Two workers--North Carolina 1955

Robert Frank captured this image, *Two workers—North Carolina*, sometime in the mid-20th century. It looks like a scene caught on the fly, documentary style, but so artfully composed. I’m wondering about the conversation between these two workers. What are they talking about? The woman seems to be looking down at whatever the man is holding in his hands, a shared moment of observation and maybe collaboration, too. Frank catches them at this precise instant, the composition so natural, the tone so matter of fact. It’s interesting to think about how Frank has framed them, and what he's left out of the frame. There’s a sense of mystery about their relationship, their work, their lives. I bet he was thinking about Walker Evans and the way he looked at the lives of ordinary people during the depression. You sense an exchange, a visual conversation, across time. It’s these connections that keep the conversation going.