Robert Frank was the father of the modern snapshot aesthetic that took hold in the 60s. He defined a whole generation of photography where the capturing of the singular uninfluenced moment was more important than the perfect lighting and facade present in previous work. With purpose, he showed the people ignored by the collective myth of what it meant to be American and did it with a raw style that influenced how all future documentary photographers work. I highly recommend flipping through a copy of The Americans if you never have.
Frank was great but I prefer Winogrand for aesthetic. That said he was one of the first to do street photography as a road trip. Now it’s kind of like s rite of passage for street photographers to do the roadtrip format.
Here[1] is a bracket (not best format) of some of the seminal as well as current greats of the street photography aesthetics.
If you enjoy photography, please consider buying a paper copy of The Americans. The digital reproductions don't do the series justice. Absolutely phenomenal and moving. RIP Robert Frank.
If you want to understand a bit more of how influential his work has been look at this small edition book that elicited responses about The Americans from a lot of the big name photographers: http://jasoneskenazi.com/americans.html
No way. I JUST bought a copy of The Americans two days ago. I know this isn't an interesting comment to read, but I can't help it. It was on sale for less than $20. I imagine there will be a rush to snatch up copies in the wake of the news, so get it while you can.
It’s one of the great photo books, there’s no doubt.
It’s been in the back of my mind to get a copy since I first saw the BBC’s Genius of Photography documentary[1].
The entire series was great but the section of Frank particularly stuck with me. (Not enough for me to get off my arse and buy my own copy it seems though).
I remember going through it at my local library afterwards. Well worth it IMHO.
