Glider, Zurich 1942 - 1945

Robert Frank captured this small black and white photograph, Glider, Zurich, likely with a handheld camera. The tones feel like a memory, the clouds looming, the glider a small silhouette against a huge expanse. It's about a moment, about seeing, about grabbing something ephemeral. Look at the way the tones shift. The subtle greys allow the eye to meander through the clouds before the dark glider pulls you back into the scene. Frank was a master of the snapshot aesthetic. Think of Garry Winogrand, these photographers see the world as a series of fleeting encounters. The photograph is a means of freezing a moment in time, not in a literal or perfect way, but rather as a felt experience. There's a casualness to it, like a page from a diary, that invites you to make your own connections. It's like he's saying, "Hey, look at this," and then leaves it up to you to figure out what it means.