Motorama—Los Angeles 1956

Robert Frank created this photograph, Motorama—Los Angeles, using black and white film. It's a tricky image to figure out, kinda blurry. On first glance, it’s like, what’s going on? I see the edge of a car headlight, all shiny, with a model and a cop standing next to it. In the foreground is the blurry head of a viewer, maybe like us. I keep coming back to the texture. The grain of the photo, the way light hits and makes these soft edges. It's not about detail. Maybe he was thinking about the fleetingness of the moment. How we're all just passing through, trying to catch a glimpse of something. Maybe Robert Frank was playing with these ideas, setting up contrasts, using those blurry shapes to get at something deeper, something about how we see and remember. Photography can be a pretty elusive thing, and I respect that.