Gore Vidal for "Mademoiselle" 2 1961

This is Robert Frank’s contact sheet for a photoshoot with Gore Vidal, probably made with a 35mm camera. I imagine Robert Frank looking through the viewfinder, framing and capturing those fleeting moments, trying to find the right composition for the magazine. I like the idea of him circling his favorite frames with a red grease pencil! Did he have to argue with the editor about which one to use? You can almost see Frank at work in the darkroom, dodging and burning to get the right contrast. He’s probably thinking about the long history of portraiture, and how he can make something new and true. I can relate to that, how when you are making something, you are drawing on this collective history while also pushing against it, trying to say something that feels authentic. Photography is a way of seeing and thinking about the world, just like painting, and here Robert Frank reminds us of that.