My name is Robert Frank
I Im a photographer and filmmaker
Its an experience to [chuckles]
come to America and live here
When I think back about it,
its more turbulent and more adventurous
than I thought it was when I lived it
But it was worth it
I photographed every day
I had a camera with me all the time
Thats a good time for a photographer, you know?
You have to be young and you walk around all day long
I wanted to make a name for myself
I mean, I was aware of what you had to do to succeed
Well you learn that you come here and you you you know,
youre a photographer, youre just nothing
So then you learn that you have to have your pictures
published
and get your name next to the pictures
And you have to insist that they [chuckles]
get your name right
But being in America, its an education, you know?
And then coming from a small country like Switzerland,
its even stronger
But you find Kerouac and Ginsberg and other people,
and it was lucky I found these people
They they showed me that theres other life, you know
Not everybody in America lived in a big house
ALLEN GINSBURG: "Did I tell you about my
poem about the Empire State Building
that had not doomed the dumb eyes of New York
all the time?
PETER ORLOVSKY: Thats pretty good says he,
Ive got a new poem too:
says Old Ma Rainey dying in an ambulance
Ginsberg was a very intelligent man
He was kind of a prophet
The way he would read his poetry, you know,
that was his prophecy
That this culture of gay people
or whatever would be accepted
and would be respected for what they were
So they had a big influence on me
It was not just Ginsberg; there were other people
Kerouac had a big influence on me
It was different then
Often I walked in the street with one of them
and people stopped their car,
yell at you, Cut your hair
You know, it was the time when it was new;
people didnt like that spirit and disregard
for for the way things should be and used to be, yeah
But these people showed me that it was worthwhile
trying to come through and be be accepted and be read
or be be listened to
I would live amongst them
and I would be influenced by that attitude
and that that wish to be accepted for what they were,
not not to to compromise
That that was the word, not to compromise
where I came from,
Europe, there was no such thing
You you did what you were supposed to do
You find a place and and you get married and, you know
They wanted to to have a different life
They wanted to live a in this culture, but be different
And that was a worthwhile goal to have here
To be here, but to be different
