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Author Topic: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America  (Read 45273 times)

Gulag

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NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« on: July 03, 2015, 02:31:28 am »

“The Man Who Saw America:

Looking back with Robert Frank, the most influential photographer alive.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/magazine/robert-franks-america.html

—Photo: Robert Frank in Mabou, Nova Scotia, in June. Credit: Katy Grannan for The New York Times



Robert Frank in Mabou, Nova Scotia, in June.
KATY GRANNAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
« Last Edit: July 03, 2015, 02:34:13 am by Gulag »
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"Photography is our exorcism. Primitive society had its masks, bourgeois society its mirrors. We have our images."

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langier

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2015, 11:18:06 am »

+1!
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Larry Angier
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Telecaster

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2015, 05:29:36 pm »

Saw this yesterday and scarfed it right down.  :)  Great article. My dad was a big Robert Frank fan…inherited taste on my part, I guess.

There are bits & pieces of C**ksucker Blues, Frank's (officially suppressed) Rolling Stones documentary, on YouTube. Worth taking a look. (Used to have the whole thing on VHS bootleg…sadly broke years ago.)

-Dave-
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SanderKikkert

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2015, 07:34:53 am »

Thanks for sharing this, looks like a really great article about a great man, going to devour this tonight with a glass of Islay Malt ;-)
Best Regards, Sander
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Iluvmycam

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2015, 08:40:05 am »

Frank is one of my fav's.

In the photos for the articles he usually looks like a pauper, but he is actually very well off.

Here is a tidbit about the Americans  

"During his trip, Frank shot 767 rolls of film yielding about 27,000 images. He edited that down to about 1,000 work prints, spread them across the floor of his studio and tacked them to the walls for a final edit. Out of a year and a half of work, Frank chose just 83 images."

http://www.npr.org/2009/02/13/100688154/americans-the-book-that-changed-photography

I wish he would come out with another 'Americans' composed of 150 or so of the rejects from the pile of 1000 work prints. He could call it The Rejected Americans.

Take a look at the beloved Winogrand for comparison to Frank. Winogrand produced absolute crap and called it his first rate stuff.

http://photohostsnapshots.tumblr.com/image/123327010893

http://photohostsnapshots.tumblr.com/image/123326924403

http://photohostsnapshots.tumblr.com/image/123326876938

...and the ignorant, young photogs coming up latch on to Winogrand like he was some kind of photo god. Well, I guess he was a god, at least in the area of producing tons of garbage.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2015, 02:43:23 pm by Iluvmycam »
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Iluvmycam

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2015, 02:44:08 pm »

Frank is one of my fav's.

In the photos for the articles he usually looks like a pauper, but he is actually very well off.

Here is a tidbit about the Americans  

"During his trip, Frank shot 767 rolls of film yielding about 27,000 images. He edited that down to about 1,000 work prints, spread them across the floor of his studio and tacked them to the walls for a final edit. Out of a year and a half of work, Frank chose just 83 images."

http://www.npr.org/2009/02/13/100688154/americans-the-book-that-changed-photography

I wish he would come out with another 'Americans' composed of 150 or so of the rejects from the pile of 1000 work prints. He could call it The Rejected Americans.

Take a look at the beloved Winogrand's editing process for comparison to Frank. Winogrand produced absolute crap and called it his first rate stuff.

http://photohostsnapshots.tumblr.com/image/123327010893

http://photohostsnapshots.tumblr.com/image/123326924403

http://photohostsnapshots.tumblr.com/image/123326876938

...and the ignorant, young photogs coming up latch on to Winogrand like he was some kind of photo god. Well, I guess he was a god, at least in the area of producing tons of garbage.
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Telecaster

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2015, 05:41:44 pm »

I like Winogrand as well as Frank. Different approaches & intents. Both IMO great at their best. YMMV, which is perfectly fine. But beware of pedlling personal taste as objective truth.

-Dave-
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Gulag

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2015, 11:10:38 pm »

It simply confirms what Louis Kronenberger had observed - "Art, for most Americans, is a very queer fish - it can’t be reasoned with, it can’t be bribed, it can’t be doled out or duplicated; above all, it can’t be cashed in on."

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"Photography is our exorcism. Primitive society had its masks, bourgeois society its mirrors. We have our images."

— Jean Baudrillard

pegelli

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2015, 04:02:32 am »

I like Winogrand as well as Frank. Different approaches & intents. Both IMO great at their best. YMMV, which is perfectly fine. But beware of pedlling personal taste as objective truth.

-Dave-
+1, and posting ones opinion twice doesn't make it any stronger either  ;)

Also thanks to the OP for the link, indeed a fascinating article.
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pieter, aka pegelli

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2015, 11:36:41 am »

I remember the Popular Photography issue in the late fifties in which various photographers panned Frank's work. I didn't agree with them, and as it turned out, I was right. "The Americans" showed the America with which, at 29 or so, I was familiar. Life was an interesting magazine, but it was selective, and it avoided some painful truths. Partly because of Frank's work, we eventually learned to embrace the whole story: the stunning beauty of American life, even with its warts.
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BobDavid

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #10 on: July 08, 2015, 03:02:13 pm »

Great read.
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Mjollnir

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Re: NYTimes: Robert Frank, The Man Who Saw America
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2015, 09:51:28 pm »

Wow.  I've never heard of this guy, and I loved that article and his shots.
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