From the bus 35 1958

Robert Frank’s contact sheet shows images taken from a bus, maybe, sometime in the mid-20th century, with a handheld camera. Imagine him, composing and snapping, as the bus rattles down the street. I love the way the mundane becomes unexpectedly poetic through the lens of the camera, like a form of visual note-taking or an experimental form of storytelling. You get the sense he's making choices, intuitively seeing, and recording moments that resonate with him. The high contrast in these black and white images, creates strong shadows. See how Frank seems drawn to the contrast between light and dark? He isolates a woman sitting alone on some steps. The adjacent frame reveals two women, one crouching down to speak with a child. It reminds me that photography, like painting, is as much about what the artist chooses to leave out as what they include. Frank’s work is so influential because he taught a generation of photographers to trust their instincts, to find beauty in the everyday, and to embrace the imperfections of the medium.