San Gennaro festival--Early New York City no number 1951

This is Robert Frank’s black and white photographic contact sheet, San Gennaro festival--Early New York City. Frank’s process here is laid bare. The strips of negatives give us all the outtakes, the moments either side of the "perfect" shot, the kind of thing photographers used to hide away. It's a look behind the scenes, a look at the editing process. The images themselves are of the San Gennaro festival, I think. I see crowds, lights, and a sense of bustling energy. The high contrast gives the images a gritty, documentary feel, but the arrangement on the sheet, the way the strips are placed, also has a formal quality. I find the perforations and numbers along the edges of the film so tactile and alluring. There's something very human about seeing the photographer's choices, their process, and knowing the finished product is just one of many possibilities. Frank shares some of the directness of Walker Evans, who was a big influence. This work invites us to consider the nature of photography itself, the choices involved in capturing and presenting the world. It's not about perfection, but about the messy, beautiful reality of seeing and recording.