Paris 34A 1949 - 1950

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, probably in the 1950s or 60s, capturing black-and-white images of Paris. It’s a sequence of photographs on celluloid, like a film strip, with multiple exposures that record the city. You can almost see Frank, holding his camera, wandering through Paris. What was he thinking? Maybe he was trying to capture the spirit of the city, its boulevards, monuments, and the everyday life of its people. I imagine him walking around looking for the perfect shot, that perfect expression, and the perfect light. You see the outtakes and get a glimpse into his process of selection and rejection. Frank's work relates to that of other street photographers, like Helen Levitt or Garry Winogrand, all capturing spontaneous moments of life. This piece is like a storyboard—it gives you multiple views of the same scene, like a painter might create several sketches before committing to a final composition. Artists are always inspiring each other, right? They pick up each other's gestures or tricks, then make it their own. And just like painting, photography embraces ambiguity, inviting us to explore and find our own meanings in what we see.