Subway 8 1955

This is Robert Frank’s ‘Subway 8’, a photo taken with, what looks like, a small 35mm camera. It is a series of photographic frames. They show different moments, actions, and views of people on the subway. I can imagine the artist being there. On the subway, in the crowd, holding his camera, waiting for the moment, the unexpected view. What was it like to move from one frame to the next? There’s an energy in these photos, like the artist himself was restless. I imagine him like a painter, with his camera as his brush, capturing bits of life as they came to him. These images, though still, have a narrative quality. I think of other artists who tell stories in sequences, like Hokusai, or even some comic book artists. I like how artists learn from one another across time. It’s like a visual conversation. Frank is a master, a restless picture maker. You can almost feel the movement of the subway through his photos. They’re imperfect, raw, and full of feeling.