Passing train--Elko, Nevada 1956

This small black and white photograph shows a train stopped near a station in Elko, Nevada. It was taken by Robert Frank, who lived from 1924 to 2019. I imagine Frank, camera in hand, maybe feeling a bit like an outsider, watching this slice of American life unfold. The scene is so still, but you can almost hear the rumble of the train, a giant, almost cinematic form, momentarily paused on its journey. The light is flat, which emphasizes the everydayness of the scene, a kind of casual documentation that feels deeply personal. There's a strange beauty in the mundanity Frank captures, and I can relate to that, that impulse to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. The torn edge of the photograph becomes part of the story, adding a layer of fragility, and the handwritten number feels like a note, a memory, or maybe just a way to keep track of time. These traces of the artist’s hand remind us that art-making is ultimately about conversation and exchange.