Florida 4 1958

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, ‘Florida 4’, with a camera and film, then developed it in a dark room; it's a record of his looking, and a key to how he selected a final image. Imagine Frank in the darkroom, hunched over trays of chemicals, coaxing these images into being. I wonder what he was thinking as he isolated the frame marked in red. It's not the most obvious choice; the composition is a bit awkward, and the subject, whatever it is, is partly obscured by a tree. But maybe that's the point. Frank was never interested in pretty pictures. He was after something rawer, more real. Think about the physicality of film – the grain, the scratches, the imperfections. They remind us that photography isn't just about capturing a moment, it's about the process of seeing. Painters like Van Gogh and Rothko, also embraced imperfection. Artists are always in dialogue, aren't they? Each one building on what came before, pushing the boundaries a little further. And in the end, that's what art is all about: a conversation, a way of making sense of the world, one frame, one brushstroke at a time.