Man with parakeet--San Francisco 1956

Robert Frank snapped this photograph, titled "Man with parakeet--San Francisco," sometime in the mid-20th century, probably with a small handheld camera. The blurry graininess of the image, and the way the light catches the glass, it's a process laid bare. It’s a strangely beautiful composition: this man reflected in the window, alongside a parakeet also reflected in a mirror, and a collection of headshots. There is so much glass. It's like a mise-en-abyme, a kind of visual puzzle. The light is silvery, almost liquid, and seems to dissolve the boundary between inside and outside. I keep coming back to that little bird in the mirror. Is it seeing itself, or is it seeing us? Frank, like other photographers of his generation like Helen Levitt, saw the street as a stage, a place of chance encounters and fleeting moments. He was also deeply influenced by Walker Evans, though perhaps more intuitive and less formal. Art is a conversation, after all. Anyway, what do I know? Think for yourself!