Negative Space

HERE’S A GREAT SNAPSHOT that just sold for $55 on eBay. What I love about this image is the perfectly modernist view we are given, and the added value we get with the decorative border. This image was probably shot in the late 1930s or 1940s. Imagine the directional lines one is prone to seeing if you follow the perspectives of the buildings. It’s all quite stunningly abstract with it’s big bold white “X” in the center, the windows of the buildings echoing the fussy pattern we see in the border. Paul Strand (1890 - 1976), who some call the pioneer of the American Modernist movement in photography, would I am quite sure, have given this a photograph his seal of approval.

All done, perhaps by a tourist with a simple camera, by looking up and without seeing any of the visual clues I marvel at today— went “snap.” Thank you, oh gods of photography, for shining your light once more through the lens of an everyday Joe. And thank you, oh gods of luck, for allowing this picture not only to have survived— but to be found.

And if you have read this far, Accidental Mysteries will post here and there, and when I can— allowing me to devote some additional time to some other projects that would like to focus on. I haven’t missed a daily weekday post in nearly 2 years, so no—you are not imagining things if you do not see a fresh new post everyday. I’m just giving myself a little breather, if you will. I love my many readers and followers, so know that this author and finder of the odd and beautiful—gets up everyday, and simply tries to do his best.