Winter--New York City no number 1957

Robert Frank shot this contact sheet, Winter—New York City, with a camera and film, capturing many dark and snowy scenes. Frank’s method is all about the process; he seems to be saying that it is the taking, the darkroom and the editing which combine to make the final image more than the sum of its parts. What’s so interesting about a contact sheet is that you see what the artist left out, and that's as important as what they put in. Look how the blacks are so rich, and the highlights are so overblown, you can almost feel the cold, wet air. The grain becomes another kind of texture, another layer of information. There's one particular frame near the bottom where you can see the blurred image of a car speeding through the street. It is suggestive of Frank’s wider practice of capturing fleeting moments, finding beauty in the everyday. It’s a bit like what Garry Winogrand was doing, though Frank is more melancholy, more like a rainy day. He gets you right in the gut.