Parade c. 1945

Robert Frank’s gelatin silver print, *Parade*, captures a moment, but it’s the greyscale that gives it its energy. It’s like he’s wrestling with the light, making it perform, or maybe misbehave a little. Look at how the light catches the instruments. They almost seem to hover. Frank’s greyscale isn’t just about black and white, it’s about the whole spectrum of human experience squeezed into a single frame. It reminds me of those early colour experiments where artists were trying to nail down what colour really meant. Frank’s doing the same with tone; pushing it, pulling it, seeing how much it can hold. It's almost like you can hear the music. It's a photograph, but it's so much more. This reminds me of the raw, unpolished approach of someone like Diane Arbus. Both artists had an eye for the unexpected. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions we ask along the way.