On a job with Eidenbenz, Basel 1945

This photograph by Robert Frank, taken in Basel, is a small window into a moment of labor. I imagine Frank positioning himself, angling for a view that captures the precariousness and the artistry of the job at hand. The high contrast emphasizes the textures and geometries of the scene: the smooth metal of the lighting rig, the patterned shirt of the worker, the angular girders of the building’s skeleton. You can almost feel the grit and the weight of the equipment. I wonder about the worker in the hat, caught in this odd, upward gaze. Is he aware of Frank capturing him? Does he see his work as a kind of performance, a collaboration with light and space? The image reminds me of the work of other photographers such as Walker Evans, who documented everyday life with a similar eye for detail and social commentary. All these artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring creativity and reflecting the ambiguity of meaning found in everyday life.