Guggenheim 627--Musicians, San Francisco c. 1956

Robert Frank's contact sheet, Musicians, San Francisco, shows multiple frames capturing a band rehearsing in a small room. I like the way these frames record time, like flipping through a deck of cards! The musician in the foreground is tuning his double bass. Frank is trying to figure out the light, circling his subjects as if they were objects in a still life. The different exposures are like color mixing, trying to get the right tone, the right feeling. I wonder what Frank was thinking, moving around the band? I bet he felt invisible, like he wasn’t there at all. Was he happy? Did he get the shot he wanted? This one feels honest, not posed. It makes me think about the street photography of Lisette Model, Frank’s teacher, where it seems like the camera just grabs life as it is.