Guggenheim 16/Americans 45--U.S. 1 leaving Columbia, South Carolina 1955

This is Robert Frank’s “Guggenheim 16/Americans 45--U.S. 1 leaving Columbia, South Carolina,” and it's a contact sheet, a record of photographic looking. Frank’s images are raw, grainy, and he’s not afraid of blur or awkward compositions, all part of his process. Look at the second row, at those soda shop exteriors, mirrored and repeated; Frank lets the light burn out the details, leaving you with a stark impression. Then, notice how the dark expanses of the unexposed film create a rhythm, almost like musical rests, between the pictures. Each frame is a moment, a glimpse, but it’s the spaces in between, the darkness, that give the images their weight, their melancholy. It's like he's saying, "Here's a bit of America, but there's so much more you're not seeing.” Thinking about other photographers, I’m reminded of Garry Winogrand, who was also chasing the American experience, but Frank's rawness and the deeply personal nature of his work, that's all his own.