Robert Frank - Natalie Kohlhepp

Robert Frank is a hugely important figure in American photography and film. He immigrated from Switzerland to America in 1947 and his most notable work, the 1958 book titled The Americans was a book of nuanced moments and a strangely compelling view of America from an outsider’s perspective. This book, I think, really gave people a view of themselves in a way no one had ever captured before. Frank later expanded into film and video and experimented with manipulating photographs and photomontage.

My first time being exposed (no pun intended) to black and white film photography was looking through my Dad’s copy of The Americans in middle school and it still hits a cord in me today when I look through it. His work makes me less afraid of taking a bad photograph, and instead inspires me to travel, to be impulsive, and to just see the people around me. On the flipside of that, when I think about his work when I am walking around with my analog camera, I feel the need to find these perfect scenes without disturbing anything, or posing shots, and then my photographing experience becomes this tense hunt for the perfect moment.