Pablo VI 1953

This contact sheet by Robert Frank is like a sketchbook page, a collection of ideas and experiments from the darkroom. Look how the high-contrast monochrome prints let the highlights shine and the darks recede. The material aspect of photography is very present in this piece: the graininess of the film, the sprocket holes, the handwritten numbers running along the top. It reminds us that this isn't just an image, but a physical object. It's like, if painting can be about painting, then photography can be about photography. The orange marker pen indicates images Frank has selected, maybe for enlargement, maybe for closer consideration, and in doing so, gives us an insight into his process. It recalls the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, another photographer known for capturing decisive moments, yet Frank's work is far more experimental, embracing chance and accident. It's this sense of freedom and the acceptance of the unexpected that makes his work so compelling, and feels so very contemporary.