Guggenheim 62/Detroit 16 1955

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, Guggenheim 62/Detroit 16, most likely in 1962. Look at how the individual frames have been arranged, cut, and taped, almost like a collage. Imagine Frank in his darkroom, snipping away, arranging these little moments, shifting them around, and trying different combinations. What was he searching for? I see a narrative unfolding across the strip, a story emerging through the sequencing of images. There’s a tension between the individual snapshot and the larger composition—each frame a world of its own, yet part of a bigger story. Is this like a film storyboard? And the red marks! Are they corrections or annotations? They remind me that, like painting, photography is really a process of trial, error, and intuition. The red marks become a record of this search, echoing the editing process. Photography, like painting, is a conversation. Each image builds on the past and anticipates the future.