Park--San Francisco 1956

This is Robert Frank's "Park--San Francisco," a silver gelatin print. Frank has this way of capturing moments that feel totally unstaged, but somehow packed with meaning. It's like he's grabbing a piece of real life and saying, "Look at this!" The way the light and shadow fall across the scene really gets me. The dark shadows contrast with the bright patches of sunlight to create almost like a stage. You can almost feel the grainy texture of the print. The man leaning against the tree – he's the anchor, isn't he? The way he's framed, almost trapped, by the tree, and then this crowd of people behind him, all moving in their own directions. I think about someone like Garry Winogrand when I look at Frank, both just total masters of street photography. It's loose, it's raw, and it makes you look. There's no right answer, and I think that's the point.