The White Fence (photograph)

The picture was published in the magazine Camera Work, in June 1917, whose editor was Alfred Stieglitz, where it was highly praised by him, specially for its "abstract qualities".

[2] Strand took the picture in Port Kent, New York, in 1916, and it become one of his best known photographs at the time when he was exploring new ground with this visual media, moving way from the pictorialist tradition to what would be considered straight photography.

It was very much alive, very American, very much a part of the country..."[4] The J. Paul Getty Museum website states that "the image is a powerful tour de force of a bold white foreground laid down over a dark ground, something extremely innovative at this point in the history of photography.

Once again, drawing on the ideals of modern art, he exploits the formal properties of the fence to create a dynamic composition that does not employ traditional perspective but yet is very much rooted in reality.

In addition, the existence of the fence allowed the photographer the opportunity to experiment with the entire tonal range of the gray scale, literally working from white to black.