St. Petersburg, Florida 1955

This photograph was taken by Robert Frank in St. Petersburg, Florida. Look at the way Frank has captured this group of people. How he has created a scene full of detail, and the quiet tension of faces turned away from the camera. I can imagine Frank, with his Leica, on the street, trying to capture the perfect moment, framing the faces of the people in the foreground against the blur of the car in the background. It feels like a dance between chance and intention. It reminds me a little bit of the way that I make paintings, building up layers of marks and gestures until something unexpected emerges. There's an honesty to this photograph, a sense of reality. It makes me think about the ways that artists, whether they are painters or photographers, are always looking for ways to capture the truth of a moment.