Hollywood 57 1958

Robert Frank shot this contact sheet, Hollywood 57, probably with a small handheld camera, at some point in the mid to late fifties. Each of these little frames is like a tiny painting, full of light and shadow, and together they give you a sense of a particular moment in time. Film is such a physical medium, and the marks and scratches, the way the images are arranged, they all become part of the story. That big red cross drawn over one of the frames—it feels so direct, like a big fat brushstroke. And then there are those hazy, almost blurred images further down the sheet which contrast with those much more clearly defined images at the top. This contrast makes you consider what he was seeing, and what he wanted to show us. I think of Garry Winogrand and his crazy, snapshot aesthetic. Frank and Winogrand share a love for the unposed moment, embracing accident and chance to capture something real. There is no right way to see, just different ways.