"The Americans" Exhibit Response

I had never heard of Robert Frank before taking this course, and after Colby showed us Frank's image of the people of the bus, I was immediately struck by its composition. It not only brought new meaning to the way of framing a photo, but it also told the story of segregation in the south. I was amazed by how one photo could accomplish that. So when I found out that this was one photo from many displaying Frank's perspective American life--and that we'd be going to see his whole exhibit--I was pretty excited.

It was great to see Frank's progression as a photographer, from a novice trying to be published in Life Magazine to finally the work he produced in "The Americans". I was really struck by his early work as well; the photos from his "Everyday People" should have won the Life contest in my opinion. I was particularly interested in the photos from his travels through Europe and Peru as well as his "Black, White and Things" project, which was conceptually very well done. I'd love to travel through Latin America one day, and Frank's photographic interpretation of the Peruvian people and their lives was certainly intriguing.

Once we got to "The Americans" part of the exhibit, the first thing I gravitated towards was Frank's letters to Jack Kerouac about writing the intro to his collection of photos. The letters were friendly, and I think that Kerouac's quirky writing style mixed with Frank's "off the beaten path" photos were a great match. Like everyone else, I loved seeing Frank's contact sheets; it made me feel like a legit photographer to see that I go through the same process of elimination that famous photographers do. During the tour, I felt like the curator was moving too fast, because I wanted to hang around and really look at the photos! I was particularly struck by how close of a proximity Frank got to his subjects--I remember the one he took at a funeral where he literally looming over the coffin--which reminded me a lot of Jim Natchwey's style. Frank captures very "fly on the wall" moments that truly represents different aspects of American life. To think that he traveled for two years across the country and took 28,000 photos still amazes me--but I am absolutely sure that the project wouldn't have been so effective if he had not put so much effort into it. Also, the way in which Frank groups some of his photos (like the five Colby presented to us in class) is definitely inspirational to me as I consider what to photograph for our final project. I think that "Looking In" is a very appropriate title for Frank's exhibit, not only were we looking in at his work, but we were looking into his methods behind what made his work so remarkable.