Seated men--Houston, Texas 1955

This black and white photograph, *Seated men–Houston, Texas,* was made by Robert Frank, but when? It's hard to say, that’s part of what I like about Frank’s work – the way he’s able to give a sense of the everyday, and also make it timeless, to tap into something eternal about the human condition. Look at the way Frank uses light and shadow here. It’s like he’s not trying to control the scene but to capture a moment as he found it. The man in the front, with his hat and cigarette, is partly obscured by shadow, and the grain of the film gives the image a kind of rough texture. For me, this photograph is all about a kind of quiet observation. It feels like he might have been inspired by Walker Evans' documentary style. But Frank has something else, a kind of a raw intimacy. He's not just showing us a picture, he's inviting us to feel something with him.