Robert Frank

Robert Frank

Context
Robert Frank (born November 9, 1924) is a Swiss-American photographer and documentary filmmaker. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled The Americans. The Americans looked at the sad times through America, it captured the feelings through America during the 1960s when black people and women were treated extremely unfairly. Not only did he document the black people and women but he also documented the lives of people with different religions that were also treated unfairly within this period. He didn't immediately want to photograph these feelings through America but when he was confronted by these feelings he wanted to document them in the way that he has. I will look mainly at this shoot by Robert Frank because it expresses deeper meanings which I can used within my shoots as he documents the lives of these people during this time. 

In this image we can see a woman in an elevator, she is surrounded by dark, shadow figures. Her expression looks sad, depressed and it seems as though she isn't actually there. She looks small and innocent compared to these figures, this shows that she is less important than them during this time however she is extremely important within this image because she is the main focus. Robert Frank has made someone who wasn't important during the 1960s become important within his photography. The dark shadow figures appear to be men which proves to us that they had more importance over the women. Her expression is the first thing that automatically draws us into the image as we feel sorry for her, the image tugs at our emotions as we couldn't image what it would feel like living in this time. 

In this image we can see white people and black people on a bus, the white people are sitting at the front and the black people are sitting at the front. The social hierarchy of this time seems to be that the older people have more importance over the younger people but the younger white people have importance over the older black people as this is the order they are sitting in the bus. We can see that within this image the white people serve as more important just by the way they are dressed, the black people are in poorer clothes whereas the white people are dressed smarter. Robert Frank focuses more on the expressions of the people in his photography, we are drawn into the black mans expression as he looks sad and in pain similar to the white children they seem scared. Their expressions show us how the black people are treated and the innocence of the younger generation during this time as they didn't know what was going on.

In this image we can see what looks like a mirror with the words 'sick of goodbyes' written across it. The words have been written in a liquid causing it to drip down the mirror which can link to tears showing sadness of the time and the tears that people have cried. Also, we can see someone holding a toy figure in the reflection of the mirror, this could be a representation of the person holding the figure or could represent the whole nation. In many of Frank's images he focuses on the expressions of the people in his images however, in this image it doesn't show a person but it shows the feelings that the people with these expressions are feeling. The words written on the mirror show us that people are sick of loosing their friends and family during this time as many people died. 

In this image we can see a girl holding a kitten, and it also looks like she has a sleeping bag over he shoulder. The fact that she has a sleeping bag makes us think that she may be homeless, which adds to the explanation of he expression. Throughout this shoot Frank focuses on the hurt and sadness through this time which is evident in this image as this girl has been forced to live on the streets. Behind the girl we can see traffic and cars which show us that she is in a main street somewhere but from her expression she looks lost and looks as if she is off daydreaming about something else. The fact that she is holding a cat shows us that this may be the only thing she can look to and the only thing she finds comfort in as she is holding it so close to her. 

This image is very different compared to the other images I have analysed as it doesn't show the sadness in America, it shows more symbolism which is what I want to incorporate into my work. In this image we can see a long stretch of road with tall palm trees, in front of this road we can see a car turning into it. The image contains a lot of symbolism as we associate these tall trees with Hollywood and we also associate the car with this as well. The long stretch of road in the centre of the image represents the road to Hollywood which everyone associates with the entertainment industry. I wanted to contribute this image with the other images because it shows as well as photographing the bad/sad parts of a place there are also happy parts that can also be photographed. 

Influence and Summary

Robert Frank documents the changes within the American society and shows the racial tensions between the white and black people in 1960s America. I chose to look at this photographer at the beginning of my work because I thought that I would document the personal lives of British people but my idea changed and I began to document the British culture through landscapes. In a way my work has related to Robert Frank because we both are documenting the culture and changes within a country but his work is more focused on documentary. my technical ideas and conceptual ideas do not relate to Robert Frank at all because I used landscape settings to take my image and I have documented British Culture rather than the changes within the British society.