San Gennaro festival--New York City no number/Black White and Things 23 1951

This is Robert Frank's photographic contact sheet. It’s a peek into his process, all those frames laid out, a little village of images. Each one a potential story. I can imagine Frank there, eyes squinting, making his way through the crowds at the San Gennaro festival in New York, maybe in the fifties. He’s like a hunter, but with a camera. Each click is a capture, a moment stolen from the chaos. The composition is just a slice of life. It’s not posed, it’s not perfect. It's about the raw, unvarnished truth of the world. And that contrast, that stark black and white, it just cuts right through you. You see the faces, the gestures, the light and shadows. Frank’s always in conversation with other image makers, like Cartier-Bresson. They're all figuring out how to show us what it feels like to be alive, right here, right now.