Meeting Robert FrankI’ve always been a great Robert Frank fan. I own at least five copies of The Americans, and have studied his work as much as anyone else’s to learn how to be a photographer. |
Click to watch the video of Meeting Robert Frank. The book comprises clips from the video
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I had my camera out, and thought, Why not take a picture? For reasons I can’t account for—the change seems almost impossible unless desired—my Fuji X100 had shifted from still mode into movie mode. I didn’t know this and just tried for a couple snaps. Instead I was shooting a movie. When I looked at the camera’s screen to see how well the pictures turned out, I was bemused to see black film frames around what I’d shot. At first I didn’t understand why this was (I’d never taken movies with my X100 before), then I realized the camera had slipped into movie mode on its own. Without the manual, I didn’t even know how to play back the images. It wasn’t until I was home that I figured out how to look at what I’d shot. I watched a long sequence of floor, people’s elbows, ceiling, black, more black, another elbow, more black—nothing usable or even interesting. There was another film clip. When I played that back, I saw black, more black, then an opening of light at the top … and slowly Robert Frank’s head came into view. The clip ended with Frank’s head right in front of me, filling half the frame, visible, obvious, on his way out of the gallery. The following are clips from the film sequence my camera shot without my knowing I was shooting a movie. It feels uncannily Frank-like, and thus a blessing. — Robert Dunn, March 31, 2013 |