I was looking through my copy of the extended edition of “The Americans” by Robert Frank. I haven’t spent as much time with this book as I should have – it’s really interesting. Unfortunately it’s also large and very heavy and I find it uncomfortable to read. Maybe I should just have bought the regular (and I believe much smaller) edition.

At 89 Frank is still very much alive and seems to have attained almost god like status among many photographers. I’m not entirely sure why this is. “The Americans” was not initially popular. In fact it was panned by many critics. Many of the pictures are striking though. It came out in 1958 during what many would consider “the good old days” in the US. It presents a rather dark and despairing view of the US. Maybe this is why “The Americans” was not initially liked. It puts forward a somewhat critical view of the US and as Alexis de Tocqueville noted in the 1830s Americans do not like their society and lifestyle to be criticised – especially not by foreigners (Frank is Swiss). Maybe it’s the overall gloom that I don’t like.

Around the same time as I was looking at “The Americans” I came across this on the photographer Bert Hardy:

The photographer Bert Hardy would have celebrated his 100th birthday (in 2013) this year. Though a gifted war photographer, Hardy’s spontaneous and sharp images of people in everyday situations were more characteristic of his work. An exhibition of his images is at the Photographers’ Gallery in London from 4 April to 23 May

via Bert Hardy's photographs – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian.

I knew nothing about Hardy, but he seems to have spent a lot of his time documenting the UK in the same way that Frank documented the US in “The Americans”. I much prefer Hardy’s pictures. They’re lighter and much more “upbeat” than Frank’s. Perhaps it’s just because I’m British and can relate more to the culture he portrays.

They’re both infinitely better photographers than I am or ever will be so I should probably just keep my mouth shut.