Embarkation 7 1957

Robert Frank made this contact sheet, called Embarkation 7, by exposing photographic paper to strips of processed 35mm film. It's all process here, a way of showing the before and after, the takes and outtakes. The surface is matte, kind of work-a-day, just the evidence of a process. There's no attempt to hide anything, or pretty it up. Looking at the red registration marks at the top, you get a sense of how Frank might have worked, selecting and discarding images as he went. The pictures themselves are pretty blurry, and more about mood than detail. It's like a memory, more felt than seen. Frank's whole thing was about capturing the raw, unvarnished truth of American life, and this contact sheet is like a behind-the-scenes look at how he did it. The same way someone like Garry Winogrand might shoot reels of film, just walking around, responding to things, and letting the process lead him. For both, it was about embracing ambiguity and letting the work be open to interpretation.