Kite flying--Provincetown B 1957

This is a photographic contact sheet by Robert Frank called Kite flying--Provincetown B. Look at all those frames laid out like a storyboard, each a little moment, a little breath. Frank's probably right there on that windy dune with the kids. I can imagine him watching, waiting, feeling for the right moment. The way they are running and laughing and pulling on that string! I see a kind of dance here, like a painter with a brush, he’s looking, moving, framing, trying, and re-trying to capture something fleeting. The scratches on the negative, the red marker circling chosen frames – it's all part of the story. It’s like he's saying, "Here, look, this is how I work." It reminds me how all us artists are just out here, trying to catch something real, something true, in our own way, kite flying.