Robert Frank

PHOTOGRAPHER:Robert Frank San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
A contact sheet of some of Robert Frank's 1955 photographs includes his shot of riders on a segregated New Orleans trolley, second row from top, far right.


Nice blurb in the Los Angeles Times about photographer Robert Frank's exhibit. The exhibit, at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, celebrates the 50th anniversary of his book "The Americans."


Frank's work was panned at the time. Part of the criticism had to do with his style. He broke the rules: he blurred images, did some strange cropping, shot in low-light situations. Popular Photography magazine described, at the time, the work as "meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness."

With time Frank's work came to be recognized as a masterpiece, and has influenced generations of photographers. (This is a mixed blessing, as more often than not a blurry muddy photograph is just a blurry, muddy picture).

The S.F. exhibit includes lots of contact sheets and work prints. Looking at the contact sheets gives a glimpse into the mind of the photographer. On the proofs you see the the iconic image (often circled with a grease pencil) -- but you also see the images that were taken just before and after the 'iconic' moment. You can see how Frank worked the situation.

You can also start to understand the editing process: It's mind boggling to realize that Frank made more than 27,000 exposures as he crisscrossed the US in 1955, of which 83 made it into the book. One might argue that the editing process is more important than the actual photography. It's certainly more grueling, time-consuming, and above all crucial to the success of the body of work.

That's not to undervalue the importance of a good eye in shooting: Frank's 27,000 images were on film. In this age of digital photography it's possible to make 27,000 captures in a very short time. But even if those images are tack sharp, perfectly exposed with no grain, I'm pretty sure it'd be impossible to find 83 images worth looking at.