Robert Frank at the Met

I've been waiting a few months to finally squeeze today's museum visit in. I thought I'd have the chance after work one day during the month of December, but unfortunately, that came no where close to happening! So today, on what feels like my first actual day of vacation (doing what I want to do while everyone else is working!), I headed up to the Met after meeting Seth to eat Japanese for lunch.

My destination in the Met, the Robert Frank exhibit. I utterly enjoyed every moment of looking at his photos (even though it was insanely packed... a situation I would not normally enjoy.) I was in quite the zone. The exhibit was mainly to show the photos he took for the 1950s photography assignment where he set out across the country to capture the essence of America through the artistic documentation of his photography, of his eye. He took somewhere between 350-400 rolls of film and something like 27,000 photos.

His work captured so many elements of the country. The segregation, the rich, the poor, the politics, entertainment, religion, etc. The part that intrigued and inspired me over and over were the expressions on the faces he captured. It was beautiful and real, the kind of thing I'd love to capture with my own camera.

I was inspired by the apparent lack of fear in his photo taking. I get so worried of others seeing me that it tends to keep me from capturing moments I see. Frank also included a photo where a couple is laying in the park and just as he takes it they are turning and essentially glaring at him... The caption related how it was the moment that all photographers fell when they get caught taking someone's photo.

If only I'd gotten there earlier, then I could try to visit one more time -- the exhibit closes on the 3rd. I do plan to go to the Strand and buy his book, The Americans, that the featured exhibit photographs are compiled in.

After taking in that exhibit, I didn't spend too much more time in the museum. I headed toward the Modern Art, only to find it blocked off. From there I decided to head out to the park as the sun was setting before taking the train back to Brooklyn.