Bill Brandt was born in Germany and spent a good bit of time in Vienna, but he would finally come to popularity with his move to Paris. While Brandt was in Paris, he joined the studio of “American artist and photographer Man Ray in 1929” (“Bill Brandt”).  Man Ray was a very respectable artist in his own right. He specialized in Dadaism and Surrealism and mostly worked in the medium of painting, rather than photography. However, I think it’s likely that Brandt would have learned a great deal under his tutelage. It’s fair to assume that Ray influenced Brandt’s up-close captures of human faces. Both photographers are capable of capturing human emotion that is easily conveyed through the medium and it’s easy to see why they both were so popular in this realm. While Ray would opt for more illusory and extraordinary pictures, Brandt would search for more realism in his photography. Additionally, Brandt adapted the background of photographs to help contextualize the life of the person he is photographing. In At Charlie Brown's Pub, Limehouse, 1945, it’s very easy to see how Brandt’s work takes in the surrounding life of his subject in photographs. It makes it easier to piece together who the person is and possibly even what they are thinking.