Untitled (Amusement Park) 1954

Robert Frank took this black and white photograph, *Untitled (Amusement Park)*, sometime in the mid-20th century. It’s a swirl of bodies caught mid-air on some fairground ride, a kind of roundabout swing, I think. You can sense a feeling of vertigo and uncertainty in the image – like the photographer has leant back to take the picture and is experiencing the same giddiness as the riders. The image is blurred, unfocused, giving an overwhelming sense of movement and speed. There’s a giant statue in the foreground that throws the composition off-kilter. You can almost hear the sounds of the fairground, the screams and laughter of the kids, the music blaring from the stalls. Frank’s photographs have a rough, unpolished quality; there's a great energy and life to them. His work really opened up a new way of image making, allowing for intuition and chance encounters to dictate the image. He captures those fleeting moments of everyday life that can be easily missed. It makes you think differently about what photography can be and who can participate.