Street scene--Blackfoot, Idaho 1956

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, "Street Scene--Blackfoot, Idaho", at an unknown date. The palette is all monochrome, black and white and grey. I'm drawn to the way Frank stacks information, signs, on top of each other. It feels less like a photograph of a place, and more like a portrait of a feeling. The flatness of the signs contrasts with the depth of the road stretching into the distance. Look at the word 'welcome', bold and capitalised, yet obscured by the accumulation of local promotions. The image feels almost like a collage, a collection of fragments assembled to convey a sense of place. Frank's approach reminds me a bit of Walker Evans, another photographer who captured the American vernacular with such clarity, but Frank adds something new. This feels more intimate and psychological, like we're glimpsing a fleeting moment of everyday life. It's not a perfect picture, but that's what makes it so compelling. It embraces the messy, contradictory nature of experience.