Robert Frank is one of my favorite photographers of all time and indisputably one of the most groundbraking photographers that will have hold a camera. In 1955, with the help of the great Walker Evans, Frank got his hands on the Guggenheim Foundation grant to travel the United States and photograph it’s society. The Swiss-born artist  depicted in images a country represented by tensions between the optimism of the American Dream of the 50′s and the rude reality of the classes and racial differences. Plus, the quality of his photographs were quite unique at the time if we compare his work with the one of people like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston for example, that were total masters of the medium and had a really  »postcard » aesthetic.  At the time, the book he completed after his travels, The Americans, was not well received at all. Grainy, weird focuses, low lighting, he created the snapshot aesthetic. Without Robert Frank, there would be no Larry Clark, no Nan Goldin, no Ryan McGinley, and so on. His book was also a precusor of the Beatnik guys; the introduction of the book was written by Jack Kerouac and Frank was a life long friend with Allen Ginsberg. He also did some filmmaking. His most controversial work being CockSucker Blues, a documentary he did while following the Rolling Stones in 1972. The film shows some  raw scenes of orgies and  drug abuse, and all other fun stuff rockstars used to do back in the 70′s.