The Man Who Saw America

That’s the title of a fine piece, published today by the New York Times Magazine, and written by Nicholas Dawidoff, about legendary photographer and filmmaker, Robert Frank.  Recently I was showing some of my photography book collection to my daughter and made special note of Frank’s landmark book, “The Americans“, when I came upon it, so I have something else now for her to see and appreciate.

Dawidoff suggests that Frank is the most influential photographer living today, and that would be hard to argue against.

This brings back memories, years ago, of the first time I visited S. D. in her small Los Angeles studio, and saw affixed to her bulletin board, a postcard from Robert Frank.

Find a copy of “The Americans” if you can, and study it, remembering that it dates back to 1958.  Or at least look at the NYT special feature on the book here.