Umbrellas, Paris 1951

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, Umbrellas, Paris, and what strikes me is the texture of the scene – the dark, scratched surface of the print gives it a moody, weathered feel. I imagine Frank wandering through the Parisian streets, camera in hand, dodging the rain with everyone else. You know, in the rain you see things that are not so apparent when it's sunny. The reflections on the wet pavement, the way the light diffuses through the mist… he probably saw something special in that moment, something worth capturing. It looks like a painting! Look at the way the umbrellas create these soft, rounded shapes against the blurred backdrop. Each umbrella is like a brushstroke, layering together to form this hazy, dreamlike image. The silver gelatin gives it a timeless quality. Frank wasn’t just documenting a rainy day; he was exploring the emotional landscape of a city and maybe finding beauty in the mundane. He was in dialogue with all the image-makers that came before him, finding his own way to interpret reality.