Robert Frank
Robert Frank is a Swiss-American photographer and documentary filmmaker. His most notable work, was his book ‘The Americans’, this earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day outsider’s view of American society. Critics said that ‘The Americans’ “changed the nature of photography, what it could say and how it could say it”. The book remains the most influential photography book of the 20th century.
This was on of his most famous pieces that was in ‘The Americans’.
Trolley, New Orleans, 1955
Analysis
Context
This photograph was taken in the 1950’s in New Orleans. It shows how the American society used to travel and it clearly shows the division of the whites and the blacks. we can see that the white people are sat at the front and the black people are sat at the back, at this point in time the equal rights for blacks where nothing like what they are like in the current generation so this image almost documents that equal rights for blacks where very poor.
Conceptual
Racial segregation is shown in Frank’s photograph. There appears to be a social hierarchy from left to right. The white frames in the image separate everyone on the tran. On the left of the image you can see a white man partially hidden by a window; his separation and cover from the photograph represents how the whites were protected by society but the blacks weren’t.
Technical
In this image, Robert Frank uses different techniques to create the photo that he wanted to take. A fast shutter speed was possibly used due to the sharpness of the moving tran. Frank also uses a low ISO to create a darker image. The natural lighting of the sun also helps to create a natural looking image that captures Americas society in the middle of their day. A deep depth of field is used as well to keep the image sharp and focused.
Visual
In the photograph a high contrast is used in the black and white image to create a more dramatic image. The contrast comes from the white bars on the tran which cleverly breaks up the image into different sections as they act as natural frames. This influences the viewer to see the photograph in more detail. The large amount of tones between the black man and the white people adds even more contrast and drama to this image.