Martin Lee
Professor H. Klein
July 28, 2016

Robert Frank

Robert Frank was born in 1924 and is from Zürich, Switzerland. He was raised during a time where Hitler was everywhere and he wanted to get away from all the negativity. Robert is an American photographer and documentary filmmaker. He’s most known for his work in 1958 for which he had made a book titled The Americans. He is still alive as of today and is 91 years old.
Looking through some of his work in The Americans I can really see why he has won so many awards and got famous off this book. Most, if not all of these shots were taken in the 50’s.
I can tell that he takes every photo with reason and everything is done on purpose. A lot of the shots are candid and tell a story. None of his photos are every static. Although you may think that some of his photos are very still, if we look more closely, there is something lurking that. He focuses a lot on juxtapositions, symmetry, patterns, and depth. He times his photos so precisely and to think that this was all done on film is unbelievable. He has also gotten in very difficult angles to get the right shot.
It’s truly inspiring looking at a lot of his work. I can tell that he was never afraid to just shoot. His street photography is amazing. Most of his work with people show a lot of emotion yet they’re mostly all candid photos which amaze me even more.
Something interesting I find in his photos personally is that the contrast sometimes is very harsh. It really gives me chills sometimes looking at these photos as if the people in the photos are looking directly into my soul. I can feel so much “aura” off the black and white.
He also did a lot of work on the social class divide and the segregation that was still happening at the time. He finds ways of framing and composing his photos in such a way that is quite obvious what he wants the viewers to portray but he sometimes slips an Easter egg in there sometimes if you look more closely to photos.
He’s also done quite a few landscape/scenery photos but they all make me feel something about the photo. I feel like I am there with him while he is taking the shot.
Ultimately, looking at his work inspires me to continue shooting. With this age in digital photography, we can shoot more than ever. I am inspired to try newer things but at the same time, notice everything around me. There is fine art everywhere. It’s up to us to see it through the camera’s lens.