Robert Frank's portrait

Always distrustful of magazines, museums, respectability and success, Frank was also notorious for turning away the press. Regardless, I lived only minutes away from his New York City loft, and I too wanted to meet and photograph him. After phones calls, faxes and a chance meeting on a New York City subway platform, Robert Frank agreed to a portrait session.

My time with Frank was brief with a number of distractions. He was tired and a couple of rolls of film were exposed. The session came to a quick end and just before leaving I asked if I could make a Polaroid. After 4 exposures, we looked at the instant images. Frank mumbled, "I like these pictures of me."

My first rolls went to a trusted lab. A nightmare; much of that film was ruined. I still had the Polaroids. But they were new and untested images for me and seemed too risky. I didn't care if Polaroid had been Frank's choice of film for the past 20 years. Still lamenting my destroyed film, I was forced to take another look. Later I read something that Frank wrote: "Destroy that image, that perfect image." I thought for a moment, understood and took a chance.