Paul Strand has framed the blindingly white fence in the foreground against a dark ground of buildings farther back. The fence is sharply in focus while the buildings are softer, singling out the fence as the most important element of the photograph. The focus on an ordinary, weathered fence and its graphic depiction from a low vantage point signaled a move away from the literary themes and painterly composition of the pictorialist movement. Strand described it as “the basis for all the work that followed".