Cemetery--San Francisco 1956

This is a photograph by Robert Frank titled Cemetery--San Francisco. It’s a small black and white print. It reminds me of loss, a discarded cloth at the edge of a graveyard, it might be litter or maybe a forgotten picnic blanket. Frank was a master of seeing things that other people didn't see, capturing a kind of everyday sadness. I can imagine him walking in that graveyard. What was he thinking? Was he alone? I think of all the other photographs he made, all the lonely highways and isolated people. This is a similar moment, a bit of quiet observation. I'm interested in how the greys almost create a wash, like an abstract painting. The light is really soft, which makes it feel like a memory, indistinct and a little sad. It’s a quiet picture, but I keep looking, thinking about mortality, memory, and the strange beauty in the mundane. These pictures stay with us, echoing in our minds.