"The Americans" Response

Going to DC yesterday to see the Robert Frank exhibit, I was kind of reminded of why I took photography in the first place. While I enjoy art exhibits of all kinds, I am particularly drawn to photography because it is less of an artist’s imagination or perception of a world and more of his/her pursuit of capturing a moment in time in a particular way. I think what really draws me to photography is that you as the artist are able to take control of what you are saying about a person, a setting, or whatever your subject may be. With the camera in your hands, you are able to reveal yourself to the audience by the ways in which you photograph.
I was really intrigued by the quote with which the tour “The Americans” started. I wrote down Robert Frank’s words that, “I am always looking outside, trying to look inside, trying to say something that is true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what’s out here. And what’s out there is always changing.” Frank’s words fascinate me because they convey a sense of wonder about the world—a sense of questioning everything he thinks and being an active participant and observer of a constantly changing world. I think too often people fall into routines and forget to look at the world as something that is very present—we think a lot about the future and the past but not always enough about the fact that our surrounding will never be the same as they are now. I think Frank’s work captures this idea because in his photographs, one can see that he is always looking to say something about what he perceives as true, but one never gets the sense that he feels his perception of truth is accurate. By looking at his negatives, for instance, I got the sense that he saw his photographs as bits of life rather than masterful revelations of a moment in time. His writing on his negatives is sloppy, his organization isn’t very precise. These things together gave me the sense that when creating his work, Frank was looking for the pieces that he felt best reflected his sense of what America was during the time, in terms of both what was in the public eye and what was not. He was not looking to create a neat , clean cut view of the world.
I think the first image in “The Americans” reflects what I really liked about Frank’s photographs. The color in his images seems bold and expression. The prints he chose seem telling. At the end of the day, what looking at Frank’s photographs left me feeling inspired. I hope that in the photos I take for the rest of the semester, I can think precisely and carefully about what I’m trying to capture. I’m learning more and more that photography isn’t simply about snapping a picture, it’s about constructing an image.