Robert Frank's "The Americans" - Timeless Lessons Street Photographers Can Learn PDF

4/1/2015
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Robert Franks
The Americans:
Timeless Lessons
Street
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January 7, 2013 By Eric Kim 43
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The Americans by Robert Frank is

one of the most influential photo
books published of all-time. It has
inspired countless numbers of
photographers across all genres,
especially appealing to documentary
and street photographers. I know the
book has had a profound impact on
my photography and how I approach
projects.
While I am not an expert on Robert
Frank or The Americans, I will
share what I personally have learned
from his work. For your reference, I
used Steidls Looking In: Robert
Franks The Americans as a
primary resource for this article. The
article is incredibly long, and I
encourage you to read it not all in
one sitting, but in different phases.
I would also highly recommend

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saving this article and reading it on

Instapaper or Pocket. These services
allow you to save the article to read
later on your phone, iPad, computer,
etc.
Introduction
The Americans is a photography
book by Swiss-born Robert Frank,
published first in France (1958) and
then in the US (1959). It consisted of
83 photographs, with only one
photograph per page. I am certain
that many of you are familiar with
Robert Frank and The Americans.
But for those of you who are not as
familiar with The Americans lets
address why it was so important and
influential.
Why was The

Americans so
influential?
Parade, Hoboken,New Jersey,1955

Robert Frank
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The Americans was influential for

several reasons. I will try my best to
outline why I perceive it to be so
influential:
1. It challenged the
documentary
tradition
During the era that Frank published
The Americans, documentary
photography was seen to be as
something transparent and not to be
influenced by the thoughts,
emotions, or viewpoint of the
photographer. A quote from the
book on Looking In: The
Americans:
In the late 1950s and early

1960s neither The
Americans nor Franks

work made on his
Guggenheim fellowship
were well received,
especially by the
photography press. Edgy,
critical, and often opaque
at a time when
photography was generally
understood to be
wholesome, simplistic, and
patently transparent, the
photographs disconcerted
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editors even before the

book was published.
When Robert Frank worked on the
Americans, consider it from his
viewpoint. He was Swiss-born, and
he saw America from an outsider
perspective. Although his work was
a labor of love, he clearly showed the
ugly parts of American society,
which included mass consumerism,
racism, and the divide between the
rich and poor.
Frank was clear in saying that his
work was a personal account of
America, as he mentioned in U.S.
Camera Annual 1958. Frank shared
that the book was personal and,
therefore, various facets of
American society and life have been
ignored.
Through The Americans Frank
wanted to highlight the darker side
of America which hadnt been
shown before.
aesthetic of
photography
During the 1950s, the tradition and
aesthetic of photography
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championed clean, well-exposed,

and sharp photographs. Technical
perfection was considered king.
However in Franks The
Americans, he was first harshly
criticized by critics saying things like
the prints were Flawed by
meaningless blur grain, muddy
exposure, drunken horizons, and
general sloppiness.
Not only that, but critics would see
Frank as having contempt for any
standards of quality or discipline in
technique. To better understand
where Frank got his gritty aesthetic
from, let us explore a bit of his
background: When Frank started
photography in his early twenties, he
studied with Alexey Brodovitch, a
Russian-born innovator for Harpers
Bazaar. Brodovitch was well known
for turning the magazine from
having drab and boring photographs
and adding dynamic montages of
photos and text.
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Haarpers Bazaar spread by Alexey

Brodovitch
What Frank learned from

Brodovitch was to respond to
situations not analytically or
intellectually but emotionally and to
create highly original works of art
that reflected their personal respond
to their environment.
Therefore Frank learned that in
order to create emotional
photographs, he needed to
experiment with different
techniques in photographing,
printing, and presenting his work.
Brodovitch was experimental, and
encouraged students to use blur,
imprecise focus, large foreground
forms, bleach negatives, radically
crop and distort print, or print two
photographs on top of each other,
put gauze over lens of enlargers to
not capture facts of scene but to
experience it.
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This mentorship from Brodovitch

had a strong influence on the young
Robert Frank. From his work leading
up to The Americans, he did very
much that. He would often shoot at
night using imprecise focus,
incorporated blur into his work, and
would use grainy film. Not only that,
but Frank experimented printing his
photographs with extreme contrast
(disregarding the need to create an
image with good tonal range),
printing in extreme shapes
(trapezoids), and would crop
radically.
Therefore when Frank shot The
Americans, he kept those same
aesthetics. If you look closely at his
contact sheets, many of his
photographs were either too bright,
too dark, so off-balance, and out-offocus that Frank seems at times not
even to have looked through the
viewfinder or bothered to check the
controls on his camera.
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Original shot of Franks Ranch Market,

Hollywood shot note how it is
underexposed.
The final printed image. Ranch Market,

Hollywood, 1955-56. Robert Frank
Frank certainly did this with the

purpose to better convey the feelings
that he had about America the
dark, alienating, and foreign. Not
only from Brodovitch, but he also
had many other influences from his
study of abstract expressionist
painters such as Franz Kline and
Willem de Kooning. From them he
learned the following:
[Frank] had learned about

the relationship between
tone and scale to the
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sensation of weight, and he

recognized that shadows or
out-of-focus forms need
not be legible could even
approach abstraction and
still be highly evocative.
With this understanding,
his photographs became
not merely unclear in their
subjects and casual in their
style but also potent,
deeply haunting, and
deliberately ambiguous.
Therefore through this examination
of his studies with Brodovitch and
his inspiration from abstract
expressionist painters such as Franz
Kline and Willem de Kooning, he
used this gritty aesthetic deliberately
for The Americans.
Illustration by Franz Kline. You can see

how the dark lines, forms, and contrast
have inspired Franks gritty b/w work.
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Painting by Willem de Kooning,

Woman and Bicycle
Did it piss off the critics? It certainly

did, who simply thought that Frank
was being sloppy and lacking
technique. But it was through his
experimentation and going against
the grain of the style of what
everyone was photographing at the
time did he create a meaningful
and memorable project.
rules of
photography, and
emphasized feeling
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Not only did Frank challenge how

he approached documentary
photography and the aesthetic in
which he employed he also created
images with an emphasis on feeling
above all else. Frank says this about
his own work:
The photograph must be
the result of a head to head,

a confrontation with a
power, a force that one
interrogates or questions.
To create images that are docile and

straightforward arent enough for
Frank. Rather, he wants to create
images that are full of power, energy,
and ask questions. He didnt want to
create a picture that really said it all,
that was a masterpiece. Rather, he
would try to create images that he
would gain feeling and emotion
from the photos. An excerpt from
Looking In also shows the
challenge that Frank faced at the
time:
Rebelling against the

popular 1950s notion
championed by Edward
Steichen and others that
photography was a
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universal language, easily

understood by all, he
wanted a form that was
open-ended, even
deliberately ambiguousone that engaged his
viewers, rewarded their
prolonged consideration,
and perhaps even left them
with as many questions as
answers.
Therefore in The Americans, he
didnt want to create simply a
straightforward documentation of
America that was more objective.
Rather, he took very subjective
photographs that challenged the
viewers of The Americans to ask
themselves what they were looking
at and to challenge their own
views and prejudices about America.
4. It focused less on
the single image
When Robert Frank decided to start
shooting The Americans, straight
photography was the favored style
in which single images, not
projects, were king. Looking in
elaborates:
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Straight photography
was a favored term when

both men began to
photograph. A Linchpin of
modern photography, in
the United States at least,
this approach emphasized
relatively un-manipulated
prints made form a single
negative, with glory given
to the work that
summarized an instant into
a supreme moment of
beauty of human
understanding. [Frank
didnt pledge] allegiance to
such pure photography,
in which a single, great
exposure was the ultimate
achievement.
Therefore by working on this

project, Frank was less interested
about creating single powerful
images (as many photographers on
social media do nowadays as well).
Rather, he was more interested in
creating a strong body of work in
which his interpretation of America
wouldnt be summed up in a single
image- but rather through all of his
images as a collective.
Why Frank Decided

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To Shoot The
Americans
Picnic Ground-Glendale, California,

1958 Robert Frank
Frank was born in Switzerland to a

middle-class family and secured
solid photography training there.
His early influences were some of
the most important Swiss
photographers, editors, and
designers such as Arnold Kubler,
Gotthard Schuh, and Jakob
Tuggener.
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Gotthard Schuh: Miner, Winterslag,

Belgium, 1937
Fabrik, A Photo Epos of Technology

by Jakob Tuggener
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Although he had great inspirational

figures in Switzerland Frank
reported:
I wanted to get out of
Switzerland. I didnt want

to build my future there.
The country was too
closed, too small for me.
Therefore he embarked on a journey

to America, and spent a considerable
amount of time in NYC, where he
met some of the most influential
photographers and curators at the
time including Andre Kertesz,
Walker Evans, Louis Faurer, and
Edward Steichen.
However in around 1953, Frank
became discouraged after wandering
and shooting the streets of NYC for
about 6 years. One of his main
frustrations was that he couldnt get
his photographs published more
widely. For example, he would often
be rejected by LIFE magazine to
publish his work. Frank shares his
frustrations and his disdain for the
stories made for LIFE:
I developed a tremendous
contempt for LIFE, which
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helped me. You have to be

enraged. I also wanted to
follow my own intuition
and do it my own way, and
to make concessions not
make a LIFE story. That
was another thing I hated.
Those goddamned stories
with a beginning and an
end. If I hate all those
stories with a beginning, a
middle, and an end then
obviously I will make an
effort to produce
something that will stand
up to those stories but not
be like them.
Not only that, but he was also
rejected when he applied for
membership to the prestigious
Magnum Photo Agency. After a
brief hiatus in Switzerland, he went
back to the states and said, This is
the last time that I go back to New
York and try to reach the top
through my personal work.
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City Hall, Reno, Nevada, 1956 Robert

Frank
What ensued afterwards was

history. Through support from
Walker Evans, Edward Steichen,
and Alexey Brodovitch he applied
for a Guggenheim fellowship to
make a book on America to reveal
the kind of civilization born here
and spreading elsewhere. With
great fortune, he became the first
European-born photographer to be
awarded the Guggenheim in 1955.
When Frank embarked to
photograph The Americans, he
traveled over 10,000 miles across 30
states in 9 months. Upon returning
to New York in the June of 1956, he
spent nearly a year developing his
767 rolls of film, making contacts
sheets from which he made 1000
work prints. After that, he refined
his selection and then established
the sequence for the book.
Franks Early
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Inspirations
Before Frank went on to shoot The
Americans he learned many lessons
from his mentors.
1. Lessons from
Walker Evans (on
working in a
methodological
manner)
Walker Evans, the already famous
photographer for taking his
American Photographs book was
one of Franks early mentors. Not
only did Evans champion Franks
work, but Frank learned many
lessons from him (although their
styles were quite different). Frank
worked in a very sociological,
methodological manner often
utilizing a large-format camera and
wanted to create transparent and
objective photographs. On one
account, when Frank went out to
shoot with Evans, Frank noted how
it was important to be more
reflective (rather than spontaneous)
when photographing.
However at the end of the day,
Frank shot much more with with
emotion and feel utilizing a small
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Leica rangefinder, which was more

sporadic and vigorous.
Barber shop interior, Atlanta, Georgia,

1936. Photograph by Walker Evans
Looking In mentions the

difference between Evans and
Franks working styles:
Evans had also
photographed people in
the south, but he had often
gotten to know them first,
as in his work with James
Agee for their celebrated
book Let Us Now Praise
Famous Men (1941). Frank
made no similar effort and
rarely conversed with the
people he photographed,
for despite what was
written in his Guggenheim
application, his intention
was not sociological,
analytical, or documentary.
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Responding to the country,

as he later said, not by
looking at it but by feeling
something from it.
Frank acted very much like the
detached observer when
photographing, and didnt strive to
make a sociological or analytical
view like Evans did. Rather to Frank,
the feeling that the viewer got from
the photograph was the most
important.
Takeaway point: It is important for
us to know our own tendencies (in
terms of our shooting styles)
whether we tend to be more
contemplative or sporadic. We
should strive to balance ourselves
out. For example, if we tend to
photograph slowly, we can gain skill
by trying to photograph quicker. If
we are much more sporadic and
vigorous when shooting street
photography, we should slow down
and try to be more contemplative.
But at the end of the day, it is
important to know your true self and
style and stick mainly with it.
2. Lessons from
Henri Cartierhttp://erickimphotography.com/blog/2013/01/07/timelesslessonsstreetphotographerscanlearnfromrobertfrankstheamericans/
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Bresson (on
inspiration,
influences, and
originality)
Children in Seville, Spain, 1933. Henri

Cartier-Bresson
When Frank first moved to NYC,

one of the first photography
exhibitions he saw was by Henri
Cartier-Bresson at the MOMA.
Cartier-Bressons work had a huge
impact on Frank that challenged him
to take his photography to the next
level. Looking In shares:
Frank quickly learned
from and assimilated new

influences, often only to
turn against them after
extracting that all he found
useful, a pattern that
repeated itself throughout
his life. Within the first
three weeks of his arrival in
New York, he visited the
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Henri Cartier-Bresson
exhibition at the Museum
of Modern Art, among the
last of the exhibitions that
Beaumont and Nancy
Newhall organized here.
Frank was deeply
impressed, it challenged
him to become more than a
fashion photographer.
Furthermore Cartier-Bressons
exhibition showed Frank the power
of photography and how many
opportunities it presented:
Frank said later that seeing

that exhibition Was a
very good instruction. He
saw that the field of

photography was much
broader and more open to
him, continuing: I had the
feeling that I could do
something else. I just saw
possibilities. I wanted to try
them and do them.
Although Frank obtained a great
deal of inspiration from Henri
Cartier-Bresson, he still felt it was
important to have his own vision.
He also touches on how equipment
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wasnt as important as creating your

own unique work. Frank says:
To do good work you
need a further intelligence.

And you cant just imitate
a famous 35mm
photographer. CartierBresson wont help, wideangle lenses wont help
either.
Takeaway point: Therefore to sum

up, Frank believed the importance of
having role models and other
photographers to draw inspiration
from. However he realized that
merely imitating their aesthetic or
using the focal lengths that they
used wouldnt create interesting or
unique art. So dont try to simply
imitate photographers you look up
to. Draw inspiration from them, but
strive towards your own vision. Oh
yeah, and having certain cameras or
lenses will do little in creating
unique work (they knew that even
half a century ago).
3. Lessons from
Edward Steichen (on
getting closer to
your subjects /
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keeping your
photography and
income separate)
Robert Frank and Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen, one of the most

influential and important
photographer curators of all time
gave the young Frank lots of great
advice when it came to his
photography. In a letter dated April
2, 1952 Steichen advised Frank the
importance of getting closer to his
subjects, not just physically but
emotionally:
I sometimes feel that I
would like to see you more

in closer to people. It seems
to me that you are ready
now to begin probing
beyond environment into
the soul of man. I believe
you made a fine decision in
taking yourself and family
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away from the tenseness of

the business of
photography there. You
must let every moment of
the freedom you are having
contribute to your growing
and growing. Just as the
microscope and the
telescope seek a still closer
look at the universe, we as
photographer must seek to
penetrate deeper and closer
into our brothers. Please
excuse if this sounds like
preaching. It is dictated by
an interest and affection
for you and yours.
Steichen saw Franks strength at
capturing the environment and
mood of his subjects, but stressed
the importance of getting to know
the soul of man. Steichen only
thought it would be possible for
Frank to do this by spending more
time getting in-depth with the
subjects that he captured, to get to
know the small nuances and what
made his subjects unique.
After hearing this advice, Frank was
inspired to go to Caerau, Wales in
1953, where he photographed a miner
named Ben James for several days.
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Frank lived with him in his home

and photographed his entire day.
Frank would rise with him, follow
him to work, even late into the
night. This would be great early
training in the early tradition of
documentary photography to help
him immerse himself into his
Americans project.
Ben James, Wales 1953. Robert Frank
Steichen also gave Frank some

practical advice with his
photography (that carries lots of
practical value today as well) on not
doing photography full-time. That
is, to practice photography on the
side while getting a source of income
elsewhere. Steichen stressed the
importance of getting an income
elsewhere to keep photography
separate from the need to earn a
living to truly focus on the
photography without any
constraints. As Frank recalled,
Steichen told him the following:
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It is better to be a plumber
in the daytime so you can
be a photographer at night
time.
Takeaway point: Although Frank

didnt entirely listen to Steichen (for
the rest of his career he pursued
video-making and his photography)
I think it carries great value for
photographers today. Many of us
dont have the luxury or the chance
to pursue our photography full-time.
Although many of us dream of
making our photography a living,
Steichens advice of keeping your
photography and work separate
carries strong weight. Dont think
that your day job prevents you from
creating strong photographic work
rather see it as something that will
help support you and in your
photography.
4. Lessons from
Brodovitch (on
equipment and
taking risks)
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Robert Frank and his Leica
When Frank was a young

photographer, he shot mostly with a
medium-format square-format
Rolleiflex camera. However Alexey
Brodovitch, a Russian-born
photographer, designer and
instructor (who Frank looked up to)
suggested him to ditch the Rolleiflex
for a 35mm Leica. Brodovitch
suggested that the Leica could create
more fluid, immediate images,
whereas the Rolleiflex was much
slower and bulkier by comparison.
Furthermore, Brodovitch
encouraged Frank to unlearn his
methodological Swiss habits and
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taught him to take risks. You can

see that Frank took up Brodovitchs
advice by leaving his comfortable
home of Switzerland to pursue
photography in NYC.
Takeaway point: You dont need to
shoot with a Leica to be a great street
photographer. However at the time,
the Leica was the smallest,
mostmaneuverable, and quickest
camera to use. Therefore in todays
terms, I would advise against using a
bulky DSLR and perhaps using a
more nimble camera like a Micro
4/3rds, compact camera, or even an
iPhone. Of course you can still
create great work with a DSLR but
note that it may weigh you down.
How Frank
Prepared his Trip
to Photograph The
Americans
Caf-Beaufort, South Carolina, 1955

Robert Frank
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For those of you who are curious

how Frank prepared his trip to
photograph The Americans below
is a rough itinerary of what he
prepared:
1. Gathered maps and itineraries
from the American Automobile
Association
2. Collected letters of reference
from the Guggenheim
Foundation and friends in the
press (in-case people questioned
his photographing intentions)
3. Introductions to representatives
to industries around the
country (to capture a wide
variety of images)
4. Suggestions from fellow
photographers of places to visit
Walker Evans: The Souh
Ben Schultz and Todd
Walker: Los Angeles
Wayne Miller: San
Francisco
Frank also prepared some symbols
that he wanted to pursue/capture:
1. Flags
2. Cowboys
3. Rich Socialites
4. Juke-boxes
5. Politicians
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Frank also numbered his rolls of film

in chronological order and labeled
according to location. He also
sometimes labeled his film according
to subject matter.
Subject matter
that Frank Ended
up Photographing
Below are some re-occurring
subjects that he ended up
photographing in his trips around
the U.S.
1. Cars (photos. 77,

78, 80)
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US 90 on route to Del Rio, Texas 1955-56.

Robert Frank
Frank saw how cars isolated people,

separated them from surroundings.
2. American Lunch
Counters (photo. 69)
Drugstore lunch counter, Detroit, 1955.

Robert Frank
Frank was fascinated by American

Lunch Counters, especially how
strangers would sit next to each
other while eating. This was
something very different from what
Europeans would do.
3. Consumerism
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Store Window, Washington DC, 1955-56.

Robert Frank
When traveling around the states,

Frank was surprised to see how
powerful the role of consumerism
culture was in American life. He saw
the over-abundance of choices, with
people constantly bombarded by
signs, cards, newspapers, magazines,
and advertisements.
4. Suburbs
Drive-in movie, Detroit 1955 Robert

Frank
Frank was interested in the suburbs,

in the sense of how Americans were
becoming much more solitary in
nature. For example a photograph he
took of a drive-in movie theater in a
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Detroit suburb showed the lonely

beauty of watching a movie alone by
yourself. Whereas in the past
watching a movie was done side-byside others in a communal type-ofway.
5. Public parks
Public Park, Cleveland, Ohio, 1955-56.

Robert Frank
Frank was drawn how in public

parks people would mix in together,
and also be totally unaware of his
camera.
6. Cemeteries
(photos. 80, 74)
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Robert Frank
Frank photographed several

cemeteries in his journeys, and tried
to capture their emotional resonance
and somberness.
7. Juke-boxes
(photos. 17, 65, 67,
43)
Bar, NYC, 1955-56. Robert Frank

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Frank found the jukeboxes to be

quite hypnotic and expressive of
the allure of American music.
The Working Style

of Robert Frank
Mens Room, Railway Station, Memphis,

1955 Robert Frank
When Frank photographed The

Americans, he learned much of his
working style from Walker Evans.
An excerpt from Looking in
which shows how Frank learned to
be much more patient when
photographing from Evans:
When Frank helped
Evans photograph tools for

Fortune, he learned what
it is to be simple and to
look at one thing and look
at it very clearly and in a
final way. Frank was
impressed with Evans
careful observation of his
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subjects and his patience in

waiting until the light
revealed the scene exactly
as he wanted to picture it.
Although patience was
never an attribute Frank
valued or cultivated, keen
observation and simplicity
proved invaluable to him
in the coming months.
Although Frank discovered the
importance of being patient in his
working methods, Frank was also
more intuitive and photographed
quite swiftly. In the excerpt below it
explains how he would take several
exposures decisively and work quite
fluidly:
The year before, when he
had photographed
cowboys at Madison square
garden or socialites at the
toy ball, he had made many
exposures of the people
and the scenes that
interested him, no doubt
hoping that an editor
would find one of use. But
now, with the knowledge
that he had plenty of
materials, a full year to
work on the project, and
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no one to please but

himself, he responded
more immediately and
intuitively. He took one,
two, or three exposures,
swiftly, surely, and
decisively, and then moved
on, for he recognized,
First thought, best
thoughtWhen one
releases a second time,
there is already a moment
lost.
Over time when Frank worked on
The Americans his working style
evolved into being much more
graceful and casual. Looking in
elaborates on this point:
In the coming months, as
he gained more confidence

in his new approach and
worked himself into what
he later referred to as a
State of grace, Franks
style became looser, more
casual, even gestural, and
all about movement. []
Frank photographed his
subjects with their backs to
the camera, their faces
partially obscured, or
looming ominously in the
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foreground, as if they were

about to turn and confront
him (photos 29, 32).
Note how the biker is looking straight at

Frank, looking as if he is about to
confront him. Newburgh, New York,
1955-56. Robert Frank
How Frank
Captured The
Disparity of
Wealth/Racism in
America
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Charleston, South Carolina, 1955.

Robert Frank
One of the most poignant themes

that Frank pursued in The
Americans was the disparity of
wealth in America, as well as the
blatant racism. One of the subject
matters that hadnt been explored
much during his period was the rich.
He didnt want to just photograph
the poor and the middle class as he
wanted to paint a fuller-picture of
the American socio-economic
classes.
However the difficulty he found in
photographing the richer people,
the upper class people was that they
were more difficult to find and
photograph. Whereas the poor and
the middle class would often be out
in the open, the rich would be more
secluded, behind closed doors. To
locate and photograph the rich, he
focused on finding them at movie
premieres and balls where the
wealthy were abundant.
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Movie Premiere, Hollywood, 1955.

Robert Frank
When it came to capturing racism,

he had a difficult time to convey this
concept through his photographs.
He first started off much more
objectively, photographing signs of
water fountains that said white
and colored. Looking-in shares:
As they traveled from
Norfolk to Richmond,
Virginia, to Charlotte,
North Carolina, Frank was
amazed by the
discrimination he saw.
Although he had lived in
New York for several years
and had traveled to St.
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Louis and Kansas City,

nothing prepared him for
the rigid segregation of the
south, which he described
as totally a new
experience. His contact
sheets show that he
initially addressed the issue
of segregation by
photographing the signs
for white and colored
water fountains or waiting
areas that he frequently
encountered.
However as Frank went deeper into
the south, he realized more nuanced
ways to capture racism through his
photos that werent too clear. He
did this in different ways by
juxtaposing the living conditions of
the wealthy whites and the povertyridden African Americans. He also
became to admire the struggling
African Americans much more than
their wealthy counterparts:
But as he ventured deeper

into the south, and his
objectives became
increasingly layered and
nuanced, he rejected these
easier, more obvious
solutions as too clear and
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banal. He came to
understand that he wanted
not only to comment on
the pervasive presence of
racism but also to reveal
the affinity he felt for
African Americans and to
celebrate their openness
and lack of suspicion
compared to the
Caucasians he
encountered.
How Frank Edited

and Sequenced
The Americans
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Rodeo, New York City, 1955. Robert

Frank
1. What Frank
learned about
editing/sequencing/bookmaking:
a) How Frank learned how to group
photos by subject matter
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A badass portrait of Michael

Wolgensinger
Before Frank shot The Americans

he learned how to edit and group
photos by subject matter from
Michael Wolgensigner, a Swiss
commercial photographer favored
by the modernist graphic designers
of the time. Wolgensigner showed
Frank how to make contact prints of
2 1/4 negatives and glue them onto
cards, grouped by subject matter.
While Frank was still in Zurich, he
made cards with the contact prints
of his photographs. Some of his
basic themes included animals,
architecture, children, farming, and
people. Larger themes he
approached included: reportage,
sports, transportation, work, and
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Zurich itself.
This training from Wolgensigner to
edit and group photos by themes
helped build Franks discipline and
to work efficiently, pragmatically,
and systematically. Although some
of his classifications were very basic
(children, animals, people), he soon
took this to the next level and
started thinking about it more
conceptually. It helped him what
Looking Inside says: [It helped
him] recognize subjects and themes
that had meaning on him.
Takeaway point: When you are
working on a project (or thinking
about starting a project) try
printing out some of your images on
small 46 prints and group them
according to subject matter. You can
also do this on Lightroom and other
image-editing software, but doing it
with physical prints will help you get
a more tactile and fluid experience.
By grouping your images to subject
matter, you will start seeing
thereoccurringthemes in your work
or certain types of images that
interest you. Using this as a starting
point, you can start thinking more
critically and conceptually about
your project.
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b) What Frank learned about

sequencing (adding blank pages)
A photograph from Tuggeners Fabrik,

A Photo Epos of Technology
Another photographer Frank drew

early inspiration from was a Swiss
photographer named Jakob
Tuggener. In one of Tuggeners
books titled: Fabrik, A Photo Epos
of Technologywas comprised up of
72 photographs that showed the
destructive power of technology and
influence on humans.
Tuggeners book was divided into 9
parts, each which had a different
aspect of the industries and modern
technologies. Each photograph was
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separated by blank pages to function

as hyphens or breaks to provide
the viewer to give a chance to reflect
on what they just saw. Frank ended
up doing the same with The
Americans inserting blank pages
in-between to also give the viewer a
chance to reflect on the previous
images. Frank says himself, To see
his photos affirmed the idea that one
must be present.
Therefore by inserting blank pages
in-between each photograph forces
the viewer of the book to be more of
an active viewer, trying to make
hidden connections and see the flow
of the story, rather than mindlessly
flipping through pages. Tuggener
was also interested in filmmaking, so
you can say that the way that he
sequenced his photographs was
familiar to that of modernist films,
and in admiration of pioneering
Soviet Russian film director Sergei
Einsteins principles of montage.
Frank also mentioned to Tuggeners
book to being like cinema.
Even Alexey Brodovitch, the
Russian-born
photographer/designer that Frank
looked up to, said that he:
Understood that the act of looking
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at a book was temporal experience,

akin to watching a film.
sequencing a project or a book,
realize the power and importance of
blank pages. Dont simply do it as a
stylistic tool, but make it intentional.
c) How Frank learned that
sequencing could be a profound
work of art
A photograph from Franks Black white

and things. Note how the strong
vertical line could be used as a pause in
sequencing the book. 34th Street, New
York, 1951. Robert Frank
The first real example in which

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Frank sequenced a book (that hugely

inspired the sequencing in The
Americans was from his book:
Black White and Things. The
book was focused on the somber and
joyous moments of life. What
Looking In says about how Frank
sequenced the book and built up a
sense of rhythm:
Compounding the
sequences impact, tone,

and meaning, frank for the
first time placed most of
the photographs opposite
blank pages, allowing an
almost stately progression
of image after image to
build up in the readers
mind. Yet, as readers look
through the book, they
quickly discover that they
must move both forward
and backward through it,
remembering what they
have seen before and
knowing what will come
next. Thus, form and
content become
interdependent, and
meaning is established as
much by the movement
between the photographs
as by the photographs
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themselves.
To emphasize, the meaning Frank
created in his book wasnt just the
photographs themselves, but the
movement and pauses in-between
the pages of the book. Frank also
found it important that he didnt
have to explain everything to the
viewer so directly:
Something must be left
for the onlooker. He must

have something to see. It is
not all said for him.
In terms of what Frank wanted

people to feel when looking at his
photos? Frank likens it to a poem:
[I want my viewers to] feel

the way they do when they
want to read a line of a
poem twice.
putting together a project or book,
know that the sequencing of the
book is just as important as the
images themselves. Be very
deliberate on the order you put your
images together, and try to create a
certainrhythmto it- in which
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certain photos next to one another

can be similar (or dissimilar).
Sequencing isnt something
scientific, rather it is something that
you feel. Try to sequence your
images in which they flow well, and
ask your peers for their suggestions
on sequencing as well.
d) On pairing images together
A spread from Franks Black white and

things book. Although in The
Americans Frank left the opposite page
blank, you can see how he paired these
images that looked similar. Jesus on the
left side of the page and a hot air balloon
on the right? Perhaps Frank was trying to
juxtapose religion and American
consumerism?
Although in Franks The

Americans he only included
individual photos per page, he
learned the concept of pairing
photos together on separate pages
from Russian
filmmakerSergeiEisenstein:
Two film pieces of any

kind, placed together,
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inevitably combine into a

new concept, a new
quality.
This is another important concept
that you can take-away when
creating your own photography
book.
Sergei Eisenstein looking at his film
Takeaway point: Try to pair images

on opposite sides of the pages that
may be similar or different- that
synthesize into a new concept or
have a new meaning. For example,
you can have two images on
opposite pages that mirror one
another or are similar. For example,
you have a photograph of a child on
the left side of the page, and of a
baby animal on the right side of the
page.
Or have a photograph of something
that is predominantly red on the left
side of the page, and another
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photograph of something red on the

right side of the page. You can also
do this with polar opposites. For
example, if you have a photograph
of a rich man on the left side of a
page and a photograph of manure on
the right side of the page, it will
suggest to the viewer your feelings of
the rich.
Another example perhaps would be
having a photograph of an
SUV/Hummer on the left side of the
page and of dollar bills on the right
side of the page to show how you
may feel how wasteful
SUVs/Hummers may be.
2. How Frank
processed his film
and made initial
edits
When Frank was done shooting
The Americans he had the
monumental task of developing his
film, creating contact sheets, making
initial edits, and organizing them.
Looking In writes:
Throughout the summer

and fall of 1956, Frank
finished developing the

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more than 767 rolls of film

he had shot for the project,
made contact sheets of
them, reviewed more than
2,700 frames, and marked
those images he thought
were of interest. He then
embarked on the
monumental task of
making approximately
1,000 work prints, which he
annotated, often with a red
grease pencil, with the
corresponding number of
the roll of film.
Takeaway point: When making
initial edits of a project you are
working on, mark anything of which
is interest to you. Then you can
continue on a more precise edit
afterwards.
3. Frank editing his

work
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Frank editing his work
When Frank first started developing

his film (at his friends darkroom) he
was ruthless in editing. Looking In
mentions:
[Frank] edited them on
the spot, unsentimentally

cutting off and throwing
away those frames he
found of no interest. With
a quick eye and sure
judgment, he discovered
that even when the
photographs are bad,
looking at them is
instructive.'
Not only was Frank able to quickly

discard his worst images, but he also
used them as a tool to better learn
what his good images were. Robert
Frank once said this about editing:
What you reject is just as
important. Looking In also said
this about Franks editing:
Trying to make sense of
this vast accumulation,

Frank knew that just as he
photographed by process
of elimination, so too by
editing the work prints he
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could come into the core

of what he wanted to
express.
Takeaway point: Be ruthless when it
comes to your own editing. While
you dont necessarily need to cut up
the negatives of your bad photos or
delete them, be critical with yourself.
Would you want that image to make
it into a book? Would you want to
see it in an exhibition printed large?
Also dont be frustrated with your
rejected images- but learn from
them.
4. Initially
categorizing his
images
Frank also categorized his images
accordingly:
[Frank] also noted those

subjects that he had
repeatedly explored, such

as cars, jukeboxes, and
lunch counters, and those
that he had only
tangentially touched upon,
especially religion, the
media, the flag, and the
look of the new suburban
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landscape.
By noting the general categories of
subjects that he shot, he was able to
get a better understanding of what
themes he found interesting about
America- as well as other themes he
wished to explore more. This
included religion, the media, the
flag, and the suburban landscape.
After his first round of developing
and looking at his negatives, he
would then go back and make a
conscious effort to re-shoot those
certain themes. Frank also started to
realize that the type of images he was
taking started changing. Looking
In writes:
[Frank] also recognized
that in the last few months

not only had his style and
approach changed, so too
had his intention. No
longer striving for poetic
effect or even beautiful
photographs he now
openly sought to express
his opinions about what he
saw his anger at the abuse
of power, his suspicion of
wealth and its privileges,
his support for those less
fortunate, and most of all,
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his fears about the kind of

culture he saw emerging in
the country.
This goes back to the idea that Frank
wasnt shooting The Americans as
a transparent documentary project,
but rather a project that was
personal to him and full of
meaning, anger, and suspicion. This
is what Frank said when asked about
his thoughts:
America is an interesting
country, but there is a lot

that I do not like and that I
would never accept. I am
also trying to show this
through my photos.
Therefore his images werent just

about creating aesthetically pleasing
images. Rather, he wanted to bring
attention to injustices he saw
through his photos.
working on a project, by categorizing
your images and tracking them you
can see how your own intention,
style, and approach can change and
evolve. When you see your work
evolving into something else than
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you originally intended, dont try to

force it. Go with the flow and let
your work take a life of its own.
5. Organizing his
prints
When Frank made his nearly 1,000
work prints, he did the following to
organize his prints. Looking In
shares:
Out of this chaos [Frank]

began to construct some
order. He spread the work

prints out on tables and the
floor of his apartment and
thumbtacked, even stapled
them to its walls.
By tacking and stapling the images
on his apartment, he would live with
the photographs and get a better
sense of what he felt were the
strongest images, and how he should
sequence them. Looking In
elaborates on the themes that Frank
identified:
Following the training he

had received in Zurich
from Michael
Wolgensigner, he grouped
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them at first by themes:

cars, race, religion, politics,
and the media were the
major components, but he
also arranged them by
depictions of the way
Americans live, work, eat,
and play, as well as by more
minor subjects that had
caught his attention
such as cemeteries,
jukeboxes, and lunch
counters. And he devoted
one group to images of his
family.
Frank would then constantly move
around and re-pin his photos in
different parts of his walls and
houses:
As the boundaries
between the groups were

porous and the divisions
fluid, he frequently moved
prints around, often
ripping them off the walls
only to thumbtack them
next to a new neighbor or
set them aside entirely in a
box. Sometimes he put red
circular marks on those
photographs he considered
strongest; occasionally he
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marked them to indicate

how they should be
cropped.
Also through this process, Frank
decided which photos and themes
he should eliminate:
In the process, [Frank]
entirely eliminated some

subjects he had thought he
might explore, such as the
suburban landscape people
trapped by the detritus of
consumer culture, and any
literal allusion to the
immigrant experience. He
later estimated that he
spent 3 to 4 months doing
this evaluation and
editing it was, he told a
group of students, the
biggest job on that book.'
Therefore you could see that in

order to create The Americans
Frank took editing very seriously.
Not only did he edit by intuition,
but he also did it analytically by
exploring certain themes. Another
important note to make is how he
decided to get rid of some themes in
the book, such as the suburban
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landscape, consumer culture, and

the immigrant experience. By
cutting out these other themes, he
was able to focus on the central
themes in his book such as race,
religion, and the overwhelming
sense of alienation.
editing your own work, try the same
technique. Although we have ways
to do it digitally (Lightroom,
Aperture, etc) there is great merit in
doing it via the analogue approach.
Print our small 46s and spread
them out on the ground, tack them
to your walls, and move them
around. There is something amazing
about this tactile approach which is
hard to describe which can help
you get a better final edit/sequence
of your work.
6. Creating the
structure of The
Americans
Upon editing his work, Frank then
focused on the sequence and the
structure of the book:
Next, he worked on the
sequence itself. Laying out

some of the work prints on
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the floor or tables and

pinning others to the walls,
he slowly devised a
structure. Like his own
Black white and things,
Evans American
photographs, and
Tuggeners Fabrik, his
book would be divided into
four chapters, each
separated by blank pages,
most opening with a
photograph of a flag.
One thing that Frank also did which
was radical at the time was to crop
his images. Sometimes radically, and
at other times less radically:
By spring 1957, Frank had
cut down his one thousand

work prints to
approximately one
hundred and made new
prints, which he more
carefully considered the
cropping. Sometimes he
used the full negative, as in
Trolley- New Orleans, but
more often he presented
only a portion of it.
Looking In shares some of the

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figures Frank eliminated through his

cropping:
[Frank] eliminated a
distracting figure on the far

right in City Fathers
Hoboken, New Jersey;
emphasized the cross like
forms behind the
conventioneer, in Political
Rally Chicago, and the
evangelist in Jehovahs
Witness- Los Angeles,
tightened the relationship
between the campaign
posters and the bumper
pool table in Luncheonette
Butte, Montana; and
focused more closely on
the lonely young woman in
Elevator Miami Beach
and on the scheming
politicians in Convention
hall Chicago.
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A crop of his photograph of the political

rally. You can see how he cropped it on
the contact sheet with the red grease
pencil.
Initial shot of City Fathers Hoboken,

New Jersey. Pre-crop
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City Fathers Hoboken, New Jersey

after the crop. Note how the figure in the
far right has been cropped out.
Franks famous Elevator girl shot. Precrop
Franks Elevator girl shot after the

crop. Note how it is cropped tighter to
emphasize the expression on the girls
face
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Franks famous Rodeo shot- precrop.

Note the blue pencil marks on the sides
where Frank planned on the crop.
Franks Rodeo shot after the crop.

Note how his crop got rid of the
distracting figures on the left and right
side of the frame.
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Some of Franks crops were radical:
He even extracted two
vertical prints, Hotel Lobby

Miami and Movie
Premiere Hollywood
from horizontal negatives.
One of his famous photos from a ball,

originally a horizontal photograph.
Cropped into a vertical photograph.
Touching upon sequencing again in

the book and creating a maquette (a
dummy book):
Working quickly and

intuitively, with no
preconceived ideas about

the subject of each chapter,
he sequenced the book,
once again laying the
photographs out on tables
and the floor and pinning
them to the walls. As he
worked, he established
only one rule: if two
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selected photographs came

from the same contact
sheet, one would follow
the other in the sequence.
And finally he made a
maquette, 8 3/8 by 9 1/2
inches, with photostats of
ninety two of the selected
images.
Takeaway point: Although
personally I am not a huge fan of
cropping, you can see that Frank
cropped many of his photos some
of them quite radically (turning
horizontal shots into vertical shots).
Therefore if you want to make a
photograph more powerful, have
more focus onto a single subject, and
get rid of distractions, crop your
shots.
7. The initial
maquette (dummy
book) of The
Americans
The maquette (initial dummy book)
of The Americans showed many
things about what Frank tried to
express through the sequencing.
Looking In shares:
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The maquette indicates
that, as he had begun to do

in Black White and
Things [one of his previous
books], in his book on
america, meaning would be
garnered through a
deliberate progression of
images that did not rely on
obvious side by side
comparisons but instead
engaged readers in a much
more active manner, asking
them to recall what they
had seen on previous pages
and reflect on their
relationship to what they
currently saw.
Many other books published during

Franks time often showed two
photos side-by-side on opposite
sides of the page sometimes with
similar subject matter and sometimes
totally opposite. Rather, Frank
deliberately had only one
photograph per two-page spread, to
force the viewer to recall the images
they saw before and think about the
meaning. Looking In continues:
While demanding more of

his readers and enticing
them to join him in a
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voyage of discovery, Frank

also more fully engaged
them intellectually,
emotionally and even
viscerally.
To force the reader to make
connections between the breaks or
pauses in a book challenged them to
be much more active in digesting
and understanding the book. Rather
than being passive readers, they
would be active participants.
Takeaway point: Depending on
what you want your project to do for
the reader, consider either pairing
similar images (or different images)
side-by-side on the same spread. Or
insert breaks in-between to help the
reader become a much more active
participant in reading your
project/book.
8. The flow of
images
When Frank sequenced the book, he
didnt want to have a book of standalone images. He didnt see any of
his photos as individual images, but
part of a larger collection. When
asked about how he sequenced the
book, Frank said in an interview:
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I tried to not just have one

picture thrown in alone,
isolated as a picture. Thats

what I tried to do. I think it
often sort of succeeds.
Not only did he want to create
meaning through associations and
relationships, but he also wanted to
create a movement through his
photos. Frank continues:
I wanted to create some
kind of rhythm Im not

sure now whether I wanted
to have first pictures that
didnt move and then move
movement in the pictures
later on in the next few.
During his lifetime Frank was very

fascinated with theater and film (he
pursued it actively after completing
The Americans). Very much so he
tried to sequence the book like a
moving picture having the static
photos move with energy, vigor, and
life.
Takeaway point: Dont think of your
photography project or book as a
book of single images, but rather a
collective full of images that flow
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well and have meaning stacked on

one another.
The Critical
Response of
Franks The
Americans
Political Rally, Chicago, 1956. Robert

Frank
Although Franks The Americans

is now revered as one of the most
important photo-books ever made in
the history of photography, it was
very controversial when it first came
out and Frank encountered
considerable criticism.
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For example critics described the

book to be a slashing and bitter
attack on some U.S. institutions, a
wart-covered picture of America,
and a disturbing portrayal of the
Ugly American.
Frank was also personally accused of
being a joyless man who hates the
country of his adoption and a liar
perversely basking in the kind of
world and the kind of misery he is
perpetually seeking and persistently
creating.
Some more criticisms that he
received was that he was a poor
essayist with no convincing
storyteller at all and that his ulterior
intent was to let his pictures be
used to spread hatred among
nations.
More criticism that Frank received
that the photographs themselves had
no sociological comment. No real
reportial function being merely
neurotic, and to some degree
dishonest.
Franks title of The Americans
also received considerable attacks,
with his detractors saying that it was
Utterly misleading! A degradation
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of a nation! It is important to note

that influential works generally face
lots of opposition and criticism.
Takeaway point: Even the best
photography books and projects in
history have received considerable
criticism. Know that when you
create a book, project, or a body of
work dont expect it to be praised
by everyone (no matter how great it
is). If anything, take criticism as a
sign that your work is evoking a
reaction (which may in-fact be a
good thing).
On Originality
(when applying for
the Guggenheim)
Elevator, Miami Beach, 1955. Robert

Frank
One of the worst pieces of advice I

often hear photographers telling
others is: Dont work on that
project, it has already been done
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before. When it comes to Robert

Franks The Americans,
photographers see it as a very
original and groundbreaking piece of
work. However in reality, when
Frank decided to embark on his
project, America had already been
photographed quite extensively by
renowned photographers such as
Walker Evans and Henri CartierBresson. Evans creating his pivotal
project on America was actually the
one who encouraged the young
Frank to apply for a Guggenheim to
embark on his project. Looking In
writes:
A few months before

The Family of Man
exhibition opened, Evans

as a confidential advisor to
the John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation encouraged
Frank to apply for a
fellowship. Franks
intended project to
photograph throughout
the United States was
neither unexpected nor
novel.
Also from the text, about the other
famous photographers who
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embarked on photographing
America:
Many American and
European photographer
before him from
Cartier-Bresson to Franks
friend Elliott Erwitt, to
name only two of the most
recent had photographed
their travels throughout
the United States.

working on a project and people tell
you not to work on the project
because it has been done before
take their advice with a pinch of salt.
Of course we want to create original
pieces of work and not copy
photographers who have already
done strong bodies of work on a
certain subject or topic.
However what we can take away
from Franks example is that he still
embarked on The Americans even
though the topic had been covered
thoroughly. If you want to embark
on your own project that has already
been done before add your own
style, originality, and flair to it. As
photography has been around for
over a century now, most subject
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matters have been thoroughly

covered by photographers. There are
very few subjects, which are
original. But know that because
you are the one taking the photos,
they will always be original in that
regard.
Franks
Guggenheim
Fellowship
Application
Covered Car, Long Beach, California,

1956. Robert Frank
When Frank applied to photograph

The Americans he needed financial
support to go on his 2-year long
journey throughout America. To
finance his trip, his mentor Walker
Evans encouraged Frank to apply for
the Guggenheim fellowship. With
considerable amount of help from
Evans (on writing the proposal), he
submitted his proposal, which
awarded him $3,600 to loop around
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America from 1955-1956. The

proposal of the grant in-full is shown
below:
Part 1: Franks brief

summary of the
proposal
To photograph freely
throughout the United

States, using the miniature
camera exclusively. The
making of a broad,
voluminous picture record
of things American, past
and present. This project is
essentially the visual study
of a civilization and will
include caption notes; but
it is only partly
documentary in nature:
one of its aims is more
artistic than the word
documentary implies.
Part 2: The full

statement of intent
I am applying for a
Fellowship with a very

simple intention: I wish to
continue, develop and
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widen the kind of work I

already do, and have been
doing for some ten years,
and apply it to the
American nation in
general. I am submitting
work that will be seen to be
documentationmost
broadly speaking. Work of
this kind is, I believe, to be
found carrying its own
visual impact without
much work explanation.
The project I have in mind
is one that will shape itself
as it proceeds, and is
essentially elastic.
The material is there: the
practice will be in the
photographers hand, the
vision in his mind. One
says this with some
embarrassment but one
cannot do less than claim
vision if one is to ask for
consideration. The
photographing of
America is a large order
read at all literally, the
phrase would be an
absurdity. What I have in
mind, then, is observation
and record of what one
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naturalized American finds

to see in the United States
that signifies the kind of
civilization born here and
spreading elsewhere.
Incidentally, it is fair to
assume that when an
observant American travels
abroad his eye will see
freshly; and that the
reverse may be true when a
European eye looks at the
United States. I speak of
the things that are there,
anywhere and everywhere
easily found, not easily
selected and interpreted. A
small catalog comes to the
minds eye: a town at night,
a parking lot, a
supermarket, a highway,
the man who owns three
cars and the man who owns
none, the farmer and his
children, a new house and
a warped clapboard house,
the dictation of taste, the
dream of grandeur,
advertising, neon lights,
the faces of the leaders and
the faces of the followers,
gas tanks and post offices
and backyards.
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The uses of my project

would be sociological,
historical and aesthetic. My
total production will be
voluminous, as is usually
the case when the
photographer works with
miniature film. I intend to
classify and annotate my
work on the spot, as I
proceed. Ultimately the file
I shall make should be
deposited in a collection
such as the one in the
Library of Congress. A
more immediate use I have
in mind is both book and
magazine publication.
Quotes by Frank on
The Americans
Robert Frank
What I learned from Looking In is

that although photographers have
analyzed Franks The Americans
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to death, teachers, and academicsFrank himself said very little about

his project. Some quotes that didnt
necessarily fit into the rest of the
article I have compiled here:
1. On why he used
black and white for
The Americans
Black and white is the
vision of Hope and despair.

That is what I want in my
photographs.
2. What he wanted
to show through his
photographs:
Somber people and black
events quiet things and
peaceful places and the
things people have come in

contact with this, i try to
show in my photographs
3. On why he
photographs:
Above all, I know that a
life for a photographer
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cannot be a matter of
indifference.
Getting The
Americans
published
Ranch Market, Hollywood, 1955-56.

Robert Frank
Many of us know how difficult a

task it is to get our work published in
a book. Even during Franks time, it
was quite difficult. In an interview
with Robert Delpire (the original
publisher of The Americans) by
Michel Frizot in Feb 2008, we
discover how Frank first approached
Delpire to get his work published in
a book:
Michel Frizot: How did the

publication of Les
Americains come about?

Robert Delpire: One late
day in summer 1954, I think,
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Frank was in Paris and he

told me, I want to do a big
project on America, and Id
like to apply for a
Guggenheim grant. You
would need to sign a paper
for me, agreeing to publish
a book with my
photographs. I think that
would allow me to get the
grant. I signed the paper, he
got the grant.
He came back about three
years later and showed me
the photographs. He had
his own idea for the book,
but he did not have a
mock-up prepared. He
wanted a single
photograph per double
page. He said, I dont like
combining photos. I
immediately subscribed to
that point of view, and we
did the mock-up in one
afternoon, at my place,
lining up the photographs
on the floor.
There are some
photographers who do not
know how to choose their
photos, but he did. And
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there was no problem in

terms of the selection. As
for the sequence, we did it
just like that, intuitively.
The number of
photographs was not
predetermined, it just
happened, with us
choosing one by one. A
hundred and seventy-four
pages, thats not even a
multiple of eight [referring
to the minimum number of
pages in a folded press
signature].
Getting Jack
Kerouac to write
the introduction
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US 285, New Mexico, 1955. Robert

Frank
For the introduction of his book,

Frank was lucky enough to get the
renowned Jack Kerouac (author of
On the Road) to write it for him.
How did Frank do it? To start off,
when Frank first heard of the New
York Times review of On the
Road, he met Jack Kerouac at a
party where he asked him to write
the introduction. Joyce Johnson,
who was Kerouacs girlfriend at the
time, shared her recollection of the
event:
Robert Frank walked in
with a couple of boxes of
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his work. For several years

hed been going around the
country taking photos for a
book he planned to call
The Americans. He was
hoping to convince Jack to
write an introduction. He
asked me if Id like to look
at the pictures. The first
one I saw was of a road
somewhere out west
blacktop gleaming under
headlights with a white
stripe down the middle
that went on and toward an
outlying darkness. Jacks
road! I thought
immediately.
From that moment Jack Kerouac
agreed and wrote one of the finest
and jazzy introductions that has ever
been written for a book. You can
read Kerouacs full
introductionhere.
Contact sheets of
interest
1. The progression of
how he got his
famous cover photo
for The Americans
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This contact sheet is quite

interesting. Frank took a total of 5
photos of the scene. He first saw the
American flag in front of a building,
and saw figures peering out.
However the windows obscured the
people.
Upon shooting some other frames,
he found another scene of two
women looking out into the political
rally, and just made one exposurewhich became the famous cover
photo of The Americans.
Takeaway point: If you see an
interesting scene, keep your eye on
the lookout. At first the scene may
not work, but you might find similar
scenes or the scene evolving over
time. Always be ready.
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2. Political rally
During a political rally, Frank saw a
man campaigning- yelling and
proclaiming himself vigorously, with
his arms outstretched. You see he
took several frames of him, and then
was able to capture the decisive
moment in which he has his hands
fully-extended.
Takeaway point: Dont quit
shooting until you captured the
decisive moment
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The progression of shots Frank got

before he got the decisive moment of
the campaigning mans arms
outstretched
The decisive moment which was used

as the final image for The Americans
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3. Progression of his
elevator girl shot
Franks famous image of the
elevator girl who looks quite
bored, pressing the doors open for
the people to enter/exit wasnt just a
single shot. You can see how he shot
15 exposures of the same scene, even
with a few shots of the girl posing for
him at the end.
Takeaway point: if you see an
interesting scene which you think
has potential, dont just snap a single
exposure and move on. Wait, and
work the scene.
The progression of Franks famous

elevator girl shot
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By the end, the elevator girl was

obviously aware of Franks presence.
Some shots of her posing for him.
The famous elevator girl shot that

made it into the book
4. St. Francis statue

In one of his most poignant photos
in The Americans, Frank
photographed a statue of St. Francis.
Fascinating to note that his original
pick of the scene was different from
what was the final image.
Takeaway point: Your first initial
gut instinct for choosing a photo
may change over time. Also if you
see an interesting scene, take it from
different angles and different
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exposures (especially if it is a statue

or something that doesnt move).
Note how Frank photographed the

statue from all different angles, and even
took photos of the same perspective,
changing his exposure.
The shot Frank first considered
The shot Frank considered, which

became the final image in the book.
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The final image. Note how Frank burned

in the background to bring back much
more details. St Francis, gas station and
City Hall, LA 1955
Conclusion
Political Rally, Chicago, 1956. Robert

Frank
Robert Franks The Americans

was one of the most influential
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photography books created of all

time. However remember that it is
interesting to note that at the time it
wasnt an original project at all.
Walker Evans and Henri CartierBresson already covered America,
but Frank went ahead, followed his
own gut, and created a project that
broke all sort of standards. Instead of
being straightforward
documentary, Frank expressed his
own alienated feelings of America.
Dark, gloomy, and unjust.
In going against the prevailing
transparent-styled photography of
the time, he had a ton of critics of his
work that ostracized him from every
angle. However his work has now
inspired countless photographers
and has left its marks for generations
to come. Although I doubt that
Frank would call himself a street
photographer his way of
working was very similar. He
traveled across the country, took
most of his photos candidly and
worked with speed, elegance, and a
sense of fluidity.
As street photographers we can
learn so much from Frank in
terms of his imagery, how he put
together his book, and also how he
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went against conventions. This

article on Frank isnt comprehensive
and Im sure there are many holes
that I failed to fill. However I still
hope that you took away something
meaningful from this article.
Although it took me several months
to put this post together (in terms of
the research, the writing, formatting,
and getting the images) and Im sure
there are some mistakes, spelling
errors, or grammatical errors I have
made. Please make some suggestions
in the comments below.
Further reading
1. The Americans
by Robert Frank
Of course if you want to learn more

about The Americans it is
imperative that you pick up a
paperbound copy of your own.
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2. Looking In:
Robert Franks The
Americans by Steidl
This behemoth of a book is what I

used to conduct the research for this
article. It is much more thorough
than my post, has examples of mock
layouts of the book that Frank
created, his work prints, as well as
his contact sheets. This is a book
that you must have in your library if
you are serious about learning more
about photography.
3.By the Glow of

the Jukebox: The
Americans List by
Jason Eskenazi
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Jason Eskenazi is a talented

photographer who embarked on a
10-year odyssey through the old
soviet union and published his book:
Wonderland: A Fairytale of the
Soviet Monolith (see the interview
with Charlie Kirk on my blog here).
For about 10 months in the past, he
was also a guard at the MET
Museum in New York. Believe it or
not, he was the guard for the
Looking Inexhibition for Robert
Franks The Americans. He then
asked many renowned
photographers what was their
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favorite image and why. He then

compiled276 photographers answers
in the unique book. Definitely a
must-haveaccompanimentfor The
Americans.
You can see a preview of the book
here.Order a copy online here.
How has Robert Franks work

influenced you? Share your thoughts
about The Americans below and
also please let me know of any typos,
grammatical mistakes, or corrections
in the comments below!
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4/1/2015

The Americans by Robert Frank is

I would also highly recommend

saving this article and reading it on

Why was The

Parade, Hoboken,New Jersey,1955

The Americans was influential for

In the late 1950s and early

Americans nor Franks

editors even before the

championed clean, well-exposed,

Haarpers Bazaar spread by Alexey

What Frank learned from

This mentorship from Brodovitch

Original shot of Franks Ranch Market,

The final printed image. Ranch Market,

Frank certainly did this with the

[Frank] had learned about

sensation of weight, and he

Illustration by Franz Kline. You can see

Painting by Willem de Kooning,

Did it piss off the critics? It certainly

Not only did Frank challenge how

The photograph must be

the result of a head to head,

To create images that are docile and

Rebelling against the

universal language, easily

was a favored term when

Therefore by working on this

Why Frank Decided

Picnic Ground-Glendale, California,

Frank was born in Switzerland to a

Gotthard Schuh: Miner, Winterslag,

Fabrik, A Photo Epos of Technology

Although he had great inspirational

I wanted to get out of

Switzerland. I didnt want

Therefore he embarked on a journey

helped me. You have to be

City Hall, Reno, Nevada, 1956 Robert

What ensued afterwards was

Leica rangefinder, which was more

Barber shop interior, Atlanta, Georgia,

Looking In mentions the

Evans had also

Responding to the country,

Children in Seville, Spain, 1933. Henri

When Frank first moved to NYC,

Frank quickly learned

from and assimilated new

Frank said later that seeing

saw that the field of

wasnt as important as creating your

To do good work you

need a further intelligence.

Takeaway point: Therefore to sum

Robert Frank and Edward Steichen

Edward Steichen, one of the most

I sometimes feel that I

would like to see you more

away from the tenseness of