Wellfleet no number 1954

Here's a strip of 35mm film by Robert Frank, probably from sometime in the middle of the last century. Look at these little black and white frames like miniature worlds, each one a glimpse into a moment, a place, a relationship. I wonder what it was like for Frank, squinting through the viewfinder, deciding which sliver of reality to capture. Was he trying to tell a story, or just collect fragments of life? I can see the emulsion, the grain, the imperfections—these aren't slick, perfect images, but they're full of feeling. A person indoors, upside down! Outside, the landscape flickers in and out of focus. And then more people, a couple. Robert Frank must have been trying to make sense of the world, one frame at a time. And isn’t that what we all are doing?