Spain (Dog)

To Robert Frank, Spain is black, but no blacker than any other place or country. He takes photographs of beggars, people on the beach, religious processions, many children, a burial, a bull being baited. The photos evoke violence as much as loneliness or serenity. “I love to watch the most banal things,” Frank has said, ”Things that move. A bit like a detective. I look at a man whose face or way of walking interests me.
I follow him. I wonder what will happen.” Unlike most documentary photographers, Frank believes that “life is more” and cares little about major events. “Black and white are the colours of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected. Most of my photographs are of people; they are seen simply, as through the eyes of the man in the street. 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. It is difficult to describe this thin line where matter ends and mind begins.”

Horacio Fernández