Guggenheim 623B--San Francisco c. 1956

This is Robert Frank's "Guggenheim 623B--San Francisco," a photographic contact sheet. It's a small, intimate piece. I wonder about the artist making it. Picture Frank in the darkroom, hunched over, the red light casting long shadows as he coaxes these images into being. He’s got strips of negatives here, little glimpses into life, maybe at a party, maybe at a gallery, who knows? There are people talking, gesturing, caught in moments of reflection. The light is so important in photography and here it feels like it is doing more than just lighting the shot, it's shaping mood. It's almost melancholy. It’s like he’s saying, "Here’s life, take a look." Frank's influence echoes through the work of so many photographers and filmmakers. They are all in conversation with one another, wrestling with the same questions of how to capture the world.