Workers at lunchtime, Esso plant cafeteria--Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1955

This image, Workers at lunchtime, Esso plant cafeteria, was captured by Robert Frank, and printed on an 8 x 10 inch sheet. What strikes me first is the sea of neutral tones. It’s almost like Frank laid down a monochrome base layer and then selectively wiped away areas to reveal the workers beneath. There is a directness to this image, an openness that comes with the lack of artifice. It's not about perfection but about capturing a moment, a feeling, a shared human experience. Look at the way the men are arranged around the table. It’s a composition of soft grey shirts, each with its own story. One in particular, the man in the foreground on the left, stares directly out at us, his eyes slightly bloodshot. The number scrawled across the bottom is a strange inclusion. It reminds me of the work of Garry Winogrand, who found beauty in the everyday and revealed the underlying strangeness of American life. But unlike Winogrand, Frank leaves the men alone in their quiet repose.