Robert Frank Contact Sheets

[KenR]

At the Metropolitan Museum currently is the Robert Frank "Americans" exhibit (which has been to several other museums previously). What is great about the exhibit and the book that accompanies it, is the display of Frank's contact sheets. They really give you the insight into his thoughts - what he shot multiple frames of, which frames he ultimately decided to use. Previously, the Met had the Diane Arbus show, which had a few of her contact sheets, but here, the Frank book has the contact sheet for every picture that made it into the original "Americans" book.
(Also amazing about the contact sheets is the consistancy of his exposure control in the pre-metering era. He knew his light!)

 

[Paul T.]

I saw what might have been the same show, at The Tate, Britain, called Sotrylines and was really impressed. It had many contact sheets, some of which are in the book, and they're fascinating. Sometimes he'll have two, perhaps three, stabs at a shot. Other times he nails it in one.

He's an intriguing guy, there should really be a photo book wqith more autobiographical stories - I want to more about the time he was arrested for looking like a pinko, and of course the making of The Stones' Cocksucker Blues...

 

[Al Kaplan]

You can't tell much about exposure consistancy from a contact sheet. Anybody with experience just automaticaly dodges and burns them without giving it much thought. But then they're usually the same ones that'll fine tune the aperture and/or the shutter speed on the camera as the light varies, and not give that much thought either.

 

[KenR]

Frank had >700 rolls to process so I am not sure if he had the time to individualize exposures for individual frames none seem printed differently so they can't be too far off. I was always taught to contact print as is, to see if things are seriously over or under exposed (which is common on my sheets at least.)

 

[sepiareverb]

I'd love to see the proofsheets posted on line for others to do 'remixes' of The Americans. I have the book, and there are quite a few frames I'd choose that he glossed right over.

 

[RayPA]

I'd love to see the proofsheets posted on line for others to do 'remixes' of The Americans. I have the book, and there are quite a few frames I'd choose that he glossed right over.

I saw the show here in San Francisco several times, and as much as I enjoyed the contact sheets displayed in the museum, I really came to like the wall of work prints even more. I think some of those "few frames" made it to the wall. 🙂


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[nksyoon]

I'd love to see the proofsheets posted on line for others to do 'remixes' of The Americans. I have the book, and there are quite a few frames I'd choose that he glossed right over.

According to this article in the WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574477761913139506.html

"Why he chose to publish one picture over another will have many of us studying the excellent essays in the catalog to gain a better hold on his reasoning. Everything was sacrificed to the flow across pages and the four sections of the book."

"The longer you examine the sequences, the more patterns emerge. Mr. Frank was a ruthless editor of himself. At the same time, the release of so many outstanding photographs, which he deleted, suggests it probably could have been put together a hundred different ways and been as great."