Man,...what a guy. His photographs have recorded the grit and soul of America and Amercicans. The bleak outlook that the small-town man has as he listens to the jukebox in an empty bar, the teenagers idling outside stores with nothing to do, the road, the journeys the hope that all Americans have that one day they'll reach their dreams even though from our perspective this seems unlikely. He captures the spirit, if you get me...the essence, I mean I feel the despair of the coloured passenger in Trolley. I feel it. And if I feel it then Frank can be called a genius, because he has manged to transport me from my home - a different place, a different time - to New Orleans decades ago. In the days gone by this would be called magic. And it still is.
He has moved on to different media styles now, feeling I'm sure that he has done all he can with a film camera. He has made several films, including Pull My Daisy. He uses his talent as a photographer but includes more freedom and fluidity which is seen in the conversation scenes as he echoes the frantic pace of thoughts and talks.
He produced many of the images that defined an era. An era where America was figuring out what it was doing. He is responsible for many images associated with the Beat Generation, friends with Kerouac he was in there with them, he travelled with them, was one of them and presented them to the world. Of course he wasnt the only photographer at the time doing so, but man did he do it well.
"There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment. This kind of photography is realism. But realism is not enough - there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph."
-Robert Frank
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