Mombasa and Nairobi--Africa 5 1964

Robert Frank shot "Mombasa and Nairobi--Africa 5" using film, and what strikes me first is the serial nature of the image. It’s a strip of moments, a little like a sketchbook page. The graininess of the black and white, the way the light flares, these aren't mistakes but choices, right? Look how he lets the images breathe, how he almost crops into the figures, there’s one of a guy walking away from the camera that's so beautifully awkward. It reminds me of the kind of ‘wrong’ shot that ends up being the most right. Frank always had an eye for the overlooked. He shares this with other photographers like Garry Winogrand, who made snapshots of ordinary people in public places, and Helen Levitt. It makes you think about how meaning comes from the way things are framed. Ultimately, the most interesting art embraces the messy, the imperfect, the unresolved.