Adobe church--Las Trampas, New Mexico 1955

Robert Frank made this photograph of the Adobe church in Las Trampas, New Mexico sometime during his life. The grey scale is a language of emotion here, somber maybe, or meditative. I imagine Robert Frank standing there in the dust, finding the right angle, waiting for the right light. The cross in the foreground is so present and the dark doorway is so hidden and uninviting; it feels like a personal statement, not just a picture of a place. It makes me wonder, was he grappling with his own sense of faith? Was he drawn to the stark beauty of the landscape, or the quiet resilience of the church? The bell hanging there so silently. The rough texture of the adobe and the weathered wood speak to the passage of time, which reminds me of other photographers who find beauty in the everyday and overlooked: people like Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange. Frank invites us to contemplate not just what we see, but what we feel. It's a moment captured, full of questions and emotions, and maybe a bit of longing.