on what produces a photograph

“It is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.”

Robert Frank

on photographs and sentimentality

“I always say that I don’t want to be sentimental, that the photographs shouldn’t be sentimental, and yet, I am conscious of my sentimentality.”

Robert Frank

on pictures and poems

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.”

Robert Frank

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Photo by Robert Frank

on twisting subjects

“I have been frequently accused of deliberately twisting subject matter to my point of view. Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others. Perhaps the look of hope or the look of sadness. Also, it is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.”

Robert Frank

What do you hope for your photographs to accomplish?

“My photographs are not planned or composed in advance, and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind, something has been accomplished.”

Robert Frank

photography as watching

“There are too many images, too many cameras now. We’re all being watched. It gets sillier and sillier. As if all action is meaningful. Nothing is really all that special. It’s just life. If all moments are recorded, then nothing is beautiful and maybe photography isn’t an art anymore. Maybe it never was.”

Robert Frank

listening and looking

“The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”

Robert  Frank

The humanity of the moment

“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment. This kind of photography is realism. But realism is not enough – there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.”

Robert Frank