Christmas--New York City no number 1954

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, "Christmas--New York City no number," at an unknown date. It’s a sheet of negatives, not a final picture, and you can see all the sprocket holes along the edges – like a painter who leaves the underpainting exposed. I love the way Frank lets us see the process, the raw material of image-making. Look how the light falls differently on each frame, creating different moods and effects. Some are sharp, some are blurry, some are overexposed. The scratches and imperfections in the emulsion are like the artist's handprint, a reminder that photography, too, is a physical medium, not just a window on reality. Seeing the different exposures he uses is to be reminded that the final image only comes after experimenting, after embracing the happy accidents. I’m reminded of someone like Gerhard Richter, who also explored the nature of photography and its relationship to painting, questioning the idea of a single, definitive image.