Elderly woman at market, Geneva 1945

Robert Frank made this photograph, "Elderly woman at market, Geneva," presumably with a handheld camera, seizing a moment in time. He's known for his grainy, un-posed style. I can imagine Frank, camera in hand, circling this small crowd. He's looking, watching, framing. The woman's face is so present. You can feel the weight of time in the lines around her eyes and mouth. It looks like she’s seen a lot. I wonder if he was drawn to her stillness amidst the hustle of the market, her worn fur stole and feathered hat. Was he thinking about mortality, the fleeting nature of existence? It is the work of an outsider looking in and the work feels really human. Frank's work reminds me that artists are always responding to the world around them, processing it through their own unique lens, and inviting us to see it anew. The beauty is in the everyday, the imperfect, the real.