Category Archives: American Journey

Robert Frank Photos

Posted on by
Reply

I am glad that Professor Grazyna Drabik posted five of Robert Frank’s photos on the blog. The photos show how different parts of the country look. New Mexico looks like if it is largely made up of deserts. In Chicago, musicians line up for a political rally. It looks like an elevator’s glass doors closed right in front R. Frank, but the people inside are indifferent and do not express any concern for him. A person looks ready to go to a rodeo, but it is hard for me to imagine having a rodeo in New York City. Lastly, a photo shows that the woman looking at Frank looks like she is trying to ignore him while everyone else is paying attention to a Hollywood premier and looks interested in it. This shows that many individuals do not enjoy one another’s presence and that they rather watch a show for entertainment. However, It is important that people get along well with one another.

“The Americans”

Posted on by
1

As the polar opposite of an avid photographer I can not possibly truly appreciate the work of Robert Frank in his work “The Americans.”  However, I can truly equate his reaching for his goal much like the way Philippe Petit pursued his.  Of course Frank’s work was much less dangerous, but it still showed his great commitment to his work.

He was very influenced by his origins in Europe.  Growing up under in Europe during the time of Naziism, he experienced oppression from the government.  Luckily his art was able to provide him some comfort and when he traveled to America he was hoping to experience the freedom the United States promises to any prospective immigrant.  When he got here however he was shown a different side of the United States that many citizens were not able to see because essentially their eyes grew blind to it.  There still was a lot of oppression just not on all, but some.  Racism, classism, and sexism were rampant, and his work “The Americans” had shown this and displayed America in this light.  It makes sense why there was an uproar of this title.  It was bold, and painted the world’s newest growing superpower in a negative light, somewhat jeopardizing its credibility on an international scale.  This much like the opera reflects the power and influence of a piece of art on politics and society.

An American Journey: In Robert Frank’s Footsteps

Posted on by
Reply

For the most part, I enjoyed the documentary about Robert Frank and his composition of the book that shaped the future of photography, The Americans. I think that the director made some interesting choices in the actual composition of the film. As many people had said on the night of the viewing, the actual shots were kind of blurry and sometimes a little jarring or dizzying. I agree, some of the shots gave me a headache, but I don’t think that they were put in carelessly or unintentionally. I felt like they were used in order to mimic (or maybe commemorate?) the photography of Robert Frank. After all, the photos that he used in The Americans were certainly jarring and not necessarily pretty to look at all of the time. More importantly, they were raw. Although they weren’t clean-cut, they exposed pieces of American culture that definitely needed to be seen. Similarly, I believe that the film was intentionally shot this way to emulate Frank’s style.

I’m especially interested in The Americans itself and our discussion about how that one, three-letter word could make as much difference as it did. Judging by the critical view point that Frank took in his exposition, I’m not surprised that people took as much offense by the title as they did. When he called it The Americans rather than Some Americans or just Americans in general, he classified an entire nation under his own viewpoint. I think that’s a dangerous thing to do in any situation. On the other hand, perhaps the title was so jarring that it really forced people to take a second look at the photos, understand what they are really about, and internalize their messages. I think that’s the most that any artist can really hope for when they put a piece out in to the world.

American Journey

Posted on by
Reply

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Taking pictures is an art, and like Robert said, you need passion AND purpose.

The documentary presented us a guy who went around and took pictures of what he saw. What I probably liked most about his photos were its complete randomness. Robert took pictures that ranged from the flag with the boy in it, to outside his hotel at Butte. And to compile it into a book and called “The Americans”, Robert Frank had to have a lot of guts, because like they said in the movie, Americans got very defensive about it. It showed the “American Dream” and the “American Nightmare”. I truly admire Seclier for taking the time to follow the footsteps and piece back everything. It is rather a tough task.

For some reason this film kind of reminded me of the book “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer. It follows the journey of a man who took a journey across America. Anyone else think this?

 

~Christopher Chong

An American Journey – Role of a Photographer

Posted on by
Reply

The one thing that mainly stood out to me from the documentary, An American Journey: In Robert Frank’s Footsteps, was the portrayal of the role of a photographer. I believe that Frank’s printer described it well in his interview. He claimed that Frank was simply an architect, while he was Frank’s engineer. Frank, the photographer, had a design or plan for an image, and it was up to the printer to work accordingly. Although Frank had taken the pictures, his printer had to manipulate them in order to truly realize what Frank wanted to portray.

I found this idea to relate to our early conversations pertaining to the purpose of art. The role of a photographer basically runs along the lines of the role of an artist: to convey a specific message through some creative means. Analyzing further, I have noticed that most of the art we have seen (opera, dance, films) have all been collaborations. There is no one single artist, but rather a combination of different artists in order to produce a final masterpiece. This is also the case with Frank. My original thoughts about photographers were shattered, as I previously viewed them as singular artists producing single forms of art. However, upon realizing Franks’ dependency on his printer in order to produce his art, I now view photography as a collaborative effort as well.

American Journey

Posted on by
Reply

This documentary seemed more focused on Philippe Séclier’s personal journey that about Robert Frank’s book. To me, it felt like Philippe decided he was going repeat Frank’s journey and decided he might as well film it. The documentary was not particularly well thought out. Many of the places Séclier visited because they were photographed in Frank’s book, The Americans, no longer existed, which made it rather insignificant to have in the documentary. Also, many of the people that were interviewed in the documentary did not know much about the book and often did not remember when Frank came around. The two best parts of the documentary were the interviews with Frank’s printer and publisher because they provided stories about the process of making this book and also the true purpose of making this book. These were really only the two interviews that provided good insight into the making of The Americans.

American Journey Review

Posted on by
Reply

This movie explained the journey of Robert Frank, a photographer, when he took photos across the United States of America and put them together in a book. Robert Frank was a man born in Switzerland and raised in Germany. He wrote, well put a bunch of photos together and called it a book called “The American.” I believe he named it that way because he had captured images of people doing their common activities in different parts of the country, rather than showing a few similar photos and claiming they represent everyone. He took photos of working class people living their demotic lives, rather than experienced performers or scientists.

American Journey

Posted on by
2

For the most part I really disliked the production of the film itself. It was literally painful to watch a film that was 75% blurred throughout the journey in Robert Franks footsteps. I guess it most likely was done on purpose, but it just doesn’t seem worth doing in a logical sense. I think that sole aspect alone would turn away many viewers.

There was one thing that stood out to me, and stuck with me throughout the film however. That one scene where it was stated that both passion and purpose are necessary. One cannot exist without the other, it just doesn’t work that way. Well, those are my short thoughts about that film.

~Pun