Contact Sheets from Robert Frank's 'The Americans'

The National Gallery of Art in D.C. is currently exhibiting Franks "The Americans" project. I got to see many of his original contact sheets right in front of me. It sent shivers up my spine.
 
I got the "Looking In - expanded version last week and I have been pouring over the contacts in it. Great way of seeing how Frank set up a shot and "worked" the angle of view.
I like the "dog's breakfast" of films that he used, Tri X, HP3, Plus X, Super XX etc. It is also comforting to know that perfect exposures are not that important! There is still hope for us "sunny f16" adherents!
I wish I had a chance to see the show - I saw the 1994 show in DC - my favorite exhibit was the stack of Robert Frank prints - piled on a plank with a HUGE nail punched through them. OK, one way to store vintage prints!
 
Maybe you can take a trip down to SF when it goes there!

The prints on a blank are part of the current show, too.

Tom A said:
I wish I had a chance to see the show - I saw the 1994 show in DC - my favorite exhibit was the stack of Robert Frank prints - piled on a plank with a HUGE nail punched through them. OK, one way to store vintage prints!
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Per the link I posted in the other thread:

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/frankinfo.shtm

the show will be @ the SF Museum of Modern Art, May 16–August 23.

Another cool thing about the show is that they reproduce 1 of the mock-ups Frank used to lay the book out, i.e., putting a bunch of work prints up on a wall.

Tom A said:
Hmm, do you know the dates for the SF show? Haven't done a "road trip" down to SF for a couple of years and looking at Franks shots does give you the urge to do that!
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http://www.amazon.com/Contacts-Vol-...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1235686934&sr=1-1

Although it does not include Frank this series of three DVDs (link is Vol1) made for French TV (English commentary selectable) is of purely reviews of the photographers contacts sheets sometimes with the photographer doing the commentry. E Erwitt is really droll on this 🙂

I only just got this from a recommendation and am now onto Vol 2.
 
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One of photography's greatest strengths is the mystery of what is happening just out of the frame, and the moments in time either side of when the shutter is pressed.
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When I read this I thought about 24 megapixel sensors and cameras that can shoot at ten to twelve frames per second and how they relate to this statement ... we really have destroyed a lot of what made this type of photography so powerful with our technology!
 
Tom A said:
I got the "Looking In - expanded version last week and I have been pouring over the contacts in it. Great way of seeing how Frank set up a shot and "worked" the angle of view.
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i just bought the redone Americans and was wondering if the Looking In edition, which is absolutely huge, worth it? what's in all those extra pages?
 
FA Limited said:
i just bought the redone Americans and was wondering if the Looking In edition, which is absolutely huge, worth it? what's in all those extra pages?
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It is well worth the money and size. There is more information in it about "The Americans" than in any other essays I have read. There is also extensive material on Frank's work before and after that book.
The contact sheet alone are worth the price of admission - the book is our big table in the living room and I will sit down for 15-30 minutes several times a day and look at them.
It is a perfect companion to "The Americans" - you will find stories relating to specific shots as well as printing and cropping information from the various editions. I have seen the original version of the french 1st edition ( spiral bound!) and the printing is very different from the latest versions (much more "glare" and fried highlights - the later versions are actually much better reproductions!
 
Tom A said:
It is well worth the money and size. There is more information in it about "The Americans" than in any other essays I have read. There is also extensive material on Frank's work before and after that book.
The contact sheet alone are worth the price of admission - the book is our big table in the living room and I will sit down for 15-30 minutes several times a day and look at them.
It is a perfect companion to "The Americans" - you will find stories relating to specific shots as well as printing and cropping information from the various editions. I have seen the original version of the french 1st edition ( spiral bound!) and the printing is very different from the latest versions (much more "glare" and fried highlights - the later versions are actually much better reproductions!
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thanks tom, thorough as always
 
There are 2 editions - only the extended edition has the contact sheets.

"It contains all of the essays and photographs in the softcover, plus all of Frank’s vintage contact sheets related to The Americans, a section that re-creates his preliminary sequence and presents variant croppings of the first and subsequent editions of the book, a map and chronology of his travels around the United States in 1955 – 1956 on his Guggenheim fellowship, along with letters and manuscript materials by Frank, Walker Evans, and Jack Kerouac related to Frank’s creation of this seminal book."

Article about the book:
http://5b4.blogspot.com/2009/02/looking-in-robert-franks-americans-by.html
 
Tom, if you are even semi-serious about this, you might post in the SF Bay Area forum, because several of us locals have already mentioned that we are hoping to set up a time for a group of us to go to SFMOMA together for this exhibit. Would be great to have the venerable Tom A in attendance! 😀

-- Kevin

Tom A said:
Hmm, do you know the dates for the SF show? Haven't done a "road trip" down to SF for a couple of years and looking at Franks shots does give you the urge to do that!
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Venerable!!!!! It does depend on some trips coming up if we can get away with it. If we can I will let you know - would be great to get together with other shooters in SF in the summer.
 
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