Robert Frank: Visual Interpretation Strategies

I actually combined two of Robert Franks photographs for my Studium/Punctum image. I wanted to create an image in which the man on the motorcycle and the policeman would be the complete center of attention. In the original picture of the men, I felt that the background took the focus off of their dynamic, so I decided to place them in a different setting. That's where the road comes in. I thought it would be the perfect backdrop for the message I was trying to convey. Now theses two men were basically in the middle of nowhere, and yet it seemed like the road could take them anywhere. Right when the man on the motorcycle thought he was free from everything, he was stopped by the policeman. In essence his freedom was momentarily lost. One of the aspects of the picture that really grabbed my attention was the look in the eyes of the motorcycle man. Through that look, I was drawn into the picture, so I tried to highlight the man's eyes without making it obvious. To me, this image shows how we are never completely free, but sometimes we deceive ourselves in hope that we are.  That usually works unless, like the man on the motorcycle, we are stopped by something and brought back to reality.