Park bench, Paris 1951

Here is a photo taken by Robert Frank of a park bench in Paris. The bench sits front and center, stage-like, empty, but inviting. It has a real presence. Just behind, we see another bench, this one occupied, a vignette of blurry human life, with bare trees lining up towards a distant hazy horizon. The contrast between the clarity of the bench in the foreground and the scene behind has a push-pull effect, it gives the photo a nice depth of field. I can imagine Robert Frank walking around Paris, maybe feeling a bit lonely, and then BAM, he sees it –this very bench. It must have looked like a revelation. It has such a quiet stillness that it almost feels like a painting. Like Frank was trying to freeze a moment, capture a feeling of solitude. The bench is like a stage set for the theater of everyday life. It makes me think about the impermanence of things, the quiet moments we often overlook. It captures the fleeting beauty of a regular day in Paris.