Alvin Langdon Coburn

Alvin Langdon Coburn was an early 20thcentury photographer who became a key figure in the development of American pictorialism. He became the first major photographer to emphasize the visual potential of elevated viewpoints and later made some of the first completely abstract photographs.

Coburn was born on June 11, 1882, at 134 East Springfield Street in Boston, Massachusetts, to a middleclass family. His father, who had established the successful firm of Coburn amp Whitman Shirts, died when Alvin was seven. After that he was raised solely by his mother, Fannie, who remained the primary influence in his early life, even though she remarried when he was a teenager. In his autobiography, Coburn wrote, My mother was a remarkable woman of very strong character who tried to dominate my lifeIt was a battle royal all the days of our life together.

Source: Wikipedia