Deer head in mirror--Santa Cruz, California 1956

Robert Frank shot this photograph, "Deer head in mirror--Santa Cruz, California," sometime during his life. It’s a blurry, dreamlike image, almost like a half-remembered memory. I can imagine Frank, camera in hand, drawn to the surreal juxtaposition of the taxidermied deer heads and their reflections in the mirror. The reflections create a sense of depth and disorientation. It's a little claustrophobic, actually. The mirror suggests infinite space, yet we're trapped in this confined interior. I like to think of Frank thinking about his own reflection, too, as he was taking the shot. Does he see himself in the mirror? Does he see himself as part of a larger story about America, about hunting, about our relationship to nature and death? Or is the image a chance happening, a found poem in the everyday world? Ultimately, it's the photograph’s ambiguity that makes it so compelling, suggesting many interpretations.