C.J called to it and it began to slowly walk off. Then C.J took out a cheese stick from his back pocket which immediately got the cat's attention. It slowly began walking back and C.J decided to leave a little trail that led back to his house. When the cat reached his house, C.J closed the door and got close enough to touch it. Surprisingly the cat did not move or attack him and just let him pet it. C.J decided to go to his room, and the cat followed. It even got on his bed and took a nap. C.J checked for a collar or a tag, but didn't find anything. He asked his mom if he could keep it and she said sure. C.J heard his dad's truck outside and ran out to show him the cat. His dad, being a photographer, had a camera around his neck and snapped the image above.  

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks was an American photographer, musician, writer, and director. He was born in Kansas on November 30th, 1912. He attended a segregated school as a child. His mom died when he was 14, and later on he was sent to live with his sister. He became the first African-American photographer for the magazines Life and Vogue. He bought his first camera at the age of 25. He took pictures of people and life. He specifically took pictures of workers and the minority. He also took pictures of the segregation and racism going on in the US.  His most famous photography was American Gothic, Washington D.C. It is the picture shown below. He also took pictures in the fashion world. He died in New York on March 7, 2006.

Ella Watson
American Gothic, Washington D.C.
1942

William Klein

Cheetah

  There was a woman who had a pet cheetah. In fact, many of the people who saw her with her cheetah thought she looked like the cheetah. She loved these comments because who would not want to look like a cheetah. They are just awesome. She was also a model so the photographers would ask her to take her cheetah to the shoots to take pictures of them together. 

 One day she was walking down the streets to a shoot with her cheetah. She decided to stop at a park because they still had some time before they actually had to be there. She let it off its leash because he was trained and would listen to her when she called. Unfortunately, there were two kids at this park. When they saw the cheetah, they did not know it had an owner. Out of fear, the older of the kids took out a gun he had to protect his little brother and shot at the cheetah. Luckily he missed and the woman called for the cheetah. She then put it on its leash and walked over to the boys.

She was not angry, but explained to them that it was her pet. That was surprising to them since they had never met anyone with a pet cheetah. She let them pet it and afterwards everyone carried on with their everyday lives. A couple of months later, the boys passed by a newsstand and saw a magazine with the cover being a picture of the woman and her cheetah. It was a beautiful picture and they were glad they had not hurt the cheetah back in the park. 

The images above were both taken by William Klein.

Mary Ellen Mark

Tragic

Johnny lived out in the country. He hated the city. There was too much chaos and people. He liked being alone. One of his favorite things to do was ride his horse to the mountains and the river that was near his house. He liked sitting on the grass and looking out into the land at the scenery.

One day he took a ride on his horse and was heading to the river. On his way he felt like something was following and watching it. Then suddenly out of no where a mountain lion jumps out and scares the horse. The horse, out of fear, jumps on its hind legs and takes off running. This action causes Johnny to fall of the horse. It would not have been a bad injury, except his head hit a rock and knocked him out of consciousness.

When he wakes up, he is in a hospital. He has not lost his memory, but something is obviously different to him. He does not see any color. The world is in black, white, and grey. The doctor walks into the room to find Johnny with a look of panic on his face. The doctor immediately calms him down and explains everything.

The head injury caused him to be in a coma for 2 weeks and that it also caused him to have total colorblindness, aka cerebral achromatopsia. He would need to have surgery because his head was still not alright. This was a tragic situation for Johnny because another thing he loved was color.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus (Diane Nemerov) was born on March 14, 1923 in New York. Her parents owned a famous department store, meaning her family was pretty wealthy. She married at the age of 18 and gave birth to her first daughter, Doon, 4 years afterwards. their second daughter was born 9 years later. 

She mainly took photographs of people with intellectual disabilities, or what she called freaks. These pictures were taken with the people knowing, and also sometimes when they did not know. The picture above is one of her most famous photographs. When you first look at it, you get a feeling of panic (or at least I do). You think, "why does this kid have a grenade and how could she get so close to him that is dangerous?". The kid also looks pretty maniacal. When I did more research about the picture I found out it was a toy grenade and the picture was taken in Central Park. I like this photo because I think it confuses and scares a lot of people at first sight. 

Diane committed suicide on July 26, 1971. at the age of 48. She had depression episodes that probably led her to do this during her life.