14th Street White Tower, New York City 1948

Robert Frank shot this photograph, 14th Street White Tower, New York City, with a camera, sometime in the middle of the last century. I'm fascinated by the way Frank found his subjects. It's like he's waiting, watching, and then bam! There it is - a scene that's both everyday and totally strange. I see a row of women at a diner counter, all dolled up, with pie and bean signs looming above them. The light is flat and grey, the whole scene feels a bit like a stage set. I imagine Frank, lurking in the background, trying to be invisible. He captures this moment of mid-century Americana, but there's also something unsettling. The women look kind of bored or sad, like they're waiting for something that's never going to happen. It reminds me of Edward Hopper's paintings, that same feeling of loneliness and isolation. But Frank's photo has a raw energy that Hopper's paintings don't. It's like he's saying, "Here it is, folks. This is America, in all its messy, beautiful, and tragic glory."