After the Rose Bowl Parade--Pasadena, California 1956

Robert Frank made this photograph, After the Rose Bowl Parade--Pasadena, California, sometime in the mid-20th century using black and white film. It’s a real study in contrasts, right? The immediate impression is the strewn rubbish, the aftermath of celebration, set against the ordinariness of daily life resuming. Look at the lone figure on the curb. There's a texture to the scene, not just from the physical debris but from the tonal range Frank captures. The whites are bright, almost glaring, then there are these deep, dark shadows, especially cast by the cars. The road’s markings are stark, dividing the planes of detritus and motion. I keep coming back to that figure on the curb, too—a moment of pause in what must have been a very energetic space. It feels like a nod to Walker Evans’s documentary style, but with Frank's own distinct sensibility, always questioning, always human. It embraces the moment of multiple meanings.