Family--New York City no number 1954

Here's a sheet of film by Robert Frank, probably from New York City. I can imagine Frank walking around, camera in hand, like a painter with a brush, making quick sketches with light and shadow. There’s a raw, immediate quality to the images, almost like notes jotted down in a visual diary. He sees something – a family moment, a street scene – and he captures it, not trying to pretty it up, but just showing it as it is. The different shots in the roll of film feel like variations on a theme, like he's searching for the right angle, the right moment. This reminds me of when I'm painting, layering and scraping away, trying to find the image within the image. Photography is such a cool medium because it can catch the everyday, the ordinary, and make it into something extraordinary, something worth looking at again and again. Like a painter, Frank invites us to see the world with fresh eyes.