Man pumping gas in rain--San Francisco 1956

Here's a photograph by Robert Frank, showing a man pumping gas in San Francisco, and even though there’s no date, you can smell the era. It’s that gritty, grainy, high-contrast black and white; it speaks to the everyday struggle and an off-the-cuff approach. Frank was interested in the edges, the margins, of culture and what you learn from them. I like the way the rain creates a veil, an obscuring effect which is also a kind of revelation. It’s like the whole picture is one big blur of experience. You can almost feel the cold wetness of the scene, the anonymous man who is like any other man, pumping gas, but somehow it has a melancholic, beat-generation vibe. The out-of-focus car lights add to the overall sense of movement and precariousness. Painters have always been fascinated with photographers like Frank, and with the way that lens-based images can both mirror and disrupt reality.