Pablo--San Francisco 1956

This photograph, Pablo--San Francisco, was taken by Robert Frank, sometime during his life between 1924 and 2019. The grey tones in the image are achieved through a kind of alchemy. In a way, photography is like painting; the artist decides how to capture the light. The texture of the photographic paper is smooth, but the image itself is grainy, soft in focus. The boy, Pablo, stands almost in the center, his figure is dark against a lighter background. The details aren't super sharp, but you can make out the fringes on his jacket. He is surrounded by what looks like a field of dry grass. The lack of sharp focus and the somewhat bleak tones give the picture a melancholic feel, like a half-remembered dream. Frank's work often has a raw, documentary feel. His images capture fleeting moments, like a more somber Garry Winogrand. Both artists show us that art exists in the everyday if you just know how to look. Ultimately, the meaning is up to us.