This video explores the powerful and poetic photography of Berenice Abbott, focusing on three of her iconic images: Trinity Church from Above, New York Stock Exchange, and New York Harbor. Captured during the 1930s, Abbott’s photographs are more than urban documentation—they're visual essays on change, power, and perspective.

Rooted in the tradition of straight photography, Abbott masterfully combines documentary precision with modernist abstraction. Her use of bold angles, light, and scale invites viewers to rethink the urban landscape not just as a physical space, but as a living, evolving subject. Each image balances emotional resonance with architectural clarity, revealing the city’s tension between tradition and transformation.

Informed by the ideas in Criticizing Photography, this video analyzes how Abbott’s work reflects intentional framing, control of the medium, and conceptual depth. Her innovative use of gelatin silver printing and varied vantage points gave 20th-century photography a new visual language—one where buildings speak, shadows suggest, and geometry tells stories.

This video is not just about what Abbott photographed—it’s about how she made us see. Her legacy lies in turning the modern city into a subject of beauty, tension, and meaning.