Taxicab at airport--New York City no number 1957 - 1958

This is a photogram by Robert Frank, made with black and white film, of a New York City Airport. Isn’t it interesting how a roll of film can be like a painter's sketchbook? Frank almost certainly walked around that airport with his camera, not knowing exactly what he was looking for, just waiting for something to jump out at him. It seems he took a variety of shots: taxis, crowds of people. The film strip becomes a kind of visual record of his wandering eye, a series of fleeting impressions captured on film. It’s as if he’s saying, "Here's what caught my attention," leaving it up to us to make sense of it all. I wonder what Frank was thinking at the time? Was he searching for something specific, or simply allowing himself to be led by chance encounters and fleeting moments? Maybe the act of taking pictures was a way for him to make sense of the world around him, to find order in the chaos of urban life.