Peru, page 33 1948

This is "Peru, page 33," a photograph by Robert Frank. Just imagine Frank with his camera, trying to capture something real about the people he encountered. The subjects here, maybe they are in a crowd, maybe they are waiting, but they sure are in their own worlds. I can't help but wonder what it was like for Frank to ask to take their picture. Did they even know they were being photographed? How much can we really know about them? I keep thinking about how Frank's work has that raw, spontaneous feel, and how it broke so many rules. He wasn’t interested in perfect composition or lighting. He was after something else, something about the grit and the poetry of real life, and that continues to speak to artists today.