Deep into the Belly of A Beast; The Americans by Robert Frank

In my portfolio, I focused on The Americans by Robert Frank. Frank was born in 1924 and died very recently in September of 2019. He published The Americans in 1958, during a time in which America was facing many social issues and changes. Through research, I have discovered that Frank believed the best place to create quality and good photographs was in a small atmosphere where the subject had the potential to be more real. He believed that most of his best work was the photographs he took unintentionally and almost mindlessly. He also believed that photographs turned out the best when the subject was unaware that any photographs were even being taken or when he was able to capture the exact moment when the subjects realized they were being photographed.

Ranch Market, Hollywood (Source: Los Angeles Times)

I decided to use this photobook due to the fact that the message Frank is trying to send across throughout the book is very controversial and highly debated. Many critics believed that a lot of the photographs in this book were anti-American and portrayed a poor message that contradicted the idea of the “American Dream” while others viewed it as just a capturing of the underlying life of an American, pure and simple. The theme that explored is contradictory to many of the opinions of The American’s critics as well as, I believe, not really discussed. I researched and discussed how Frank exposed Americans and their lifestyle during a time period where Americans were not ready to view and tackle the underlying social problems happening in their society. I delved deeper into this idea and uncovered, through Frank’s photographs, why I believe this to be true. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaPMt9PHc4A

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trolley-New Orleans, 1955                                                  White Tower, New York 1948 (Source: Sleek)

(Source: Smithsonian Magazine)

  

 

 One of the methods that Robert Frank focused on was the method of taking photographs of his subjects when they did not even notice he was photographing them. He believed that subjects were too posed when they knew they were being photographed and he wanted to capture them in their natural habitat. This method is very present in his work Indianapolis, 1956 where he presents a man and woman staring at an unknown object, unaware of their photograph being taken. Another photographer may have asked them to look up and pose for the camera but Frank strayed away from doing so. I think that this method was very important to Frank and his photographs due to the fact he was trying to uncover all the layers of America and its people. If people knew he was photographing them, I don’t think the photo journal would have been as authentic in uncovering society as it turned out to be.  

Indianapolis, 1956 (Source: Smithsonian Magazine)

I took photographs like this by capturing my family members, in their natural habitat, without them knowing I am taking the picture. I captured my mother in the kitchen, my father in his office doing work, as well as my sister doing her homework in our living room. I also tried to focus on the element of movement in these photographs. Many of Frank’s pictures capture the subject in movement, sometimes blurring the image. I took these pictures over the course of a week. 

Coffee shop, railway station-Indianapolis, 1956 (Source: The Museum of Contemporary Art) 

My plan related to the central claim of my thesis in that it captured a social problem going on in today’s world that, though is discussed, has still never been really resolved. I captured the social issue of gendered roles in society being that a man is supposed to provide for the family while the woman is only supposed to take care of the family and attend to household duties such as cooking and cleaning. I believe that the set up of my family and household perfectly fits into this theme and can be easily portrayed as a social issue in the same way that Frank was able to capture the social issues around him. This also aligns with the idea that, though this issue of gendered roles is commonly discussed, America is still not ready to tackle it head on.

Photos & Analysis: Presentation of your own photographs inspired by that point of view. Text articulating what taking your own pictures taught you about the photographer’s point of view and its relevance. What is liberating about the point of view you’ve chosen to explore? How does it challenge you to look at the world differently?

Photo Gallery

 

I believe that one of the main aspects that I learned from taking these photographs with the perspective of Robert Frank in mind was the sole idea of realizing what was happening around me. Frank focused on exposing the social problems within American society and after taking pictures and realizing that the same issues that he was photographing were actually occurring in my own home. While I still don’t believe that what is happening in my own home is “wrong” or needs to be changed in anyway, I think that it more so just brought me to realize that stereotypically a lot of what was occurring during the times that Frank took pictures, in terms of racial inequality, is still very much occurring today. Of course, African Americans have all the same equal rights as us today and they are viewed in the eyes of Americans as equals, there is still the aspect that White people, on average, make more than their African American counterparts as well as that African Americans stereotypically do not get the same opportunities. Before taking these pictures, I never really thought much about the set up of my home but this experience definitely opened up my eyes as taking the photographs that Frank did, opened up his eyes to what was occurring around him.

 

Selected Images

One of the main methodologies that Robert Frank used was the idea of capturing his subjects without them knowing he was taking a photograph or catching them in the second that they do realize they are being photographed. When taking my pictures I made sure to make it not obvious that I was taking photographs and when my subjects did notice I was taking their photographs, I made sure to capture the exact moment of when they realized. When taking the photographs, I was also debating about whether to take them in black and white. Being that colored photography was not around when Frank was taking photographs for The Americans all of the photographs are in black and white. I decided, though, not to make my photographs non colored due to the fact that I believe it represents the modern era and shows that even through a difference of almost 75 years, their are still some of the same issues occurring.

After taking these pictures, there was definitely a liberating aspect of capturing what was occurring around me. Though Robert Frank focused on many aspects of social inequalities, there are not many photographs that represent gender roles and inequality. To an outsider looking at my photographs, though again I don’t believe there is anything wrong with the set up of my home, I believe that the photographs I took could potentially represent the issue of stereotypical racial roles as well as gender roles. As you can see in my photographs, there is my father who is working at his desk, my mother who is relaxing outside on the deck, and my babysitter who is doing the dishes in the kitchen. I believe that this recognizes the stereotypical gender roles of a family where the male is the head of the house, earning the money while the female, and wife, is the caretaker of the children and the house. At the same time these photographs portray stereotypical gender roles, I also believe that it portrays stereotypical racial roles. Showing a white man at his desk working while an African American woman is doing the dishes as a nanny portrays the idea that in America today this is still stereotypically the types of roles these individuals take.

 

Slideshow 1

After taking the photographs that I did, I decided to look back at Robert Frank’s photographs and specifically focus on the ones that dealt with the idea of race. The one that really stood out to me the most and, I believe, perfectly aligned with what I was trying to portray in my photographs was Charleston, South Carolina. In this image below, there is a white baby people held by an African American woman who we can assume is her caretaker, or nanny. I believe that this portrays the same idea of stereotypically African Americans holding the role of being a caretaker for a white family. A challenging aspect of taking these photographs that I believe Frank definitely dealt with is having to be the person that was uncovering all of the underlying issues going on in America. Frank was constantly surrounded by discrimination of all types and being a minority at a point in his life, it was probably hard for him to then be on the other side of it as just a bystander. That being said, though, I realize now that Frank might have been a bystander witnessing all of this, but he was an active bystander in that instead of doing something in the moment about what was happening around him, he wanted to expose the issues for the whole world to see.

Slideshow 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After taking my own photographs, I definitely came to understand Frank in a different light. I think that being on the other side of the camera, especially taking the photographs that Frank did, can sometimes be very difficult due to the subject of the images. All of Frank’s photographs in The Americans dealt with different social issues and problems occurring in the United States and capturing these issues but not being able to do anything about it, is a difficult position to be in. When taking my own photographs, I also came across this difficulty as I had to have an outside perception of my own family and realize that some of the social problems Frank was capturing, were occurring in my own home. The central claim I made in my earlier blog posts, has definitely opened up my eyes to the idea that stereotypically gender and race roles are still the exact same as they were when Frank was taking his photographs.

In the beginning, my thesis was about delving into Frank’s photographs and capturing if the essence of The Americans was not anti-American but American citizens were just not ready to understand and actually visualize all the social problems that were occurring around them. I think that my thesis shifted to being that, even though then Americans were not ready to deal with the issues occurring around them, decades later Americans are still some what not ready to tackle those issues. By doing this project, I believe it has really opened my eyes to the 20th century in that, though the social issues then were a lot worse and more than they are now in the 21st century, there are still many issues today that need to be tackled. I believe that the times that Frank captured are very similar to the times now in that he captures the start of social change. Frank captures African Americans taking a backseat to their white counterparts right before change was really enacted and African Americans became equal citizens. In today’s times, we are just at the very start of women empowerment with movements like #MeToo just starting to expose all the discrepancies in the United States. I think that in the next 10 years, these social issues will really start to fold out and hopefully improve and change America forever.

Carly,

Very thoughtful conclusion. I appreciate that you recognize these social issues of inequality that Frank documented still exist today, albeit in slightly different forms. You’re right to call attention to ongoing struggles by women to achieve equality. Americans still are not ready to tackle the issues that Frank exposed. I am particularly impressed with how you recognized the issues of inequality in your own home and chose to document it.

When you go through the final project to clean it up, pay attention please to apostrophes (Frank’s not Franks). It’s a really solid final project (though I don’t quite understand why your slideshow appears to have slid off to the right).

Also, I note that my previous comments were deleted. It’s useful for me to have them to remind me of what I previously said.

DDM

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-shock-of-robert-franks-the-americans

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/opinion/robert-frank-america.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/robert-frank-1924-2019-he-saw-america-without-illusions-11568155629

 

Sources: List of all your sources with hyperlinks. Be sure to separate photo sources from written research sources.