Greek parade--Long Beach, California 1956

Robert Frank snapped "Greek parade--Long Beach, California" with a camera, capturing a moment rather than constructing it. What strikes me is how Frank’s world is built on texture, and here, the gray scale is everything. It reminds me of the way Cy Twombly would build a painting, where light is absorbed into the material, giving us this ashy atmosphere. See the lower-left corner? Those figures leading the parade are contrasted against the flat, pedestrian architecture, and the people passing by seem oblivious. Frank always had a knack for catching the everyday, and he was part of a lineage that includes Walker Evans and Garry Winogrand. He was the master of the decisive moment, but he also let the world be unresolved. There are no neat conclusions here, just a slice of life, caught in the act.