Second Reading Response

While reading the second set of readings on Robert Frank and the history of Japanese photography and photobooks, I realized that there is a lot that goes into the process of a photobook, and the overall thought-process that the artist has to consider in order to construct the photobook as a whole. The section of reading titled The Americans-1955-57 had several interesting points about Robert Frank and the way he not only discovered photography but the way in which he immersed himself into the medium, creating photographs that were ultimately beautiful works of art. Frank created the book The Americans in a place that was completely foreign to him, someone who was a foreigner to the U.S., due to his native residence in Switzerland. The United States was a very troubled, distressed place at the time, which was difficult for foreigners. With a fear of communism from foreign countries, Frank really had no idea what he was getting himself into. The first interesting piece of information I found was Franks system of finding what to photograph based off of symbols he identified, which he said were “things seen everywhere, but not looked at or examined,” like flags, cowboys and politicians. This was what he used as a basis for photography and even used it to arrange his film by subject/symbol. As I continued reading I liked the fact that Frank said he knew that the American obsession with cars and the way Americans used them “would be central to his story.” So he started photographing people doing everything in their cars from joy riding to sleeping but also how cars isolated people. Also, as Frank traveled towards the south he wasn’t prepared for the segregation that occurred there. He said that at first he wanted to deal with the presence of racism but soon started dealing with how he wanted to celebrate the openness that African Americans had compared to the Caucasians that he encountered. I found this funny because of the fact that he is still a foreign presence in this world, which allowed for his own experience of racism. The defining image of Charleston, SC for Frank was a black nurse holding a white baby, which I also found to be very iconic of what was deemed harmful and wrong during the 1940’s and 50’s in the deep south.

From this, it was interesting to see Frank shift his interest towards the focus of movement as a subject, capturing things that move and things that respond to his movements. Going to bars filled with cowboys and taking photos of his subject’s with their back’s turned and faces partially obscured “as if they were about to turn and confront him.” I think a lot of this also has to deal with the intimacy of the photographer to the subject, lying on the edge of immersing oneself into a completely different realm, in this case Frank not only in America but in a bar setting that he probably wouldn’t normally set himself in, especially if travelling with his family. Most of these photos also have bad lighting and are out of focus which suggests that he didn’t even look through the viewfinder when snapping the shots. This though I think was done more for secrecy from violent, drunk cowboys in a 1950’s bar. Another aspect about Frank that I liked was how he traveled and focused on different things, things that were unexpected and unfamiliar. Though from traveling Frank had to experience things that would end up shaping his photography such as racism. Like the Mississippi boys calling him a communist and the sheriff telling him that he had one hour to get out of town, and even being stopped by the police in Arkansas because he was “a shabbily dressed foreigner whose car with New York License plates was heavily loaded with suitcases, trunks and a number of cameras.” Frank said that incidents like this only increased his passion for the people on the street and his determination to make them “the meat of the book.” Also, these incidents have made him fearless and willing to photograph anything, which to me made him a much better photographer. Now he could have the ability to capture whatever he wanted, because regardless he would most likely still get barraged with racist comments. Another aspect from the reading that I found interesting was the fact that Frank said that Americans had incorporated religion into their lives and “transformed it into a commodity to be purchased and consumed,” like crosses with Christ placed in stores above racks of merchandise. If this was the issue going on during the 50’s, then it’s surprising that it’s still continuing today. I don’t think it’s as prevalent as it was during the 1950’s but I do think that the idea of turning religion into some sort of commodity that can be bought and just placed back into the world of production is something to watch. While continuing to read the section just on the years of 55-57, I found it interesting that Frank had ultimately traveled more than 10,000 miles over a year, photographing every step of the way, and knowing that when he got back that he wanted to do a photobook, and he wanted it to be just right. Frank stated that the editing process allowed him to “come into the core” of what he wanted to express, so he spent 3 to 4 months just editing. Everything from the sequence of the book to the paper quality and book size was what Frank found to be important to the photobook technique. This is very true though, because otherwise the book is just another book with photographs placed in it.

In the next set of reading’s titled Resisting Intelligence: Zunich to New York, the author continued to talk about Frank’s photography and his career. One interesting thing that I found while reading was that Frank was moved to see the “impact that a group of photographs could have when united in a book,” and he looked at photography as a “seductive mean of communication and a way to define issues of national significance and personal importance.” One last thing that Frank stated that I found to be really provoking was towards artwork in general, stating that “to come out with something that is personal or will not be understood, to satisfy yourself rather than the public, that’s the important thing.” This is something I strive to do with my photography and all of my artwork in general, to be as unique as possible and to continue doing your artwork regardless of what anyone may say or do. The third set of reading’s titled Transforming Destiny into Awareness: the Americans, Frank said that he wanted to express his opinion of America in his photographs and reveal nothing less than what he perceived to be the kind of civilization born here and spending elsewhere.” I think that Frank simply wanted his photographs to tell the absolute truth of what he thought of America and what he thought should be shown to America’s audience, which at times wasn’t always good. One really interesting fact that Frank stated about the sequencing process of the photobook was that he used the allure of the human face and the power of the gaze to move readers through the book, and how his photographs echo his act of looking, so the viewer get’s to experience the photograph as if they were actually there.

In the last set of readings on the Japanese photobook, I found a lot of really unique fact’s that I didn’t expect from Japanese photobooks at all. For example, for magazines the format goes by photographers sending in monthly installments which could be anywhere from 2 to 16 pages, and the better the spread, the more likely it is that the photos will be reproduced in a book format. It seems that the photographs are judged just as much as they are here in America which actually isn’t that surprising; the mass media’s need for good photographs in a medium that will be shown probably all over the world has always been prevalent. Another topic that I found to be interesting was the fact that Japanese photography was first looked at as the aspects of Japan but not what was current in Japanese photography, up until the exhibition at the MOMA in New York. One last thing that I found to be pretty cool was where the author said that “in many such books, order is abandoned in favor of the trial and error pairing of images on a spread.” This is something that I do so that thing’s don’t get too complicated, although sometimes you really need to pay attention to the order and sequencing of the photographs, especially if it’s going into book format. Overall, I really found all the readings to be inspirational to the order and process of making a photobook, from taking the photographs to actually making the book, choosing a theme and making everything work as a whole. The process may be difficult but it is definitely one that’s worth doing to make a unique photobook in the end.